A little research and we found that: before we could rent a property in Spain, or indeed carry out any financial transactions in Spain; we would need an "NIE" or Número de Identificación de Extranjero (Foreigner Identification Number). This is a number that is required to rent or buy a house, buy a car, get a bank account, in fact anything other than day to day shopping.
A little more research and you find out that the Spanish police only speak Spanish and the websites are all in Spanish, not unreasonable, but if you don't speak Spanish, could be a bit challenging. Apparently they can be very inflexible and if you have the wrong form or make a mistake then you need to start over. That is, make another appointment which could be weeks further on.
There are three main ways of carrying out this process. 1. do it yourself and get very confused, 2. get someone to do it for you and spend a fortune, 3. split the difference. We found mynie.co.uk who made an appointment and filled in the forms for just c.£30 each all we had to do was take all the relevant papers and go to the agreed police station. Trust me it was worth it...
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