Buyers budget carefully for the purchase and then discover the running costs in the first winter. A cliffside house is no different from any other, only more so: salt air, steep gardens and a pool that faces the sea all cost money every year.

The fixed costs

The IBI property tax is set by the town hall and usually runs to a few thousand euros a year for a detached house in Begur. Add rubbish collection, building insurance and, if the house is in an urbanisation, community fees.

The ones nobody mentions

Repainting every three to four years, pool maintenance, garden irrigation in August and a gardener for the terraces. Our numbers sheet lists all of them, so nothing arrives as a surprise.