Every week someone in a Costa Blanca Facebook group asks the same question: "What does it actually cost to keep a home here once you own it?" The answers are usually a mix of guesses and single data points. After 25 years of handing over keys on the Costa Blanca North, I can give you the full picture, line by line, with honest ranges.
The short version: a well-kept apartment typically runs 2,500 to 6,000 EUR a year all-in. A detached villa in the 500,000 to 1,000,000 EUR class typically runs 5,500 to 13,500 EUR. Here is where that money goes.
What is IBI, and how much will I pay?
IBI (Impuesto sobre Bienes Inmuebles) is the annual municipal property tax, the Spanish equivalent of council tax or Grundsteuer. In the province of Alicante it is collected by SUMA, the provincial tax agency, usually with a payment window in late summer.
IBI is calculated on the cadastral value of your property, not the market value. Cadastral values here are often 30 to 50 percent of what you paid, sometimes less. Municipalities set their own rate, broadly between 0.4 and 1.1 percent of cadastral value.
In practice, for the towns I work in (Moraira, Jávea, Benissa, Calpe, Denia):
- Apartment: roughly 300 to 800 EUR per year
- Villa in the 500k to 1M range: roughly 600 to 1,500 EUR per year
Ask the seller for the last IBI receipt before you buy. It is a one-page document and it removes all guesswork.
What about rubbish collection and other municipal charges?
Basura, the rubbish collection fee, is billed separately in most municipalities, again usually through SUMA. Expect 80 to 250 EUR per year depending on the town and property type. Some municipalities also charge small amounts for drainage or road access in certain urbanizations. These are minor lines, but they arrive as separate bills, which surprises people who expect one combined tax.
What do community fees really cost?
This is where apartment and villa ownership diverge sharply.
- Apartment in a managed complex: 75 to 200 EUR per month is the normal band on the Costa Blanca North, so 900 to 2,400 EUR per year. Buildings with lifts, communal pools, gardens and 24-hour concierge sit at the top; a small block with stairs and no pool sits at the bottom. Luxury front-line complexes can exceed 300 EUR per month.
- Villa on a private plot: often zero. If the road, water mains and lighting are municipal, there is no community at all.
- Villa inside an urbanization with shared infrastructure: typically 300 to 1,200 EUR per year for road maintenance, security gates, communal green zones.
Always request the last two years of community minutes before buying. They show fee history, planned works and whether the community holds reserves or is about to levy a derrama, a one-off special charge.
How are water and electricity billed, and what do they cost?
Water on the Costa Blanca North is supplied by private concessions per municipality (names like Aqualia, Hidraqua or local companies). Bills arrive quarterly in most towns, occasionally every two months, and always include a fixed standing charge, so you pay something even when the house sits empty.
- Apartment: 250 to 500 EUR per year
- Villa with a garden and pool top-ups: 500 to 1,200 EUR per year, and irrigated gardens can push beyond that
Electricity is billed monthly. The contracted power (potencia) carries a fixed daily charge, which is why an empty villa still generates bills of 40 to 70 EUR per month before a single light is switched on. With air conditioning in summer, a pool pump running daily and normal living:
- Apartment: 700 to 1,400 EUR per year
- Villa: 1,500 to 3,000 EUR per year
Many of my clients now fit solar panels; on a villa used year-round the payback period I see in practice is five to eight years.
What does home insurance cost here?
Spanish buildings and contents insurance is cheaper than most Northern Europeans expect. An apartment insures for 150 to 350 EUR per year. A villa in the 500k to 1M class typically costs 450 to 900 EUR per year depending on rebuild value, contents and whether you want cover for periods when the house stands empty. Check that last point carefully: some policies restrict cover if the property is unoccupied for more than 30 or 60 consecutive days, which matters for holiday homes.
What is the tax nobody warns you about?
If you are a non-resident and you do not rent the property out, Spain still taxes you on a notional rental benefit. It is called imputed income tax, filed on Modelo 210, and almost nobody mentions it at the notary table.
The mechanics: the taxable base is 1.1 percent of the cadastral value (2 percent if the cadastral value has not been revised recently). On that base, EU and EEA residents pay 19 percent; residents of other countries, which since Brexit includes the UK and has always included Switzerland, pay 24 percent.
In money terms this is usually 100 to 900 EUR per year for the properties in this guide. Not painful, but it must be filed every year even though no bill arrives in your postbox. Unfiled years surface later, typically when you sell. A gestor or tax adviser files it for a modest fee.
What do pool and garden maintenance cost?
For a villa, these are often the largest lines after electricity.
- Pool: a professional service visiting weekly in summer and fortnightly in winter costs 80 to 150 EUR per month, so 900 to 1,800 EUR per year. Doing it yourself costs 300 to 500 EUR in chemicals and electricity for the pump, plus your time and the risk of arriving to a green pool.
- Garden: entirely size-dependent. A low-maintenance Mediterranean garden with gravel and native planting might need 80 to 150 EUR per month. A lawn with irrigation and hedges needs 200 to 350 EUR per month. Over 25 years I have watched many owners redesign their gardens precisely to get this line down.
What does a full year look like, side by side?
| Annual cost line | Apartment | Villa (500k to 1M) |
|---|---|---|
| IBI property tax | 300 - 800 EUR | 600 - 1,500 EUR |
| Basura (rubbish fee) | 80 - 200 EUR | 120 - 250 EUR |
| Community / urbanization fees | 900 - 2,400 EUR | 0 - 1,200 EUR |
| Water | 250 - 500 EUR | 500 - 1,200 EUR |
| Electricity | 700 - 1,400 EUR | 1,500 - 3,000 EUR |
| Home insurance | 150 - 350 EUR | 450 - 900 EUR |
| Non-resident imputed income tax (Modelo 210) | 100 - 400 EUR | 300 - 900 EUR |
| Pool maintenance | usually in community fee | 900 - 1,800 EUR |
| Garden maintenance | usually in community fee | 1,000 - 3,000 EUR |
| Realistic annual total | 2,500 - 6,000 EUR | 5,500 - 13,500 EUR |
Source: SUMA (Alicante provincial tax agency) rates, Agencia Tributaria Modelo 210 rules, and running-cost figures from properties whose purchases and handovers I have accompanied on the Costa Blanca North. Verify current rates for your municipality before budgeting.
Which costs catch buyers out most often?
Three, in my experience. First, the Modelo 210 imputed income tax, because no one sends you a bill and the obligation is invisible until it is not. Second, standing charges: water and electricity contracts cost real money even when the house is empty, so "we are only there eight weeks a year" does not shrink the bill as much as people assume. Third, derramas: a community that has deferred maintenance for a decade will eventually present every owner with a share of a new roof or a repainted facade.
A sensible rule of thumb I give clients: budget roughly 1 to 1.5 percent of the purchase price per year for running costs on a villa, and somewhat less on an apartment. If a property you are considering would break that rule badly, find out why before you sign, not after.
