Malaga Expat Consulting

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Malaga Expat is your Relocation Consultant, Property Finder & Paperwork Assistant based in Malaga, Costa del Sol.

🇪🇸Relocation to Malaga, Spain
🏠Property Finder
💻Spanish Admin & Visas (NLV, DNV, EU family)
👩‍⚕️Health Insurance Sanitas
✅️Wealth of local knowledge and guidance with your move to Spain Our services cover a broad range of matters, from assistance with paperwork and Spanish bureaucracy to relocation consultancy and property finding, and are directed to all expats residing or planning to move to Malaga and the Costa del Sol. Malaga Expat Consulting was founded by Irina Saltmarsh, “the expat with experience”, who herself has mastered several relocations and lived and worked in many different countries, both as employed and as a small business owner. Irina speaks several languages, including English, German, Russian and Spanish and since 2009 lives with her family and works in Spain. Malaga Expat Consulting was created with the aim of providing to all expats living or relocating to the area of Malaga and the Costa del Sol competent help and assistance with a range of relocation & admin affairs in a friendly and professional manner at a competitive price. We can help you with advice about the right area to live, assist with finding the right property for you and your family to buy or to rent, locate the schools and nurseries for your children and help with enrolling process, register you and your family with local doctors. Let us assist you with paperwork applying for NIE, Residency permit, Town Hall registrations and driving license, opening a bank account and just accompany you to any authority where they would normally only speak Spanish. We can make the settling down process for you and your family easier and stress-free by introducing you to the local professionals and competent organisations and help with any advice and recommendation to make your new life in Malaga happy and relaxed from day one.

19/10/2026

🚨 5 YEARS IN SPAIN DOES NOT AUTOMATICALLY MEAN PERMANENT RESIDENCY.

One of the key requirements for long-term residency is proving continuous residence.

During your 5 years, your absences generally cannot exceed:
➡️ 10 months in total
➡️ 6 months in one single absence

And yes, the authorities DO check.

We recently had a permanent residency application rejected because the applicant’s absence requirements hadn’t been met, despite completing 5 years on a Non-Lucrative Visa.
Don’t wait until year 5 to check your travel history.

Start keeping track from year one. 🇪🇸

16/10/2026

September has been a VERY busy month at Málaga Expat.

From finding rental properties in just one week, to successful residency applications, NIEs, a last-minute Digital Nomad Visa and arranging 35+ Sanitas health insurance policies, there has been a lot happening behind the scenes.
And, as always, not every case has had the outcome we hoped for.

One permanent residency application was rejected because the required absence limits during the previous five years of residency had not been met. It was a difficult outcome, but an important reminder that Spanish residency requirements really ARE checked.

Behind every application, search or policy is a real person, a family, a move or a deadline and often a LOT of stress.
That’s why our role is about more than paperwork.

It’s about experience, preparation, organisation and knowing exactly what needs to be done and when.

Our job is to make the process as straightforward and stress-free as possible, whether you’re moving to Spain, navigating residency, looking for a rental property or simply trying to understand what you need to do next.
September was certainly busy.

And we’re already looking ahead to October. 🇪🇸13 years in flexible workspace, and this is still a conversation that comes up regularly.

12/10/2026

You don’t have to navigate every step alone.

11/10/2026

Last week, the Spanish Government approved two Royal Decree-Laws introducing significant changes to an already complicated rental market. The measures still require parliamentary confirmation, and not all provisions are necessarily in force yet.

Some of the key measures affecting residential landlords include:

▪️ Extended contract protection: New rules on contract extensions and renewals, requiring landlords to continue renting their properties beyond the original contract term.
▪️ Potential compensation for tenants: In certain circumstances, landlords may be required to pay compensation to their tenants of up to 12 months' rent, in case they decide not to renew
▪️ Limits on rent increases: Caps on rental price increases
▪️ Restrictions on evictions: Extended protection for certain vulnerable tenants, subject to the applicable legal conditions.

While these measures aim to strengthen tenant protection, they are creating significant uncertainty for property owners and influencing their decisions about whether, and under what conditions, to rent out their properties.

And in Málaga, we're already seeing worrying trends!

Based on what we're experiencing through ongoing rental searches, the market is responding in several ways:

▪️ More long-term rental listings are being converted into seasonal lets.
▪️ Some landlords are refusing to allow tenants to register at the property on the padrón.
▪️ Higher security deposits and additional financial guarantees are being requested.
▪️ Foreign applicants without an established income history in Spain are increasingly being rejected outright, even when they have substantial savings from abroad.

What does this mean for people relocating to Spain?
An already challenging rental market is becoming even more difficult, particularly for newcomers who have not yet established themselves financially in Spain.

You may have significant savings and an excellent financial background, but this does not necessarily mean that a Spanish landlord will consider your application acceptable.
Preparation and flexibility are therefore more important than ever.

If you're planning to relocate to Málaga, consider the following:

✔️ Prepare comprehensive documentation demonstrating your financial solvency.
✔️ Be realistic about your budget and preferred locations.
✔️ Be open to adjusting your requirements. Your first rental doesn't have to be your dream home; it needs to be a suitable starting point.

The rental market in Málaga remains highly competitive.

Understanding the local reality and approaching your search with realistic expectations can make a significant difference.

09/10/2026

Moving abroad isn’t for everyone.

But if you’ve been dreaming about Spain for years, perhaps it’s time to stop asking:

“Could we?”

And start asking:

“How could we?”

You don’t need to make the decision today.
But you can start exploring what your options are.

07/10/2026

Don’t be the person who gets sent away because of a simple mistake.

Sometimes trying to save money by not using professional support can end up costing you twice.

06/10/2026

Moving to another country comes with a lot of moving parts and sometimes, the timeline is tighter than you’d ideally like.
This family contacted me just a few months before their planned move to Spain in mid-July.

Fortunately, they had already managed to secure a property remotely, but they needed guidance through the paperwork and administrative requirements involved in their relocation.
Their situation required particularly careful planning because one of the spouses is a non-EU national, making the residency process more complex and subject to specific requirements and strict timelines.

Working closely together, we planned and coordinated every step in advance, making sure the different procedures were aligned with the relevant deadlines.

And the result?
✨ Within just over one month of their arrival in Spain, ALL of their procedures — including the non-EU spouse’s residency application — had been initiated and completed.

There was another important milestone too: their son’s school enrolment was successfully completed before the end of August.

A little bit of luck certainly helped, but mostly it came down to careful preparation, good organisation and making sure every step was taken at the right time.

And this is exactly why having the right support during a relocation can make such a difference.

As the family themselves said:
“Engaging her services has been one of the best decisions we’ve made during our relocation. Her support has made the entire process significantly easier and less stressful.”

🇪🇸 From arriving in Spain to having the family’s paperwork and school arrangements in place in just over a month.
That’s a relocation journey worth celebrating.

30/09/2026

Moving countries is complicated enough.

Your healthcare shouldn’t be.

Need help choosing the right plan? Send us a message.

Dirección

Calle Gerardo Diego
Alhaurín De La Torre
29130

Página web

http://www.malagaexpat.com/

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