SaffanZimbo

More than a little worried..... We rented out our UK house and our UK accountant sent us a lovely email in May advising that as OH and my tax profit was GBP5470 was less than the threshold we do not have any UK tax liability..... However, we now need to disclose this on our Australian Tax returns and have no idea where we will get the money to pay the tax on the UK income in Australia. Our mortgage payments, insurances etc cover our UK mortgage with just under GBP100 left in the bank so we don't have any "profit" from the UK to transfer here to pay the Australian Tax. We don't have much in saving here either as I'm in a very low paid job and we transfer $'s to NZ to support my mum who is on a pension.... Can we arrange a payment plan with the ATO to pay the monies due over the year?

Quick update: We finally went with PSS based on price and feel. The final price £6255 but just got a "extra" bill for £137 for currency difference. We also took advantage of their offer of a "free" carton of goods weighing up to 25kgs door to Perth Airport and upgraded (£80) for door to door. Container due to sail today according the the tracking. Just hope Kent Removals in Perth are as good as their UK team who were quite frankly AMAZING! Prompt, efficient, courteous and fantastic sense of humours x 4. They had us packed in 4.5 hours on day 1 and on Day 2 packed the car and bike and household onto the container in 3 hours!

You'll probably need to get an agent's advice as to what trade your hubby would qualify under. Most reputable agents give a free assessment. My OH is an apprentice trained Fitter & Turner now working as a Multi Skilled Maintenance Engineer and our agent gave us a trade code we hadn't thought was relevant but we now have our visa (after twice failing the TRA assessment!) and off to Perth in September.

Lindsay - we are in the process of getting quotes and have 2 so far for a 40" high top container including car and motorbike. The first quote was £7972 and the second £5979. Both quotes were for almost the same volume of 1650-1680 cubic feet so not sure why the big difference. We however really liked the first company - just had a "feel" that they were the one.... We have a 3rd company coming on 22nd May to give us a quote and if their quote is competitive we will ask the first company to requote or try and haggle them down to around £6-£6.5k as we really liked them and would prefer to move with them..... Our criteria for the move are: 1. Reputation ("feel") of the company / feedback from clients both for the UK and Perth side (Perth side more so as this is were some companies fail dismally) 2. location of the warehouse - we need to get the car there and would prefer not to travel more than 1 hour 3. Advice on what to take / leave - the first company advised to leave all wooden items if they were "iffy" but take our stock of "freebies" from OH's work - toothpaste, dedorants etc. the 2nd company said take the wooden items and leave the "freebies"! 4. Insurance costs - the first company was 3% fully covered no excess no quibble / the 2nd company was 2.5% and excesses apply and no clear if mold is covered (need to really read the small print) 5. Packing details - how many days, what we need to pre-pack, advice on leaving goods in drawers etc. 6. Clearing of goods in Perth - how good are the agents there? Goods are most liable to damage once upacked from the container for inspection by ACQUIS and customs.... will the agents supervise and repack properly???? 7. Price - not just the container but also insurance, clearing of goods, cleaning that side etc. the first company gave us a comprehensive list of costs in Perth (GST and Duty on vehicles) and also possible add ons for cleaning etc. - very useful info! Good luck for your move!

2nd quote in from White and Company at £5979 - there quote includes bike crate but said they will not need to overcrate the car. A huge difference to the Doree Bonner (£7467 + add-ons) quote and both were for almost the same cubic feet + car + bike... Not sure if DB didn't want the job so quoted high ..... Will go ahead with a third quote to get the lay of the land me thinks....

The car is a VW Passat Estate so quite large. I recall from my quotes a year ago that a 20" was around £4-4.5k and the car seperately around £2-£2.2k. If we can't haggle the price of the 40" down we'll ask the companies to requote on a 20" and car seperately but OH would prefer the car to be in a container as opposed to RORO. I was hoping for the quote to come in around £6-£6.5k... I am hoping to reduce the quote as the lady from the 2nd company who came today recommended I reclutter the loft and reduce the volume by 30-40% as that area alone was 50-60 boxes.... eeek!! I will be able to get rid of at least 20 boxes of the kids toys and old clothing etc and then start being ruthless with items like books, dvd's and OH and my clothing....

