Fruitysunshine

Good luck Soozan. We are returning home in just over 2 weeks and it will be a few months before my Husband will be able to join us in the UK also. I hope it all goes smoothly for you and your family and that you receive plenty of support when you get to the UK. :cute:

PTP113 - your comments are the most unhelpful I have read on this board. You rarely post anything helpful in this section and it seems all you want to do is kick the boot in with your condescending comments to people/families who are REALLY struggling in many ways. I can see your comments about struggling to understand our choices but you don't HAVE to understand anything about our situation. The OP asked for thoughts and opinions and I gave mine - I didn't ask for your opinion on whether you felt we had done our research or not. I have lived in other places in the world, not quite as remote but still remote and managed quite fine thank you unlike you who openly admits they had their head up their backside for the first few years in this country. I would say in that case it's not MY behaviour that is weird as you stated... By the way please don't call me a Pom - I am Scottish so if you feel the need again to highlight my nationality in some way please use my preferred choice.

We spent our life savings getting to Perth and less than 6 months later we are going back. Bored is not the word. I had more exciting times on a wet, miserable day in the UK. I think I have dont most of the tourist attractions now... If you are being tempted by the beach then you need to consider how often you would actually go there and that also needs to take into account whether or not you would be able to secure a rental in your desired location. School, work, appointments, it all still has to go on regardless of the weather. You have to ensure you know what your aims are. If you are tempted by the sun then yep that worked for us too until we had quite a number of days where it was just too hot to go outside. If you have the money to come out first to explore and check out the job situ - where unemployment in Perth is currently 5.1% and not 3.whatever quoted earlier (it was reivsed up the way in May from an expected 5.0%) - then that would be a better idea. I know there is lots of people who talk up Oz due to their positive experiences and that is their right but for some of us it is FAR from positive for many reasons and you just need to bear in mind that if you are to give it balanced consideration.

Wishful I understand your reasons because I am considering the same. Look after yourself and don't take any negativity personally. :hug:

It doesn't seem there are a lot of people around that have broken leases so may just have to 'feel around' with this one and hope we handle it properly Cartertucker.

Hi thanks for your replies. We knew there would probably be some element of cost involved as that seems to be the way of the industry here but so far we have the remainder of the 'letting fee', reinspection fee, update of property condition report fee which so far totals to £1000 approx according to the agent. I cant find any of these fees in our contract but then it doesn't specifically have a section for break leases. We have already made our plans to return and some may say 'what do youe expect then?'. I expect to have to cover reasonable costs and not been seen as a cash cow because they have a few grand of our money sitting there which could be in their pocket which is how we are beginning to feel with these costs mounting up.

Thank you, I was also looking to see if I could benefit from anyone's experience of having actually done it.

For various reasons we are returning to the UK. The lease will be 6 months old out of a 12 month lease when we go. Just had letter from agent that generally lists all the costs that we will have to endure. Obviously we are trying to find a new tenant to replace us so that landlord doesn't lose the income but I already have concerns that the agent is setting us up for eating up a huge chunk of our $3500 bond! We have to cover the reinspection costs, inventory costs, condition report updating and the remainder of the 12 months leasing fee (whatever that is!) which so far is equating to over $1000 that I can see. We will have professional cleaners in to do house and carpets but get the feeling that may not be the end reading some of the nightmares on here. Any tips?

Thank you fifi69. We are really disappointed that we have to return so soon but we are not prepared to sacrifice our financial stability OR sell our property in the UK to allow us to live out here. We spent days forecasting, going round in circles, discussing the ins and outs and considered all the other factors and it is the best thing for our family to return. We have enjoyed discovering part of another country and if we want to we can always come out and holiday here but our family's future is in the UK and that is where we need to be based. DH will continue to work out here for quite a few months yet as he enjoys his job and has contractual obligations but we are used to being apart for long periods of time due to the nature of his industry so it doesn't phase me, especially as I have just spent several months out here with him away and I have been on my own with the children and zero support network - I am going back a stronger person with a clearer vision of what I want for my life.

Ah. I see. We are all travelling back to the UK together and DH will then fly back here to Australia so I guess that is a bit different. Such a shame Ports3 that you have to do this if you would prefer not to..

Why does his wife need his permission if the children are already citizens of the country they are returning to? I am interested as we are about to do the same thing...

Ghost I am really pleased to read that you are happy to be in the UK. We too have made the decision just this week that we should return to the UK. We are making arrangements to be back there in July sometime and are currently sorting school places for starting in September for the children. We have only been out a few months but for us it FEELS the right decision having looked at all of the circumstances. The children have been a big pull with daily echoes of missing their grandparents and friends and at the end of the day we only want them to be happy. Anyway we have told our parents now who were very surprised but are also very supportive about whatever decision we make and I think secretly excited at seeing their grandchildren so much sooner! I could relate to a lot of your posts recently and just want you to know that you have made myself and my husband feel less isolated/crazy in deciding to return to our home in the UK because of the negative reactions of people we know out here who think we are crazy.

Would just like to add that this too will have a significant effect on us. Having young children that I look after at home and paying for an older child's schools fees along with healthcare etc was certainly made more pallatable by the LAFHA allowance. We still maintain our own mortgage in the UK and the removal of this allowance is not gong to allow us to stay here any longer. Of course we knew we were only ever here temporarily but we planned to be here for the 4 years, as it stands we have only been here a few months and now will have to move the children BACK to the UK after a difficult settling in period in the first place. I have read so many things like "well you knew what you were getting into", "you are only a temporary resident what did you expect?", "Count yourself lucky you got the opportunity" but at the end of the day my husband was offered a job because there was nobody here to do it. On an earlier link on this thread some commentator mentioned about the the Irish and English knocking on the doors lining up for the work and now Australia doesn't need all these skills so they can do what they wish with the 457's. We viewed this as a working holiday, we are not rolling in money, we certainly cannot afford regular holidays etc, even in the UK but isn't that the way of the world at the moment anyway? It is certainly far more expensive to live out here than in the UK. That doesn't make me a wingeing Pom, I am just noting a fact. We moved over having done our figures and since we made the contract things have changed enough for us to send me and the children back to the UK to live in our home there whilst my husband remains here to work until such times as he can get a job in the UK. Not ideal for our family but it's been forced upon us and we have to act swiftly in order to protect the little financial security that we have with a family. We came, we saw and we're off home again. p.s.: Aoife'smum - don't worry, I know EXACTLY how desperate you are feeling but you will get through this.

Sorry for the delay in replying. DH's employer used the services of an agent and paid for the visa. We just had to provide all the information by email (ages scanning things!) and he did everything else, emailed us the forms, we printed off, signed and scanned back and 6 days later receive an email from the agent saying visa approved. Once he submitted the information he gave us the reference number so we could keep check of the progress electronically. HTH. DH's employer have been very good at the level of support they have given us since this process started.

Cheers Tony - really nervous about such a long flight but it is a night one initially so will sleep through it hopefully! Anybody else going out this week/next? :wink: