How much does it cost to live in north Cyprus?

malsancak


Joined: 23/08/2009
Posts: 2874

Message Posted:
21/11/2009 11:00

"I'm often asked by people wanting to retire to north Cyprus, "how much will I need to live there?" Back in 2002 it was possible to live on £500pm if you had a villa and a car which needed very little extra money paid on them. This has doubled over the last 7 years mainly because of local inflation but also because of the weakness of sterling..."

Read the rest on http://www.northcyprusfreepress.com

Pipie


Joined: 05/01/2008
Posts: 5499

Message Posted:
21/11/2009 12:03

Very good Mal, good comparisons outlined there. cheers



What really confuses me is the cost of maintaining a swimmimg pool. While I take on board a domestic pool costs the amount stated by Mal (approx cost ) how come a complex pool can cost between £500 to £700 a month to maintain I know the pools are bigger but appears to be very costly in comparison.

No1Doyen


Joined: 04/07/2008
Posts: 16617

Message Posted:
21/11/2009 12:17

This is a question that has no exact answer. Everyone will live a different lifestyle - some will have Villas with pools and some without. Some will live on complex's where there are management fees to pay



As a guide I would guess you would need between £1200 and £2000 per month. However you could possibly do it for less and some will spend more.

malsancak


Joined: 23/08/2009
Posts: 2874

Message Posted:
21/11/2009 12:22

I encourage everyone to maintain their own pools as labour is the main cost. Chemicals work out about £20pm and yet many pool companies charge £100pm in the summer for cleaning a pool. This is a fair price however as, including travelling time, this would probably mean between 4-8hrs of labour per month depending on the distance travelled between pools. I'd just rather pay myself £10 every time I cleaned the pool as it only takes me 30 minutes each time.

malsancak


Joined: 23/08/2009
Posts: 2874

Message Posted:
21/11/2009 13:05

No1Doyen wrote, "as a guide I would guess you would need between £1200 and £2000 per month"

In the UK a couple on a pension are supposed to only NEED about £10000pa (£833pm) to live on, not including rent and council tax. If what you say was true then retiring here for financial reasons would be idiotic. Perhaps you are right.

vikingqueen



Joined: 07/02/2009
Posts: 241

Message Posted:
21/11/2009 14:33

more expensice than the UK now!!

hattikins


Joined: 17/02/2008
Posts: 2793

Message Posted:
21/11/2009 15:01

I hav to disagree with message 6, when you take into account council tax/water rates/ energy costs in the UK then NC is definitely not as expensive. Food prices are rising and interest rates are falling here but all in all I think we are much better off financially living here.

sloan



Joined: 24/02/2009
Posts: 808

Message Posted:
21/11/2009 15:05

Interesting figures, but I wonder how the basic/comfortable and well off manage to keep their eating/drinking out to such low figures. Maybe I am still trying to get my head around being semi-resident, but most days seem to be 'Where shall we eat today?'

malsancak


Joined: 23/08/2009
Posts: 2874

Message Posted:
21/11/2009 15:05

The challenge of the NCFP article was to see if a pensioner couple could live here on a UK pension. I believe they could, even though in the UK they could have their rent, council tax, medical bills, bus travel etc paid for free.

sloan



Joined: 24/02/2009
Posts: 808

Message Posted:
21/11/2009 15:11

I am sure that they could have a pleasant, comfortable life here - if the playing field remains level.

deecyprus4


Joined: 27/07/2008
Posts: 3452

Message Posted:
21/11/2009 16:53

I think when you weigh one up against the other they work out about the same. Council tax in UK expensive, gas for your heating here bloody expensive.

malsancak


Joined: 23/08/2009
Posts: 2874

Message Posted:
21/11/2009 16:58

msg 8, sloan wrote, "but I wonder how the basic/comfortable and well off manage to keep their eating/drinking out to such low figures"

That's why we at NCFP wrote the 50TL for a meal and a drink for 2 articles. See http://www.northcyprusfreepress.com/2009/11/20/50tl-meal-drink-for-2-%E2%80%93-zekis-cafe-and-bar-lapta. This assumes eating out once a week and out for a drink one another day a week. Mind you this does assume "sensible drinking."

Tatum1


Joined: 23/03/2009
Posts: 337

Message Posted:
21/11/2009 17:34

Hi.

What nobody is mentioning is the life style here.

You can have as much or as little social activity here as you like and people are far more friendly than in the UK.Most social life in the UK is expensive and especially if in the Winter months as people are less inclined to want to go out after dark.

I think that all in all it is very difficult to compare the two.

