ramot

Ive spent a lot of time in both Dubai and Singapore. The temperature in Dubai will be lovely in December/January, google the best attractions, but Ive spent a lot of time in both Dubai and Singapore, and suggest you google the best attractions there, as i am a bit out of date Singapores public transport is excellent, Dubai relies mainly on taxis. Hotels are mainly very very good in both places, and both airports have airside hotel rooms, but are ok for a quick sleep/stopover, but aren’t like a real hotel The weather will be lovely in Dubai, in December/January, great for swimming and there is indoor skiing/snowboarding in one of the enormous malls, or going out on a desert safari, are definite attractions, and Emirates sometimes offer 1 nights free accommodation. The weather will be hot and humid in Singapore, but there is so much to do there, again best google the best activities, night safari at the zoo, adventure water park, bird paradise, Singapore flyer,. Kuala Lumpur, from only a few visits would be my least choice,, ok zoo, again use google All places great to visit, and very different to each other, enjoy whichever you choose.

I’m not knowledgeable enough to give advice about renting out an Australian property, when living in UK, as I know things are set up differently for landlords here, but we have done the reverse for the 20 years we have lived in Australia, and have rented out UK properties. We don’t find it a problem at all, we use a management company, have insurance policies to cover anything that needs maintenance or replacing, it makes sense to keep properties in good condition. We use an accountant who is knowledgeable in both Australian and UK tax. and in our case, the rent has always covered the outgoings, and the properties have increased lots in value. It would be a good idea to contact Alan Collett about the tax implications. If the rent you will receive leaves you very out of pocket then that is a serious consideration. You also have to think about how practical the property is to rent out. I live on the Sunshine Coast, and houses are still selling very quickly near me at ridiculous prices, and there is a big shortage of rental properties, and, as you mention , the Olympics are 10 years away, which probably won’t be a bad thing for future house prices. Not an easy decision, good luck

I realise we did the reverse, but for nearly the last 20 years, after we retired to live in Australia, we have flown back to UK, for on average for 3 months most years, and have always rented somewhere.when there. It’s not a cheap exercise!! Fares, car hire, possibly renting somewhere. All our 3 children were in UK when we came here, 2 followed us to live here, but our oldest stayed in Bristol and our only grandchildren are there, hence the regular visits. Quite frankly we are over flying long haul, even though over the years we have broken the journey by staying with friends enroute, or stayed overnight in airport hotels, but the journey doesn’t get any easier. We last went back in October, but honestly I really have had enough of the travelling, even though our only grandchildren are in Bristol. really don’t want to commit to going again. I realise we are retired and have the freedom to travel, but a part of us feels, if apart from their siblings weddings, they show no interest in coming here, why should it always be us going there. Of course cost for a family of 4 comes into it, except we have always paid for most of it for the 2 wedding trips.

Also in our case our retirement income is not set up the same way as Australian retirees, we don’t have Superannuation, so not much chance of being eligible for an Australian Pension, or anything else income related, so best not to bank on getting government help, a bonus if you are eligible.

Best this thread is closed down, it’s not achieving anything except a platform for a poster.

I’m really surprised by Virgin’s reaction. We have used Wise, previously Transferwise, for years and continue to, to transfer money monthly as all our income is from Uk. We have never had a problem, and the money is usually in our Australian bank within 24hours. I genuinely think Wise has a good reputation, and think I would try to to get a bit of proof from Virgin about their stance. The information, if true?, could be useful to know.

