DrDougster

Thanks Amber. Lots of questions not on the FAQs! Hopefully more details will emerge and we'll be able to help out when we are back in UK for a few months from April. It would be nice if we could work out how to offer the house on our return to Aus.

Who knows what the details will und up being?!

Indeed 350 a month. It will be interesting to see if there’s further help with tax, insurance etc. It would be great to feel we could do something

Meant to be a website going up this week. My understanding is that you can volunteer room(s) or an entire house. 350 quid a week. But, if it were the whole house then you'd hope the council would do something about the council tax too.

I emailed Iron Lady a few weeks ago and no response. Are they still in business? Any other recommendations for car shipping?

We're considering the implications of inviting a Ukrainian family to use our house in UK. It will be very interesting to see if there's additional council tax relief etc. for properties volunteered for this scheme and what the mortgage companies will categorise it as if remortgaging is needed.

Don’t use AusPost: they’re so slow!

Thanks Quoll, sound advice. Passport office has notified me that it's being printed... I don't think AusPost will get it here in time!

You'd know through the normal channels of communication. That is to say, as soon as this topic was brought up on here (which it regularly is) someone would say "Lordy, NO! I lost my house doing that!" Grey is grey. I wouldn't bet much at all. Yes, probably! I tend to agree with can1983 that the "best" action is to let it slip onto SVR and make all the payments. I really doubt there would ever be any problem created by this unless it's a multi-million pound scam. It is a bit of a scam though and you'd have to be ok with that. Losing the ability to make the payments may be uncomfortable. Not sure I'll feel comfortable enough with the strategy to be ok with it...

Has anyone ever made the repayments on their mortgage and actually 'lost the house' because the type of mortgage wasn't correct or they were living overseas?

Because we've got the best coal in the world! (Puts head in hands) Almost certain to keep going I'd have thought as there are lots of things that will no longer be bought from Russia that may be bought from Australia.

I know, it's me again with more passport problems! So my old UK passport is with the passport office in Durham - sent 4th Feb, received 7th March!!! We're flying back to UK for three months with Singapore airlines on 1st April. What are the chances of my new passport arriving in time? When do I bite the bullet and get an emergency travel document. When should I make the ticket changes as I booked the ticket with my old passport or can I just rock up to the airport with the new documents? ps My wife had no issue with only having two months on her UK passport coming back to Aus.

Certainly didn’t want the Aus dollar to strengthen for this reason but it’s surely gonna keep going.

If we're really going off topic, thinking of the like for like cost is probably not useful. We certainly don't want the same things here as we do in UK. For example our $100K Mercedes in UK is replaced by a $12K secondhand Hyundai here and we're not bothered at all. We just don't feel the need for the flash car here. However, I don't have a $2K coffee machine in UK and that seems an absolute essential here! Professional costs were the most expensive things for us and they need factoring in.

It probably cost less to furnish a house than I'd have guessed and highlighted the amount of crap you accumulate and just don't need. We've been in a rented house for over two years and we're starting to accumulate it again!

Thanks rammygirl. She's going via Singapore so I think that's fine through the transit path.

Yeah, nothing this week

Yup, I meant Australian immigration / border control to get back to Aus next weekend.

My wife flew back to UK last week in an emergency and was planning to go to the passport office at Victoria to renew her passport next week before flying back on Sat. Turns out this isn't possible - no appointments. Her passport expires 28th April. We have flights to UK booked on 1st April. Will these flights satisfy immigration that she has sufficient time on her passport for the duration of her stay? Theoretically should be ok but anyone any further insight. or tried this? Alternative is to push her return flight back and leave me looking after our four year old for another week! We're PR on a 190.

While there might not be support funding, he may well find superior psychiatric care in Australia in the future should any review in diagnosis or medication be needed. All the best.

Awesome, thank you. I guess I have no faith in Aus post but needs must...

Dumb question... We have PR but haven't been out of the country on it yet and our passports expire March/April next year. What's the best plan for renewal? If I do an online renewal and get delivered to my parents in UK will the issue of a new passport while we're here in Aus impact on on our PR visa? Is this a reasonable thing for us to do or do we have to go to an embassy?

Enough to make me never want to rent again - gathering deposit and stamp duty! These seem contradictory sentences. OP - good luck with it. Take photos of ANY damage, no matter how small, when you move in. Normal wear and tear is an alien concept in Aus, Be prepared to shell out for a "bond clean" when you move out.

Be prepared for estate agencies in Aus to excel at performing well below expectations in nearly all regards. Email responses, telephone calls, negotiation with owners, you name it, they're shit at it!

Andy, I seriously owe you a beer. I just managed to get verified on digidentity, log on to myGov and get my NHS pension statement in a .pdf download. All this in-between a cancelled patient and a coffee in my clinic that everyone is scared of coming to today! Cheers Dude!