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What to do related to IRS and "being" a fiscal resident Summary: Leaving no house in Portugal, you don't have any fiscal obligations, but the "Autoridade Tributária" needs to know you have address abroad!
- How to cancel Rent contract
Pay attention to the time in advance that you have to warn your landlord; This time is always mentioned in the rent contract and it can go from 30 to 60 days in Portugal, for example; If you know beforehand that you'll have dificulties fulfilling this time, try to negotiate with the landlord and offer him other options, example: you might have a family person or family friends who would be interested in moving right away to your home after you move out, so try to get comms going between them and the landlord (and House agency, if applicable).
- How to cancel Light/Gas contract
The easiest way to take care of this is, if you do find a family member or friend that wants to switch to your house, you can both head to the light/gas company and apply to change the name of the person who is contracting this services from your name to the new person in the house. This is the easiest way to avoid extra work on your friend's side and in some cases cancellation fees on your side. Just be sure to take the reading of the spent gas and light with you. If the person moving in will move in a bit earlier, it's also a good idea to ask for written and signed permission from the landlord to use when changing the owner of contract for services.
- How to cancel Water contract
Similar to the Light/Gas point. Take into account that the person moving in will tipically have to pay a fee from their pocket, related to activation of the water counter or something similar (can't remember properly);
- How to cancel Internet contract
In PT a lot of times you make an internet contract for an extended period of time; be prepared that the cancelation fees of the contract are high. If you also don't deliver the router, be also prepared to pay an even bigger ammount of money. Still, similar to other services, the best way to avoid this issue is to try to change the owner of the contract with the person that's moving in, or with a family member/friend that doesn't have an internet connection contract yet.
- House Renting typical websites (per country)
In Spain a pretty good website to find houses to rent is Idealista. There is one problem though. When the prices seem a just a bit to good to be true, and the pictures seem way better than what's usual on other properties listed on the website, act carefully, more often than not, a few days later those adverts are marked as SPAM/Fake and taken off-site. A good way to get housing fast is to schedule a trip to your destination place for a fair ammount of work-days, and just try to appoint as many visits to the house as possible for those days you'll be there. Navigation/GPS apps will be your best friend, try to have offline maps and an organized schedule of the addresses you'll visit, and the phone contact of the person who'll conduct your visit. Always charge your phone and don't waste battery in futile stuff, and just in case, try to have an extra external battery for emergencies. Also pay attention to your mobile contract roaming policies and understand how many internet traffic you'll be able to spend, plus calls and messages. Don't give up if someone cancels with you on the actual day, insist with them via phone, stating you have full availability in the days you're in town. Be as polite as possible with the people that conduct the visit, since the cultural barriers are always there, and you'll notice this even in small things like knowing how to say a given word that you take for granted in your own language. If you have a partner, make sure they can come with you, their help and sharing of tasks will be invaluable.
Be prepared monetarilly once you make the move: typically you can be charged a multiple of the rent value when signing the contract for ?bail? and signing bonus of the housing agency, if applicable;
- Furniture Moving companies typical budgets (per country) (examples)
Ask for budgets with a lot of time in advance. Be prepared, they'll be expensive, and sometimes a big multiple of the value of the rent you pay, for example.
- Renting a van typical budgets
Renting a van can be an option, though I haven't personally explored this one. There's also warnings regarding this point; Take into special account your driver's license type, what kind of vehicles you can drive, and if you'll need a special permit to travel will all the items inside the van.
- Car and insurance docs typical questions
(work in progress)
- Documentation overall
(work in progress)