However the weather clearly has to help here and I certainly do not miss the UK weather

HOWEVER MY VOTE IS DEFINITELY TO CHOOSE HERE

mikki09


Joined: 17/10/2009
Posts: 129

Message Posted:
21/11/2009 17:37

Since we have been here, I have found it is more expensive than the uk.

sloan



Joined: 24/02/2009
Posts: 808

Message Posted:
21/11/2009 17:42

malsancak - I now know where I am going wrong, but am enjoying the error of my ways.

loslobos


Joined: 02/04/2009
Posts: 167

Message Posted:
21/11/2009 18:14

You need £1,000 per month to live in TRNC, that's basic living.

malsancak


Joined: 23/08/2009
Posts: 2874

Message Posted:
21/11/2009 18:43

again, it's as Tatum1 said, it's down to lifestyle. If you don't drink much or smoke and enjoy the sunshine and BBQ life with friends rather than restaurants then it's cheap to live here. If you have a wood stove rather than central heating, if you buy local food and drink rather than imported at the supermarkets, if you paint your own villa... It's down to lifestyle. At NCFP we hope to break the budget down and show how they work

Woodspeckie


Joined: 25/01/2009
Posts: 2263

Message Posted:
21/11/2009 22:15

We live on around £800 a month here in the UK, including insurance, Sky TV, water rates, electric & Gas Diesel TV licence, eating out once a week and a bottle of wine at the weekend and treats for the grandchildren.

Smity



Joined: 14/09/2009
Posts: 826

Message Posted:
21/11/2009 22:34

MSG 6 VQ

Sorry got to disabgee petrol £110 per litre, council Tax £1200/year water rates £400/year gas and electric £1800 -£2500/year

Give me TRNC any day, cant wait to retire then Gorden Brown and his cronies can kiss my lilly white backside.

TinLondon


Joined: 20/07/2009
Posts: 171

Message Posted:
21/11/2009 23:48

Smity,



I'm sorry I have to disagree.. My energy costs are no more than £260 a quarter, water (got the bill today) is on average £100 for six months (metered property), telephone, broadband, digital tv is £30 a month, food / grocery, electricals and clothing is also cheaper in UK (depending where you shop). As others have mentioned, the things that are cheaper in NC are things like council tax & petrol, however, I have to be honest, I'm not sure what the true cost of driving is in NC to compare? Things like insurance, road tax (if there's such a thing), but I hear you do need to pay to renew driving licences every 3 years, is that true?



But I do agree with the comments made earlier, it all depends on your lifestyle, you need to take in to account medical / hospital costs, how often you eat out, etc. Overall a very difficult comparison to make.

Jeannie


Joined: 04/08/2009
Posts: 3283

Message Posted:
22/11/2009 00:27

Smity, message 19. Blimey - where the hell to you buy your petrol? £110 per litre?

the butler


Joined: 22/06/2007
Posts: 1958

Message Posted:
22/11/2009 00:57

The last time I was in Cyprus, I tried to keep a note of things I was spending my money on and then looked at this again when I got home. Eating out and petrol were my biggest spends but I know if I was living there all the time I wouldn't be eating out 3 times a week and as neither of us smoke and my hubby only has a can or two a night we would save there. We would need to plan our journeys so that we weren't using the car every day. Having spoken to my neighbours, they tell me it is a lot different when you live permanantly in Cyprus than when you just visit. You get to know where the best buys are and you stop going out so much. I think we could manage on £200 per week. After all the majority of locals manage to live on just over half of this. I am a good cook and I cook from scratch, so I will save money by not buying convenience foods and only buying the local produce. Also I try to only buy meat twice a week and not wasting anything.



The butlers wife

vikingqueen



Joined: 07/02/2009
Posts: 241

Message Posted:
22/11/2009 08:18

msg 14.. I have lived here for 15 years and I can see the difference in standard of living,,, to expensive here now

AlsancakJack



Joined: 14/08/2008
Posts: 5762

Message Posted:
22/11/2009 09:18

TinLondon

Re message 20:



'but I hear you do need to pay to renew driving licences every 3 years, is that true?'



There are options and it is possible to get a 10 year licence.

AJ

Tatum1


Joined: 23/03/2009
Posts: 337

Message Posted:
22/11/2009 09:44

Driving license I believe is 5 or 10 yer option

malsancak


Joined: 23/08/2009
Posts: 2874

Message Posted:
22/11/2009 10:15

I'm glad that Woodspeckie and the_butler agree with the £800pm figure. When we first came here in 2002 we found that £500pm could pay for everything including eating out a few times a week. We even discovered one restaurant in Catalkoy where a meal and a drink for 2 was £6! I'll now go into Grumpy Old Man mode, you could get a haircut for £2, a 500ml Gold Fassl in the supermarket was 38p and petrol was 55p a litre.....

bachelibelly


Joined: 04/09/2008
Posts: 275

Message Posted:
22/11/2009 10:26

Just returned from a 3 week visit albeit on my lonesome and i tried to work out an average weekly budget incl everything , house running costs , car costs ,eating out and drinks ,results as follows based on going out 20 nights out of 21 !





Week 1/ £256 as near as dammit although £80 was alcohol oops.and did eat out only twice i think !



Week 2/ £200 as i cooked 3 meals that cost £1.30 each ( bachelors packet pasta mix an large jacket potato)



Week3/ Lost interest in the job as was aving a really good time ,met lots of new friends , i can only remember my bill for last night was 89 tl incl curry at 17 tl and was emptying the fridge.



As a footnote i find the best way to work out costs is to try and knock uk costs of trnc costs or vice versa and use the difference as a guidline figure as when i am away apart from council tax and water house remains empty and you can only eat and drink in one at a time , unfortunately, hic.