keeping a uk home

chrissie


Joined: 29/01/2008
Posts: 50

Message Posted:
20/04/2008 16:50

dear all

loads of people suggest keeping something in the UK when relocating. i've just had a disasterous valuation on my present home (current UK housing market i suppose) which makes this look unaffordable.

i've been thinking about cheaper ways: houseboat, residential caravan; seaside holiday chalet, but for various reasons none of these feel quite right just in order to have a UK address. has anyone come up with a creative, affordable way of maintaining a place in the UK? my budget would be no more than £100K including legal fees. i know that in certain parts of the UK one can buy a house for this amount, but my family is in cambridge and i don't see the point in having a UK base miles and miles away from them.

also, is it so important that it HAS to be done?

any ideas gratefully received.

chrissie

cleos


Joined: 13/03/2008
Posts: 77

Message Posted:
20/04/2008 17:05

Hye

we too had the same issues when we left UK - there was no way we could afford to keep place back in UK. We decided in the end to sell everything and move out here -100k will net you a tidy monthly interest invested here.

The one thing we were advised to do was keep an address in UK -we use parents one and stay registered with a DR. This makes it easier if you need long term medications (even if it means you go back every 6 months to get your repeat prescription ) and also for such things as renewal driving licence/passport etc.Whatever you decide Good luck.

chrissie


Joined: 29/01/2008
Posts: 50

Message Posted:
20/04/2008 17:40

hi cleos

thanks for your reply.

if you're registered as living with your parents, do you have to pay council tax at their address?

chrissie

chrissie


Joined: 29/01/2008
Posts: 50

Message Posted:
20/04/2008 17:52

hmm ... not sure what i meant by that last comment as obviously council tax is paid on the house, not on the number of residents.

i think i meant to ask: how do the authorities get to know that you're 'living' with your parents and are therefore still a UK resident in their eyes?

chrissie

diane62


Joined: 18/04/2008
Posts: 74

Message Posted:
20/04/2008 20:05

probably yearly electroal role would help combined with driving licence and perhaps department of work and pensions records would suffice

jokers2theright


Joined: 18/02/2008
Posts: 174

Message Posted:
21/04/2008 11:42

yes you need them to fill in your name on the electoral role. You will need a UK address for bank statements etc etc. Doctors records. Pension paperwork. You never know when you may have to go back to the UK - for medical reasons - so its better to have a flat somewhere and rent it out rather than have nothing at all. Once you sell everything you will never get back on that ladder. Mind you dont know how the Council system works for the homeless ?

orangekazzie



Joined: 31/07/2007
Posts: 1091

Message Posted:
21/04/2008 11:54

If you give up your UK address you literally give up everything which means even saying goodbye to your stamp contributions you have paid for all of those years. If you give everything up then have a need to return you won't be entitled to free NHS anymore.

Karen

ukturk



Joined: 01/09/2007
Posts: 1974

Message Posted:
21/04/2008 12:40

hi guys

i had checked with the nhs and researched all of this before i left, you are still entitled to free nhs treatment if you have at least 10 years continuous residence in the UK, and have been abroad for less than 5 years

or if you recieve a uk state pension but live abroad , or if none of the above, you you can still be entitled to free nhs if you have lived abroad for longer than 5 years but a medical opinion may be needed in order to decide if it will be free of charge

hope this helps you guys to nhs entitlement

regards

ukturk



p.s concerning the doctor records, a doctor can actually automatically strick you off if you have not visted them in over 6 months but its down to the discretion of the doctor so if you have got good liasons with the doctor it wont be a problem, my doctor know i havent lived in the u.k for a long time i have no worries when i go back!!!!



p.p.s

people who have lived abroad and are returning to the u.k do not qualify for housing under the homelessness law but can consult and get help from the citizens advice bureau

cleos


Joined: 13/03/2008
Posts: 77

Message Posted:
21/04/2008 16:13

Hye

All we have done is changed all of our UK bank a/c to mums address - kept DR and occasionally ring up to get prescription (usually antibiotics - which are dished out -following phone request- for bad throat/ear etc !!!!) son then picks up the prescription - we are on electoral role at parents (they just added us onto the form that comes round every year) - when we left work we gave them new address (parents) and that is where all of our tax forms etc are sent and our pension updates.

