Sbonnett76

Hi there, My friend and her husband emigrated to Sydney in June 2014 with their two young children. Sadly, their marriage has fallen apart and my friend has returned to the UK with the kids. Her estranged husband didn't want to come back and has remained in Australia. He had pretty much refused to pay her any child maintenance, claiming he can't afford it. She is working full time and both kids are in school full time, but having just had her child benefits cut by about £800 a month, she's at breaking point. Does anyone have any experience or knowledge of whether she's entitled to push him for child maintenance with him outside of the country? Are there any laws from the Oz side that could protect her? Any help would be appreciated. It's heartbreaking seeing her go through this. Many thanks in advance. Xxx

I was wondering what criteria there is behind being able to apply for a mortgage in the state of Victoria. My husband and I are hopefully moving to Victoria next year and whilst we're currently looking into rental properties, we would also consider buying somewhere, but I don't know if we would need to have lived in the state for a certain period of time to build up a credit rating etc. I have Australian citizenship and dual nationality, which I assume would make a difference as I can't imagine two adults on visas being able to apply for a mortgage.

Our two are softies as well! Our boy (who weighs 8 stone) is going to start going through the process if becoming a PAT (pets as therapy) dog where we'll go into hospitals, hospices and homes meeting patients and residents and giving them some pleasure by relaxing with a dog. There's not much scary about that big bear!

I can't find anything saying a rottweiler needs to be muzzled in public. If anyone has any links, could they please share? I've seen information on specific breeds such as pit bulls, but nothing on rotties.

Thanks Petals. Our cats are house cats so I have no concerns about them. It's the muzzling of the dogs that bothers me more. Neither have ever had to be muzzled! Is this a law enforced in certain suburbs or the whole of Victoria? We visited friends in Sydney a couple of years ago and two rotties were swimming in the dog section of the beach un-muzzled.

Yes, we've looked on there and although the number of pet friendly houses is massively reduced, there is still a decent selection. The thing is, it's one thing having a cat or even one dog, but two of each might be pushing our luck! We know that our animals are perfectly house trained and we are exceptionally house proud, regardless of it being a rental property, but sitting on the other side of the fence, if I had to choose between two tennants, one who are pet free and one who have two cats and two rottweilers, I know which I'd go for! :biggrin:

Hi all, Happy New Year! My husband and I are hoping to move to Melbourne in about 18 months time and I wanted to get advice and thoughts on how easy or difficult it will be to find a rental property that will be happy to accommodate me, my husband, our two cats and two dogs. We will be willing to offer an additional bond and we will also be able to provide a reference from our current landlord on the UK who has been happy for us to have our furry family. I was planning on dropping an email to a few estate agents to get their thoughts as well. We really don't want to only have the option of unpopular houses just because of our pets. We still want to have a nice good quality property, which we would look after to an exceptionally high standard. Anyway, any thoughts welcome! Sarah.

Hi there, I'm new to the site and have already found a huge amount of information on here. My husband and I are planning on moving from the UK to Victoria in 2 years (I know, it seems a long way off, but I like to plan!) and I wanted to get advice on approximate costs to move and when we should start doing stuff. I have an Australian passport and citizenship, so am sorted on that front, but we will need to get my husband a visa. We don't have any children, but we do have two cats and a dog, so need to arrange for them to transported over and quarantined for 30 days. Any advice on - visa, animal relocation, removals (and timescales for delivery), any other outlays etc would be greatly appreciated. We will be renting accommodation indefinitely when we arrive and I've already started to build up a bit of a "wish list" in terms of suburbs, thanks to postings on this site. When it comes to looking for properties, what do people suggest? Could we start to get in touch with agents before we leave so they know of our intentions and when we arrive have a list of properties to view or is it better to do everything once we're in the country? We would be able to stay with friends / family in the short term, so we don't have to have a house to move in to immediately. Basically, a check list of what we need to plan for with a vague costing next to each one would be amazing! Thank you in advance! Sarah.