The 90/180 rule: how long you can stay in your Spanish home

How the rule is counted

On any given day, look back over the previous 180 days. The days you have spent anywhere in the Schengen area in that window — Spain, France, Portugal and the rest — must not add up to more than 90. The day you arrive and the day you leave both count.

It is a rolling window, not a calendar half-year. Ninety days straight, from January to March, means you then need to stay outside Schengen until enough of those days have dropped out of the window behind you. Many owners split the year instead — a month in spring, a few weeks in summer, a long stretch in winter — and track their days as they go. The European Commission's short-stay calculator does the counting for you. Overstaying is taken seriously: it can lead to a ban on entering the Schengen area.

What owning a home does and does not change

• A Spanish property gives no right to stay longer and is not a route to residence.
• Spain's “golden visa” for property buyers was abolished on 3 April 2025, so buying at any price no longer leads to a residence permit.
• Family and friends using your home while you are away are visitors in their own right, each on their own 90/180 count.

The new border checks

The EU's Entry/Exit System (EES) has replaced passport stamps for non-EU travellers and has been fully running since April 2026: at your first crossing your passport, fingerprints and a photo are registered, and every entry and exit afterwards is logged. In practice it means your days are counted by the system, precisely. A separate online travel authorisation, ETIAS, will follow for visa-free visitors such as UK citizens — it will cost €20 — but it is not running yet and has no confirmed start date, so check the EU's official travel site before you fly.

Staying longer than 90 days

If you want to spend more than half the year in Spain, the usual route for someone who will not work here is the non-lucrative visa, applied for in person through the Spanish consulate's visa centre in London before you travel. In 2026 it asks for income or means of at least €2,400 a month (€28,800 a year) for the main applicant and €600 a month for each family member, health insurance with an insurer authorised in Spain, and a clean criminal record. It is granted for a year at a time, and you may not work in Spain on it. Once resident, you become a Spanish tax resident too — which changes the whole tax picture, so take advice on both sides before you apply.

People who will keep working for UK employers or clients remotely look instead at Spain's visa for international remote work. Either way, the visa decision comes before the purchase decision only if living here, rather than holidaying here, is the plan.

The short version

Ninety days in any 180 across Schengen, counted by the system at the border. A home in Spain does not change that; a visa does. If your plan fits within the rule, you can own and enjoy a home here exactly as British owners always have. If it does not, start with the visa — and talk to us about the order of things.

More for buyers coming from the UK

• Buying in Spain from the UK after Brexit
• Paying in pounds: exchange rates and moving the money
• Owning in Spain while living in the UK: tax on both sides
• Getting to the Costa del Sol from the UK