Mind you we have only been here a short while (1 year) so have not had to deal with any officialdoms from UK yet.

We too tried to work out if would be better buying to rent in UK but glad we didn't due to fall in prices etc .

Re state pension - i checked and (if they are still around when we get to retirement age !!!) we can still claim it but if TRNC still not in europe then we will not get the annual increments that others get.. Private/work pension will still be entitled to.

Hope this helps - Good luck.

chrissie


Joined: 29/01/2008
Posts: 50

Message Posted:
22/04/2008 01:41

thanks everyone - you've obviously looked into this in depth and figured it all out.

the message i'm getting is that it's the NHS is the main reason for retaining a UK connection. does this mean that there are no hospitals in TRNC? i can't believe that so what's wrong with private health insurance? i don't really like the idea of leading a 'double life' and involving others in my subterfuge, plus my two kids, the only family i have, are both living abroad themselves!

as long as i receive my pension once a month and can get health insurance, access to a doctor and dentist when necessary, do i have anything else to fear by not having a UK address to fall back upon? do people actually retire to TRNC knowing that one day they'll return to the UK? it makes it seem so temporary ...

chrissie

spook


Joined: 23/01/2008
Posts: 244

Message Posted:
22/04/2008 02:18

You will find it very difficult to obtain a suitable medical insurance policy at a resonable cost to cover you in the TRNC , you normally have to pay for all treatment & perscriptions, this may not be to bad unless you have a major problem then financially this could be crippling.

I may be wrong but as i understand the situation whilst you will still receive

any increases on private pensions once you have given up your UK residence

you will not benifit from any increase in your "old age pension" it is frozen at the leval operative on the day you leave the UK.

You should consider carefully some of the very good advice that people are offering and consider carefully before you "burn all your boats" no one knows what tomorrow may bring and having a fall back option may be worth having.

Good luck in whatever you decide to do.

ukturk



Joined: 01/09/2007
Posts: 1974

Message Posted:
22/04/2008 10:36

hi chrissie

you are not mistaken the health service is very good in cyprus either it be state or private and at the end of the day their no diffrence between the u.k and cyprus because you pay all your life towards national insurance so you can use the health service in the u.k (sometimes never use it) and in cyprus you pay as you go and it is not that expensive, if you or your family are prone to illness then you can take out private medical insurance and not so bad illness like coughs and colds you canjust pop down to the local chemist and you can get almost everything over the counter

and the only reason i have a house in london remaining is not because im might go back one day to live (never!!!) its more of a case my mum and my brother are living in it, belive you me you have nothing to fear by giving up a u.k base if you have no intentions of going back and if one day it dont work out you can always go back buy a house with the equity you have by selling you place in cyprus and the rate the u.k housing market is going at the moment it wont be too hard to get back on the housing ladder, you wont losse out on nothing and you will have gained a lot of experiance and good memorys

good luck and warm regards

ukturk

chrissie


Joined: 29/01/2008
Posts: 50

Message Posted:
22/04/2008 11:25

dear ukturk



that was music to my ears - why on earth keep a place going in one of the highest taxation nations in the EU when you've opted to leave, which is what i'm hoping to do.

i just found the following paragraph on the subject when google searching for ex-pat health insurance:



"Health care facilities are very good and highly affordable. The clinics range in quality and price from basic to sophisticated, there are good levels of diagnosis facilities for serious illness as well and a lot of people are working hard to raise more funds to go towards building new wards at the main hospitals and equipping the hospitals with more state of the art equipment as well. I wouldn’t say it is necessary to have health insurance here as most procedures are affordable and over the course of the year, unless you are unfortunate enough to suffer a serious and recurring condition, your medical and dental costs will likely be far less than your insurance costs. But the decision is a personal one and one you have to be 100% confident with.



Most clinical drugs can be purchased over the counter at the many pharmacies and a lot of items can be bought far more cheaply than 'back home'".



- and i agree entirely with your final comment regarding the equity ...



thanks for your kind wishes, hope to be visiting really soon,

chrissie