Just in case anyone is interested, we are in the process of getting quotes for our move in September. First two companies have visited and 1 quote received from Doree Bonner (2nd quote from White and Company due tomorrow via email): Doree Bonner quote £7972 for a 40" high top container (no difference in price between 40" and 40" hightop apparently so we have gone with the high top) Breakdown is Container £7467 Motorbike crate £130 TV crate £45 (optional??) Car overcrating £330 (optional?) Insurance 3% Admin fee 1% DB also gave us a rough estimate of costs for the car and motorbike for GST and duty in Perth of $1763.00. So far both companies have estimated the same volume of around 1650-1680 cubic feet. However the lady from White and Company who visited today said that if I declutter the loft this volume could be significantly reduced (she nearly fainted at the sight of the goods stacked in the loft......). W&C would also not crate the TV as they cardboard and overwrap older model TV's which they say is sufficient. Newer flat screen TV's have to be crated as they are less robust. They would also try to avoid overcrating the car as it is an unnecesary expense. Both companies would pack in 3 days and then transport all the goods (and crated motorbike) via vans to their warehouses to pack into the container. DB are based in High Wycome and W&C and Farnborough so we could easily deliver the car to them ourselves. Not sure if this is of help to anyone else but hopefully is helpful.

Thank you for your responses. Don't let on to OH but I am a little glad that the Oz regulations will not permit him to take the bike in question as it makes the paperwork and container shipping much, much simpler if there is no motorbike to add to the equation!

OH has been offered a "fantastic deal" on a 2001 model motorbike (don't ask me the make/model, I'm clueless when it comes to 2 wheeled motored forms of transport). I am almost 100% sure that we will not be able to take it with when we move later this year (our container is due to be shipped in October/November). I think that on a PR visa you have to have owned and used a vehicle for the 12 months before the move and provided proof to this effect in order to take the vehicle with. The bike in question and a UK value of £2-3k so nothing valuable - but a "rare find" which OH would dearly love to take with..... is there any chance this can be done or should he not even bother buying it?? The seller needs an answer tomorrow and despite my google searches I cannot find anything which we could use as a loophole.... Thoughts anyone? :huh:

We are planning a move in January 2015. We got our visa in 2012 and validated in April 2013. We had hoped to move in September this year.... but circumstances seem to be conspiring against us so we've set early January as our date. We are headed to Perth and during our April reccie we narrowed our preferred suburbs down to 4 so it will be a case of wait until we finally arrive, do another drive around and pop into a few schools and then decide where to try for a rental.

Caversham Wildlife Park - was the favourite during our LSD in April. The Rio Tinto experience for kids at Kings Park and Kings Park in general (take a picnic lunch). Busselton Pier if you are headed out of Perth. Our kids absolutely loved Cottesloe Beach (and all the beaches) and our eldest swam with dolphins (Rockingham Encounters were fab!) for her 6th birthday - truly memorable!

Started on our (long) list of DIY ahead of renting out our house next year. New flooring laid in Kitchen and Bathroom Driveway jetwashed, stained and resealed in 3 days Really lucky with the weather as we had probably the last week of hot sunny weather for this year. Time to tacke the last 17 items on our list. Still debating whether it is worth putting down new carpets in the lounge, dining room...... Current ones are 10 years old and come up great after a Rug Doctor treatment but look shabby again within a few months.....

Very good post! At the end of the day landlords are (whether we like it or not) in it for the money. We will be renting out UK house out next year and becoming tenants in Perth. I am stressing about getting the right tentants in as we've spent the last 7 yeards improving the house and our priority is to get a tenant who looks after the property and that includes the garden (we are leaving the mower / strimmer and other garden tools). Equally, when we move to Perth we are hoping to find a rental where we are allowed to maintain/improve the house and gardens to make it comfortable. I've read somewhere that some landlords don't allow you to make any changes at all during the lease and most houses do require a lick of paint every 2-3 years...... Hopefully we can find a landlord who thinks like we do..... but not sure when we start out if we can afford to offer more cash up front.... so will settle for compiling a little resume showing how we have cared for our own home and letters from our neighbours stating that we are "good" neighbours and hope this does the trick!