Should have said 2 of my children

Don’t blame you, unfortunately time after time threads are taken over by a poster, and deteriorate into online ‘I know better than everyone else’ , especially if the thread can then include the use of illegal drugs, even if irrelevant to the original post. I wish you all the best with your decision, both my children followed us here in their 30’s. sadly they don’t have children, but they love their lives here, as does my son and family who are equally happy in Bristol. No one place suits everyone. The Sunshine Coast is fabulous place to live for families judging by the young families I know., x M

I do tend to agree with you Cherry Thistle about negative and incorrect advice given to prospective immigrants who post on PIO, even though I am one of the oldies who does post, I never give immigration advice. . I think if anyone who seeks advice from a public forum, should realise that most replies will come from other posters, who however well intentioned are not M Agents So the advice might not be correct, but I also know how much help and support I have had and been grateful for over the years of my and my children’s immigration journey. The problem that occurs is that sometimes, potential immigrants take offence at the replies or at the tone of the reply to their questions, respond accordingly, and that doesn’t help anyone. Long term members of PIO who stay around to help new posters, including me, do it to genuinely try to help. If we had all left, or never replied, there would be no point in PIO continuing, as not many new members who have been helped bother these days to stay around to help.

Yes you are right, I meant not being a part of the community when we visit our son in Bristol. We have never lived in our investment properties, and always had a home base, which for the last 20 years has been the Sunshine Coast. I don’t worry at all about leaving a house empty, as we have never ever had a house/flat without a tenant. I was just pointing out the pitfalls that others might not have considered. I didn’t intend to confuse, I was trying to fill my time in hospital waiting for my husband to have the plaster taken off his broken ankle, X-ray etc, so kept stopping and starting while I was writing. His ankle is mending but another 6 weeks before he can drive, not a happy husband.

We bought as investment properties which is why we would never leave them empty. We only go to UK to visit our son and grandsons, don’t need to feel part of a community as we have never lived there. It did became increasingly hard though to bother to readjust to living in each country and community after 10 years.

We wouldn’t rent out on Airbnb, but even though we are far from financially uncomfortable in our retirement, wouldn’t consider leaving 3 properties empty with only limited use. There would be concerns about the upkeep, possible insurance restrictions if empty? and as another poster mentioned, break ins, squatters. When we were in Brunei, we bought a small easy to maintain terrace house in our old village, as all our 3 children were still in Uk, either at boarding school or university, to have a base for them, and as I was probably back about every 6 weeks, it made sense, until the older 2 were settled. We then bought a house in London for our daughter to live in while at University, rented out 2 rooms to other students, and since she left, it has been rented out for about 20 years. The thought that we would leave any of our properties empty since we retired 20 years , never crossed our minds. The income is far better option, than worrying about empty costly to maintain hardly used properties,

We always had house sitters for here until last year, as we only went to England for 5 weeks, our son and wife came most weekends and we have good neighbours. We won’t be going so often now, and more likely for a shorter time. Renting in England before Airbnb was almost impossible as most rents were for a minimum of 6 months. Airbnb and Stayz made such a difference. We rent mostly though Stayz, it’s very easy. We don’t go in summer, we prefer Spring and Autumn.

We seriously considered living between UK and Australia when we retired 20 years ago. We already had properties in both UK and Australia. I was the one who decided against it, I had already lived between Brunei and England for 10 years, coping with never feeling really settled in either, and needed to feel one place was going to be home. The other reality was the necessity of renting out the main property while in the other country, then deciding to give the good tenants notice in either country when we wanted to move either way, to then have to find new tenants every 6 months. For us it didn’t make sense to do that. So we kept tenants in place in our UK properties, made our Australia our home, had house sitters, and rented in England as we have visited for about 3 months almost every year.since. It’s far less disruptive, we kept good tenants and the regular income. We do advise using good accountants.

2 different situations affected us, Son was on a student visa and there were 2 retrospective changes made to the visa conditions by the then Labor immigration minister. It was a long time ago, the 2nd was the worst one, and I can’t remember the details, except my son had lodged his application for PR, which up to then came through in weeks, instead to the best of my memory, the very next day he, and thousands of other students were retrospectively placed on temporary visa A for at least 3 years, before the majority were then told to leave the country in weeks. Sadly some students committed suicide, it was a bad time for those affected. We were on the 410 retirement visa, closed to new applicants, we had to be totally self funded, no access to Medicare, or any state help. We had to have overseas health insurance, which became so expensive over the years in comparison to what we were charged when for instance we came in 2003 that many people who had lived here for 30 years could no longer afford it and had to leave Australia.

