The Veted Blog
Honest reading on European real estate, trades, and finance.
No SEO fluff, no rewritten press releases, just the briefings we wish someone had handed us before we started writing cheques.
Browse by topic
Vetting Contractors & Professionals
How to verify that a European contractor, tradesperson, or agent is licensed, insured, and trustworthy — before you hire.
10 articlesBuying & Renovating Abroad
A field guide for foreign and expat buyers renovating or managing property in a European country they do not live in.
11 articlesRenovation & Project Management
How to scope, schedule, pay for, and survive a European renovation without the 30% overrun that sinks most of them.
9 articlesProperty Finance & Money
Mortgages, construction loans, insurance, currency, and rental income for European property — what the brochures leave out.
6 articlesNotary and Legal Fees When Buying in Europe: The Real Closing Costs
The civil-law notary works for the transaction, not for you. What actually makes up closing costs, why the total lands well above the sticker price, and where foreign buyers get caught out.
Property Taxes for Foreign Owners in Europe, Country by Country
The three moments tax hits — purchase, holding, and sale — with the names that matter (IBI, IMI, taxe foncière, IMU, Modelo 210) and the non-resident filings foreign owners discover three years late.
Heat Pumps and Energy Retrofits in Europe: Grants, Contractors, and the Catch
Insulation before the heat pump, the grant schemes that only pay out with a certified installer, correct sizing, and the clawback clauses that turn a subsidy into a bill.
European Building Permits: When You Need One, and How Long It Takes
The line between a notification and a full permit, the architect or geometra you cannot skip, the heritage-zone trap, and what happens when unpermitted work surfaces at resale.
What a European Kitchen Renovation Actually Costs, Country by Country
Where the money actually goes, why the same kitchen costs half as much in one market as another, the labour-versus-materials split, and the specification discipline that keeps a quote from doubling.
Buying and Renovating in Greece: Islands vs Mainland
The engineer at the centre of every Greek project, the forestry and archaeology clearances that stall island builds, the summer-only crews, and the older-property legalisation trap — what changes the moment you leave the mainland.
Registered, Verified, Vetted: What Each Word Actually Proves in Europe
Three words that sound interchangeable and are not. What a commercial-register entry, a document check, and a full vet each guarantee — and the gap between them that costs European homeowners the most.
Buying Property in France as a Foreigner: The Contractor and Legal Setup
The notaire, the notaire-held funds, the compromis, the Qualibat and RGE marks, assurance décennale and dommage-ouvrage — the legal and trade scaffolding a foreign buyer needs before signing anything in France.
How to Verify a Contractor’s Insurance in Europe (Before It Becomes Your Problem)
Generic public liability is not the ten-year structural cover France and Spain require. How to read a certificate, match it to the legal entity on your quote, and spot the gap that lands on you two winters later.
Buying and Renovating in Spain as a Foreign Buyer: A Practical Guide
The NIE, the notario and the Registro de la Propiedad, the Modelo 210 nobody mentions, the trade credentials that matter, and how the Costa del Sol differs from Barcelona — the sequence that keeps a Spanish purchase clean.
How to Vet a Plumber in Europe: The Checks That Separate a Professional from a Cowboy
Certification by country, the pressure test that catches half of all leaks, the emergency-callout trap, and the red flags that show up in the first phone call — how to hire a plumber you will not regret.
How to Structure Contractor Payments in Europe: Deposits, Milestones, and the Money You Hold Back
The payment schedule, not the contract, is the best predictor of how a European renovation ends. Deposit norms by country, milestone-linked staging, retention, and the four habits that stop most payment disputes before they start.
Buying and Renovating in the Swiss Alps: A Foreign Owner’s Guide
Lex Koller, the Lex Weber second-home cap, the cantonal permit patchwork, a building season that runs May to October, and Europe’s most expensive trades. What a foreign buyer needs to know before signing in Valais, Vaud, or Graubünden.
What Currency Should You Pay In, and Why It Quietly Costs You Thousands
Pay in the currency the price is set in, refuse dynamic currency conversion, and never default to your bank’s wire. The four habits that stop hidden exchange margins eating a property purchase or a renovation.
For Students and Parents: Finding Help You Can Trust in a New City
A blocked toilet, a dead radiator, a flat-pack wardrobe, or a lockout — student life needs tradespeople, and a parent a country away wants to know exactly who is walking into their child’s home. How a vetted directory turns a stressful unknown into a confident choice.
