I spoke to Simon Pelling last week, the director of an online agent that primarily caters for non-doms living in Spain.
He highlighted an interesting point – before COVID-19 was on everyone’s lips people were looking to get deals over the line before the Brexit deadline at the end of the year.
However, both buyers and sellers in Spain are now left in a state of limbo – they are worried they won’t be able to get their life plans sorted before the Brexit deadline strikes.
This begs the question – will talks with the EU conclude on 31 December or will things be delayed?
You have to say it looks likely the date will be pushed back.
Brexit talks have been on hold since mid-March and even before the coronavirus outbreak happened there were doubts as to whether the terms could be thrashed out so quickly – there’s a lot to discuss when it comes to deciding on the UK’s future trading relationship with the EU.
The UK and EU first met in March and need to establish a deal by late November to achieve parliamentary ratification.
Amanda Sloat, Robert Bosch senior fellow – foreign policy, Center on the United States and Europe at think tank Brookings Institution, thinks a delay will happen.
She wrote: “Given the COVID-19 pandemic, it is increasingly likely the government will need to extend this timeline or risk additional economic shocks.
“The crisis is also underscoring the post-Brexit regulatory and coordination challenges ahead.”
If negotiations continue both sides would have to utilise technology to negotiate, but we aren’t talking about setting up group video calls with a handful of people
Indeed, the previous round of talks involved more than 200 officials across 11 working groups.
Last week MEPs urged the UK government to do the “responsible thing” and extend the Brexit transition period.
Christophe Hansen MEP, a negotiator on the European Parliament’s international trade committee, said: “Under these extraordinary circumstances, I cannot see how the UK government would choose to expose itself to the double whammy of the coronavirus and the exit from the EU single market, which will inevitably add to the disruption, deal or no deal.
“I can only hope that common sense and substance will prevail over ideology. An extension of the transition period is the only responsible thing to do.”
A delay would be expensive for the UK as we’d have to make another financial contribution to the EU, however leaving without coming to an agreement would seem foolhardy given the economic shock it would cause.
At least a Brexit delay would be a silver lining for people who were looking to buy or sell in Europe before COVID-19 put them in a state of limbo.
Ryan Bembridge, Editor, PropertyWire
