kobi

Hi, We let out 2 properties in the UK, from memory your letting agent should have a form for you to sign or you go online on the gov website and once thats done you'll get all your rental income. The agent only with holds the tax element if the forms are not completed. This is from memory from a few years ago, but your letting agent should know what you need to do!

Thanks for the newsletter link jumpingjillybean! looks very handy.

Hi Quoll thanks for the reply. I'm afraid it's too late for a career break for me. My company doesn't have such flexibility. Unfortunately. Fortunately my wife's firm allow a career break for upto 2 years with a further 2 on negotiation which she has wisely taken up. I have always wanted to run my own business so this maybe the ideal chance to do so and try my hand at something different. We are under no illusions that it's going to be easy and a doddle but not much in life is though. we are also fortunate that the wife has secured a reasonably paid job so allows us to make the jump with at least some financial security. For the moment we are booked into a serviced apartment in part of the new 'hotel hotel' development,Nishi, in new Acton. Onwards from there we are looking at renting in Garran to get kids into the Garran primary which is highly regarded. Our son is in private school here and it appears it's much more affordable over in Canberra so we have that as an option if needed for both kids ( although I'm quite hoping we do not have to go down this route as every dollar saved will help us financially! ). We've been searching on all homes relentlessly but until we arrive in a couple of weeks there's not too much we can do and of course it will be great to get out and see feel Canberra first hand. Appreciate all the replies back so far

Thanks Marisawright. I did read your post the other day.... not many posters though on the ACT section, but I do check it out every now and then just in case!

Hi All, Just thought i'd post a little bit about myself and my family and our upcoming move over to Australia.. We've just had John Mason load up our container this afternoon. We've waved them off and I'm now currently sat on my backside in our empty lounge waiting for the kids to arrive from school and listening to their gasps and watching their tears roll wondering where all their stuff has gone ( Fifa on the Playstation is going to be missed ). I'm a male, 36, married with 2 kids ( 8 yr old son and 9 yr old daughter ) wife is 38. my wifes a pharmacist and I'm a sales office manager ( we've used the wifes occupation which has been on various skills lists over the past 18 months to secure our PR ) I first visited Oz back as a kid with my parents, it was wonderful. Toured up and down the coast in a campervan. I then came over again last year with the missus. It was her first visit but for me I was quite taken aback by the huge growth and development that had taken place since I had been over previously as a kid ( I don't know why or where this element of surprise came from to be honest ). Anyways we visited Sydney, Melbourne but spent most of our time in Adelaide as this was our chosen destination if we moved over. We spent just under 2 weeks visiting schools, malls, the city, housing developments etc to get a feel of the place. Shortly after returning and upon the start of our application, S.A took pharmacists off the skilled occupation list. It was a blow, but as we have a comfortable lifestyle here in leafy Berkshire, it wasn't the end of the world. However after a few months passed the wife and I started to wonder when or if her skill/experience would reappear and would our dreams of moving over be just that, a pipe dream. Then a few months later there were some updates on the skills list and would you believe it, Pharmacists were required in the good old ACT. Now hang on... I know what most of you may be thinking... I was too. But we kept our eyes and ears open and did some research. To be honest, as much as I wanted to not consider the ACT and Canberra in particular... there were hardly any negatives that really put me off. The cold winter and politicians aside... Canberra seemed like an ideal place to start off our new adventure particularly as we had 2 young kids to think about to. So ahead we went with our visa application, PR granted in June of this year. Wife gets a Clinical Pharmacy role ( I may have made up that job title slightly ) at the Royal Canberra Hospital. Next thing I know is that I'm handing in my notice at the company I've been at for the past 13 years ( started fresh out of uni ) and cancelling the order on my company Jaguar that was signed off only weeks earlier. I admit that evening on the drive home... my driving was similar to how I was feeling.. all over the place. But we managed to keep some focus, contacted shippers, found tenants to move into our house end of August and flights booked to land into Canberra, by way of HKG and Sydney, on the 19th October. Most of my family and friends whilst excited for us think we are crazy for making such a big change in our very comfortable lives. Part of me agrees with them. However sometimes in life, being comfortable just isn't enough.... and when my kids are older, hopefully they'll thank me for giving them something else other than just comfortable. Thanks for reading.. if you got this far. My arse is starting to hurt now from being sat on the floor, so I'll wish you a good day.