How Do You Know If a Contractor Is Trustworthy? The Questions That Actually Work
Insurance, trade-body membership, references, and the financial-health question almost nobody asks, the verification sequence that works in any market, especially one you do not know.
The Confidence Gap: Why People Don’t Buy Where They Don’t Know, And How Veted Closes It
Cross-border buyers were 45% of European residential deals in 2025, yet most people still will not buy where they do not know the players. The data on why, and how pooling the checks into one place closes the gap.
Why You Can’t Trust Google Reviews Alone Anymore
Review fraud became an industry. Filtered five-star ratings, paid removals, and the one signal a star average will never show you, whether the licence and insurance behind the business are actually current.
Short-Term Rental in Europe: Which Property Types Earn the Most, By City
Studio versus one-bed versus two-bed-two-bath, by city, by season, against the local regulatory regime. The AirDNA-style read on what actually fills the calendar at the right ADR.
When to Renovate in Europe: The Seasonal Calendar Most Foreign Owners Miss
August in southern Europe, the Nordic winter freeze, DACH precision summers, and the shoulder weeks when good contractors actually have availability.
The European Mortgage as a Non-Resident: What Banks Actually Want to See
LTV ceilings, the documents that get foreign-buyer files quietly rejected, currency-mismatch rules, and the country-by-country reality behind the brochure numbers.
Euribor Explained: Why It Moves, What Drives It, and What It Means for Your Mortgage
The reference rate behind most variable-rate mortgages in southern Europe. What actually drives the daily fix, why it diverges from the ECB rate, and how to read the next move before your reset arrives.
Renovating Property in Tuscany: A Practical Guide for Foreign Buyers
The geometra, the comune permit gauntlet, the SAL milestone schedule, and the financial incentives that work versus the ones that mostly just look attractive on paper.
Finding a Trustworthy Contractor in Lisbon and the Algarve: A Foreign Buyer’s Guide
The IMPIC and AMI registries, the Algarve seasonal builder trap, and the specific verification checks that separate the cowboys from the professionals in Portugal.
How the Right Contractor Saves You Thousands of Euros, And Months of Your Life
Most of the renovation literature focuses on avoiding bad hires. The reverse case, the compounding benefit of getting it right, is the more interesting number.
The Top Five Contractor Scams Targeting European Homeowners
From the deposit-and-disappear job to the door-to-door roof "spotter", the five patterns that show up across every European market and how to spot them in the first conversation.
Hiring Tradespeople Abroad: The Eight Mistakes That Cost Expats the Most
A practical checklist of the recurring errors that turn cross-border renovations into multi-year regrets, ranked by how much they actually cost.
Why European Expats Struggle to Find Quality Tradespeople (And What Actually Works)
Language is the visible barrier, but the real problem is information asymmetry, untranslated registries, and the 20% expat tax baked into most quotes.
Managing European Property Remotely: The Contractor-Trust Problem
A field guide for owners across borders, what works in practice, what fails predictably, and the four people every remote landlord should retain.
7 Property Insurance Mistakes European Homeowners Make
Underinsurance, exclusion clauses you will not read, and the specific renovation triggers that quietly invalidate cover.
Electrician Certifications in Europe: What to Actually Check
Beyond the framed certificate on the wall, the European inspection bodies, periodic checks, and notifications that separate competent installers from the rest.
Why European Renovations Run Over Budget, And How to Stop It
Five concrete patterns that cause 30% overruns on residential projects, and the contract structure that prevents most of them.
Home Security Systems in Europe: A Buyer’s Guide
GDPR, insurer requirements, and the difference between a system that works on paper and one that survives a real intrusion.
Construction Loans in Europe: A Complete Guide
How draw-down financing actually works in the EU, why your high-street bank is rarely the best option, and the documentation that gets quietly rejected.
How to Vet a Real Estate Agent in Europe
The four checks that matter, the three that are theatre, and a country-by-country list of the registries serious buyers should know.
The Real Cost of a Bad Plumber in Europe
Insurance claims data, body-corporate disputes, and the predictable arc of a cheap fix that turns into an eight-week rebuild.
How to Read a European Contractor Licence, Country by Country
A practical reference for verifying contractor credentials across 24 European countries, what each registry actually proves, and what it does not.
Why You Should Never Hire an Unvetted Contractor in Europe
A walk-through of the genuine financial and legal exposure that comes with hiring on price alone, and the European-specific traps that are easy to miss.