Fares vary according to the holiday seasons and lots of other factors but mostly by seat availability on the date in question. Try using a site like kayak.com which lets you see how the prices of flights vary over a period. We did that we booked our validation trip and were amazed at how much we could save.

Not the same countries, however I have booked my MIL to fly from SA to UK ever summer and booked and paid in the UK (using expedia) as it was way cheaper than booking and paying in SA. You will probably need a UK credit card to do this though.

Valley of the Giants, Walpole, WA?

You'll need to prove that you have used the car regularly for the year before you take it to Oz. The rules are very strict about this so worth reading the small print. You'll also need to check that the insurance in Belgium won't be prohibitively high due to the car being RHD etc. It may be worth doing some research on what cars you want to take with and getting an estimated cost of shipping from Iron Lady Imports. We have just bought a car to take with next year and can't believe the saving, even after shipping costs, compared to buying the same spec car in Perth! Good luck.

We were quoted £6870 for a 40 foot container from Berkshire to Perth (£3640 for a 20 foot). £10k sounds excessive tbh. I'd shop around.

Go Matilda (or any other registered migration agent) will be able to tell you the visa type and qualifications you need to get into Oz. The mining industry in WA is slowing down a little so check if you can get a visa which allows you work throughout Oz or if it is easier/quicker to get a state sponsored visa. For us the trade certification was the hardest part of whole visa process (OH is a self employed tradesman)! The visa process in total cost us just over £5k but that included medicals for a family of 4 £670, PCC for 2 adults, TRA fees of AUD600 and agent's fees of AUD1800. Good luck!

Bought our "new-ish" car to take with next year. We now can plan for our move any time after 9 June 2014. Very sad that we are in the process of selling my beloved VW Golf but can't afford to take two cars with us.... and can't afford to run three cars till we go either. Next on the list is a massive sale of old toys, child car seats, children's clothing and anything else in the loft which won't be going with.... just need to decide whether to sell on Facebook / Gumtree or ebay (not a fan of ebay..)

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but I think you have to have owned it 12 months and have used it continuously during the time BEFORE arriving in Oz.... We are in the same boat, we bought a car last weekend but are not planning on moving until July 2014. We however also blundered in that we licensed the new family car in OH's name..... but he is taking his motorbike as well so we now have to change ownership via the DVLA on the car or face Oz import duty.... Tricky thing the car to Oz import rules and regulations.:arghh:

Could anyone please confirm if OH can take both his motorbikes with when we move? He has a Fireblade and a TDM and we are not sure he can take both...... We will also be taking the family car VW Passat Estate.

We were very worried about the girls on the flight especially the LHR to Singapore leg and return. They really surprised us. Our 5 year old watched the movies and then slept for 7 hours on the outbound. Our 3 year old was over tired and doesn't really like TV so after a little whining session she fell asleep and slept for over 8 hours. They missed the meals so we kept these and they had them when they woke up. We had a stock of crayons and colouring books, DS's and their favourite stuffed animal but these weren't really used much at all. We had ordered kids meals for all the flights and their food was brilliant - much better than the adult meals! We are hoping to move in June/July next year, but will be renting our UK house for 2-3 years before deciding on which area of Perth we want to buy in. Good luck for your trip. Perth /WA is awesome!

Thinking of buying car to take with as shocked by second hand car prices we saw during our reccie. Please could you let me know if either option is worth considering: 2008 VW Golf 1.9 Match TDI 5 dr 69000miles £6.3k $13,200-15,200 2009 VW Golf TDI 2.0 52,000 miles £6,990 $16,900-19,200 Could you also confirm if the speedometer needs changing from miles to kms/hour and any other modifications required to make it roadworthy in Australia?

OMG. We were planning on doing a move ourself and had the company on our list to contact. OH now adamant that we will go with one of the reputable companies and get them to pack. It means we will have less $'s on arrival but at least we will be assured our goods will get there! Hope everyone who has dealing with xxx get their monies back!