What do I need to close before I leave Spain?

Closing things in the right order means your final pay, deposit and any tax refund arrive, nothing is left owing, and you keep the records you’ll need for a Spanish pension later.

The order that works

1. Cancel subscriptions you won’t need: gym, streaming, memberships
2. Give notice on electricity, gas, water and internet for your moving-out day, ask for a final reading, and return any router
3. Your phone: keep it until the end. Banks, Cl@ve and Social Security send codes by SMS, so download records such as your informe de vida laboral first
4. Insurance: home, car and health, from the right dates
5. If you own: bring community fees up to date
6. Credit cards and loans: pay off and close, and keep the letters confirming it
7. Your bank account: keep one open until everything has arrived

Your bank account

Keep at least one account open with online banking that works from abroad. You may still be waiting for your deposit, your finiquito (final settlement), a tax refund or the 3% retention back from a property sale. Tell the bank you’re moving and ask what changes once you’re non-resident: your address and tax residence will be updated, and fees or conditions may change. Download statements before you go: they help with UK tax, a mortgage application and proving your address history.

Bills and contracts

• Phone and internet: under the telecoms users’ charter, you can end the contract by telling the operator at least 2 working days before. A minimum-term deal (permanencia) doesn’t stop you leaving, but you may have to repay part of the discount you got for it, in proportion to the time left. If a handset is on instalments, the rest is due. Get a reference number or written confirmation
• If you want to keep your Spanish number for codes, moving it to a cheaper prepaid (prepago) plan is a portability, not a cancellation, so you don’t cancel the old contract separately
• Electricity, gas and water: ask for the contract to end on your moving-out day with a final reading. In a rental, check with the landlord which bills are in your name
• Private health insurance: policies usually renew yearly. Under the insurance contract law, you must tell the insurer in writing at least a month before the renewal date if you don’t want it renewed. Check your policy for the date and any rules on cancelling mid-term, and keep cover until you’re back with the NHS
• Car and home insurance: the same one-month rule applies at renewal. Cancel car insurance once the DGT has your notice of sale

If you own a home in Spain

• When you sell, the seller must declare in the deed that community fees are paid, or list what’s owed, and bring a certificate of debts from the community of owners. Unpaid fees for the current year and the 3 before rank ahead of other debts, so settle them first
• If you keep the home, the property tax (IBI), community fees and non-resident tax carry on. Pay them by direct debit from the Spanish account you keep. See How do I leave Spain, and in what order?

Your Spanish pension record

Your contributions stay on your Spanish social security record after you leave. A Spanish contributory retirement pension normally needs at least 15 years of contributions, with 2 of them in the 15 years before you claim. Under the social security protocol in the UK–EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement, in force since 1 January 2021, years in the UK and in Spain can be added together to reach the minimum, and each country pays its share in proportion to your years there. If you live in the UK when you claim, you apply through the UK’s International Pension Centre rather than to Spain directly.

• Download your informe de vida laboral before you go. It shows your Spanish contributions, but not time abroad
• Keep a note of your Spanish social security number and your NIE
• More on Spanish pensions in Pensions and retirement in Spain

Tax returns that follow you

For the full order of leaving, including your job, home and car, see How do I leave Spain, and in what order?