Hi Neil, Sorry to hear about the scorpions. Another thing a property investor might want to take into account is who they are renting to. Perhaps targeting tenants from parts of the world where scorpions, poisonous spiders etc. are the norm, e.g. Australia, might have worked better? Cheers Peter

Presumably you paid your rent in advance? Are you going to get it back? I would have thought it came with the territory although I can fully understand the reactions! I can vouch for the fact that running holiday rentals is very hard work and almost never sufficient to support a lifestyle change. Mind you the bureacracy in E Europe is quite testing on the patience too! Huw

Hi Huw Thanks... Actually, we'd handed over the 100 Euro deposit only after arriving - such is the Italian love of cash (and fear of credit cards). The landlady gave us back the 100 Euro deposit without dispute - based on the fact that my kids were screaching the place down - after all, it was found under the slats of their bed and it was extremely hard to kill the damm thing! Cheers Neil

Hi Neil The cash economy in some euro countries is interesting. I'm having to take several thousand euro to Italy to pay the balance on a rental this summer which means I have to have it with me in Rome for a few days first which is a little uncomfortable. In France it's impossible to get more than a small amount of cash out of the bank in a weekly period (think it's 500 Euros or even less) due to the government trying to crack down on the cash economy. I think it's a great measure of how successful or otherwise a country's tax system is as if so many people are trying to avoid it it must be too high and the economy must be very inefficient. Not sure how that may impact on property investment - for example taxation in France is not particularly onerous in this respect (providing you can avoid the wealth tax) compared to the UK. Huw

Hi Huw I know the wealth tax in Spain drives all sorts of wierd decisions. Ie - shares in trading companies (where you can show a family interest) are exempt from wealth tax Therefore, all very wealthy Spaniards do everything via a 'family company' Everyone else just tries to do it with cash (ie I buy for 120k but pay 90k in bank cheques - the rest in cash - so I can put a value of 90k on my wealth tax return). Nuts really! Time the whole lot got reformed. Anyone up for the job? Cheers Neil