I can only help with living on the Sunshine Coast, and not with the work opportunities. July usually has beautiful winter weather, sunny clear blue skies and reasonably warm in the middle of the day, chilly at night. Most schools have a good reputation, the families that I know have a great life here, lots of sports all the usual clubs eg scouts, guides, nippers. Great beaches, Many families seem to go camping at every opportunity. There are of course the usual problems that exist everywhere, but it generally feels a safe place to live, property has increased in price, and houses are still selling quickly. Brisbane airport is an hour away, an hour and a quarter to the center of Brisbane on a clear run, , but the traffic can be bad at rush hour, busy at weekends, and bad if there is an accident. Lots of road works at the moment between S Coast and Brisbane prior to the Olympics in 2032, but should eventually make it a lot better. Maroochydore airport covers most internal routes.

Keep posting, I can’t help with W A , but there are lots of good people on PIO, who do their best to help and give advice.to others. Wish you all the best with your move to Mandurah xM

Alan, would this impact on a parent gifting money to an offspring, and inheritance tax, if the parent sadly dies before 7 years. if the parent now lives permanently in Australia. Hope that makes sense. and sorry if it’s too complex a situation for you to answer easily on PIO forum

I don’t know if our recent experience will help, as we are not restricted to the 10 year time limit on the 143. My husband broke his ankle, and while in emergency he was seen by both a physiotherapist and occupational therapist. He will need physio therapy for quite some time, we do have private cover, so the advice was, first use your private, then your 5 (not always free) sessions from your Medicare care plan, as soon as he goes on the care plan, apply to go on the hospital list for further treatment, to hopefully then not wait too long to get further hospital physio therapy, he should be near the top of the list by then. We then saw the occupational therapist, who put him down for a home assessment, and if appropriate then on a care package from a provider, but Honestly not sure if by then we will still be eligible, but will be in the system. Both of them were full of advice and helped as much as they could. there didn’t seem to be any instant help obviously available, but luckily our son could come for 3 weeks, he could work remotely, but had to leave yesterday. Our Dr. wrote a letter for his company saying he was eligible for emergency care leave to look after us, as I had just had a pacemaker fitted, and was supposed to take it easy for a few weeks, and my husband broke his ankle only a few days later. I really hope you manage to get some help, it’s a worrying time, check out if temporary care in a care home is a possible option.

Wish you all the best with wherever you end up. I posted the information in case it helped, like anywhere prices have gone up to a crazy high level here, as so many people wanted to move here, during covid enabling people to work from home.xM

Not all the Sunshine Coast has Noosa prices

yes the Sunshine Coast is hot and humid during summer, but you would be daft not to have reverse cycle air con and fans , just as you would be daft not to have central heating in UK for winter. It certainly isn’t too hot and humid to be out and about, but probably avoid the middle of the day if you are local. Realistically the humidity is there for the 3 summer months, people adapt, and then most of us love the perfect weather for the other 9 months of the year, Winter can feel a bit chilly, but I enjoy the change and wearing trousers and a light jumper for a change, and a jacket in the evening but that need is only about 6 weeks.

Is the seniors Health Card income dependant? We have to pay the PBS rate, until we hit the combined safety net, then we get the $6 rate for the rest of the year on all our scripts that certainly helps.

I know you hear of nightmare tenants, but we have rented UK properties for 25 years plus, from overseas, as have most expats we know, and never had a problem. We have used different agents as our properties aren’t in the same place, they are in charge of everything, and as mentioned never had a problem. Good luck with whatever you decide

That surprised me, because unless the rules have changed? I received 17 years credited to me for child rearing, plus I found out that I could contribute a certain amount before I reached Pension age, to receive a larger pension. Don’t know the age of your mother’s friend, but I was eligible from age 60 to receive my pension. Be a bit unfair if child rearing years are now discounted.