A plumber from Exeter who moved to Mallorca says the lower cost of living on the Spanish island means he and his family are able to live the kind of life that would be unaffordable back in his home country.
Ted Stuckey, 35, and his girlfriend, Marga, 34, a school teacher, moved to Spain’s largest Balearic island in 2020. The couple now has one-year-old daughter called Lola.
Mr Stuckey says he has found the perfect life in Spain, where he does not have to work all hours to make ends meet.
“As I do not own any property in England it would be expensive for me to buy or rent a house. Unless I was to work a lot of hours then it would be a challenge to earn enough money to cover all the rent and bills, let alone to be able to save money,” he tells i.
“Back in 2018 I decided to leave England to go and experience life in another part of the world. My life in the UK was great: friends, family, out door lifestyle, work, all was going well,” he says. “I just always had this niggle in the back of my head, an urge to see what was out there,” says Mr Stuckey.
After a short stint in New Zealand working in construction, the Covid-19 pandemic pushed him to join his girlfriend, who hails from Mallorca, and he now has Spanish residency. Because he applied for residency before Brexit, he had to wait only eight months for his residency card. Post-Brexit, this can now take up to five years.
He is now lucky enough to live in a €200,000 (£166,610) apartment owned by his girlfriend’s family in the Mallorcan town of Manacor.
The couple began work converting the building purchased by Marga’s father into two apartments. One of the apartments, about 100 square meters in size with two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a utility room and a large terrace, has since become their home.
Mr Stuckey says that in Exeter an apartment of a similar size but without a terrace could cost up to £300,000: “In Mallorca you may get more bang for your buck as houses are often larger than those in the UK for the same amount of money,” he says.
Even though he makes more or less the same amount of money in Mallorca as he would in the UK, he says his job is less arduous now because he does not have to spend so much time on his knees carrying out plumbing work. In Mallorca, the cost of living is lower and “I do not need to work as many hours to make ends meet”.
Even for those who do not own property, he says that life is far cheaper in Mallorca. Mr Stuckey says their bills in Spain average €200-€400 (£166-£332) per month. Council tax is low in Mallorca, at around €300 (£250) per year as opposed to the roughly £1,200 he was paying in Exeter, while monthly electric bills are about €80 (£66) and water €30 (£25) in Mallorca, versus £140 and £80 in Exeter.
“Including rent, this can equal a monthly outgoing of €800-€1,200 [£664-£997),” while in the UK, rent and bills would have an average monthly cost of £1,400-£1,600, he says.
He adds that his mother had also moved to Mallorca, which allowed her to retire early. “Had she carried on living in England she would not have been able to retire early,” says Mr Stuckey.
Daily expenditure on the island is also far cheaper than in the UK, he adds. Coffee in the UK costs £3-4 while in Mallorca it averages between €1-2 (80p-£1.66).
“Beer in the UK is mega money and usually costs between £4-7 pounds per pint; here in Mallorca it costs between €1-4 (80p-£3.30),” he adds.
Other benefits include the friendly people, the fresh and locally sourced food, and the dozens of vineyards and spectacular scenery on the island.
Mallorca’s work-life balance is right and there is plenty of time left in the day to be able to enjoy other things, he says.
However, he admits he misses the UK’s music and a nice refreshing cider at a music festival.
Occasionally he returns to Devon to see friends and family while enjoying “a Great British ale”, sipping whisky or roaming across the moors.
