Melbpom

We have gas ducted heating and it's too noisy. There's a lag between it cutting out or coming on at the right temperature and I'm forever fiddling with the control panel to override it. My ideal heating would be the type they embed in the slab, not sure what it's called. That or the radiators I grew up with.

It's early days yet with your son finishing uni. You might find that he does a few years trialing life in Australia and then returns to the UK. You mention that he's visited but that's different to day to day living.

Have you spoken with them about the amount you intend to transfer. My impression was that they set a margin in your account depending upon the $'s you anticipate exchanging. I'm sure the same would be true with Moneycorp.

If you are going down the new build route do plenty of research on the builder and check out product review websites. Read the contract carefully and get professional advice on the contract and each stage of the building.

I found that there was a lot of junk food in UK supermarkets and some really cheap deals like a pack of 4 flakes for a pound. The products seemed very sweet, maybe its just me. I bought some Mr Kipling cakes recently in Woolies and again too sweet. I do miss Waitrose and M&S. DJ's have opened a few food halls and they're excellent quality but too expensive for regular shopping.

I can't name a single policy that he took to the last election except budget surplus and that's so pre-Covid.

Exactly that Marissa, typical Scotty from Marketing.

Are you sure you're getting a full picture of Surfers? My impression is that its very touristy and given the Covid restrictions it might not have been as busy as it can be.

Your son sounds very similar to my son at that age. He is in his twenties now so my advice may be out of date. However at the time getting a place in a State Special Needs School was easier than for my other son who went to the local Catholic primary school. I chose special school rather than mainstream because of his needs and it was the right decision. I remember having plenty of choice and simply chose the school suited my son best. There were schools that specialise according to need, e.g. autism, physical disabilities, SDS (Special Development Schools). At the time there were no private special needs schools but this might have changed. You might have to apply for NDIS. Google this.

Yes and any savings or investments are more liquid hence easier to be assessed when it comes to claiming a pension or needing benefits. The system here benefits homeowners at pension time.

I've assumed that the govt are allocating returning citizen places according to the country in which a person resides. Most of us here are dual citizens but we'd know where we normally reside.

Virus

I was under the impression that the mess was of the family's own making but I agree with you that the situation clearly hasn't been dealt with in a safe manner.

I'm surprised the family hasn't been identified. I'm not saying they should be but normally the press are on top of issues like this.

Yes and perhaps that's why this has gone straight to the fraud department before I had queried the amount. I would love to know the result of their investigation but I doubt they'll tell me.

Yes they told me that at the time of closing but I didn't anticipate a transaction being posted so late.

I moved back to Australia in Feb 2019 and have recently become aware of a fraudulent transaction of about 44 GBP dated 11th July 2019. It was only posted to my old UK credit card on the 30th June 2020 and by the time the credit card statement was posted out to me in Australia it was the beginning of August before I became aware of it. I locked my credit and debit cards back in July 2019 and closed the credit card account in February 2020. I didn't make the purchase and for 44GBP who would bother. I'm now racking up late payment fees and interest while the bank's fraud team investigate. What concerned me also was that when I rang up the bank to query the statement I'd received the automatic message told me that there was still the balance of the credit available on the card. It appeared that the card was active and I had no control over it and no means of viewing any transactions online. My post is really a word of warning to any migrants to close any unused accounts as soon as possible.

It seems that you're so close to citizenship, why not stay for this? Do you want to risk getting back to the UK only to find it's changed or you have? I know timing is a worry with your daughter but it sounds like you've missed the start of high school (I could be wrong here), in which case I'd explain the delay to your daughter and head back as soon as you can.

I've used Letton Percival https://www.lettonpercival.co.uk/ . They're based in Liverpool and were very helpful to me.

Yes, get rid of local councils. Or at least regulate their activities so that they are administrators and reduce what they can spend rate payers money on, i.e. no art works, no overseas trips, no expensive cars and no politics.

There was a clip on the news a few days ago about how some airbnb hosts were catering to self isolating guests. https://www.domain.com.au/living/what-airbnb-hosts-are-doing-to-ride-out-the-covid-19-crisis-940927/

How likely that this bill will pass given that it's sponsor is from Pauline Hanson's One Nation?

In light of the current turmoil on the stock market, are there any garauntees on bank deposits? During the GFC I think is was $250k but I'm not sure if this is still in place.

It sounds like the list that the agent has given you is not too hard to address. If so then ask for access to the property and clean up the the issues however ludicrous they are. The exit condition report really should be part of the initial contract so that you know what your signing up for. Most tenants have to stay in the rental market and therefore don't argue however since you've bought a home you can if you chose to. I don't know the process in QLD but here in VIC if there's no agreement between tenant and agent then the bond with remain with the RTBA indefinitely. This is clearly wrong, there should be a time limit after which the bond is released to the tenant. Tenant then has to apply to VCAT for the bond to be released. Easy enough process, don't be put off. See if you can find a tenant's association in QLD for advice maybe https://tenantsqld.org.au/

Bring any proof of no claims bonus for your car insurance.