DIG85

The only thing to be aware of if you enter the UK on an Australian passport, is be sure to leave the UK on the Australian passport too. If you enter the UK on an Aus passport and leave on a UK one, the system will at some point later trigger that you overstayed the UK visa. Whilst this is not an offence because you are a UK citizen, it can lead to questions later which, whilst easy to field, are a nuisance.

That is not true for the UK. https://www.gov.uk/uk-border-control/before-you-leave-for-the-uk You’re from outside the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein You must have a valid passport to enter the UK. It should be valid for the whole of your stay. You may also need a visa, depending on which country you’re from.

I guess because there are a lot of very shallow, boring people for whom the beach is the be all and end all.

That has always struck me too. Many people in the UK argue for a written constitution (or, to be pedantic, since parts of the UK's current constitution are in fact written, a "codified" constitution) in the belief that it would guarantee more freedoms. But one only has to look at the Australian constitution to see that it actually guarantees very few freedoms. The Australian constitution does not even protect freedom of speech. Yet the UK, for all the hoggledy-piggledyness of its constitution, appears, to me at least, to have far more guaranteed freedoms than Australia.

It is not necessary to hold a valid passport in order to apply for Australian citizenship. The Australian citizenship application requires a copy of a current document with your photo and signature. That can (but doesn't have to) be a passport, but it can also be a driving licence or any other document listed as acceptable. If you do submit a copy of your current passport at the time of your Australian citizenship requirement, you will need to present it at the time of the citizenship interview, but it does not have to be valid at that time.

I thought it was Merry Xmas too, even in the UK. "Merry Xmas and a Happy New Year" - just like the carol "We wish you a merry Xmas".

That exemption does not apply if the property is an investment property. The OP states they are living in the UK, so prima facie the property will be an IP. So the status of the non-citizen spouse is relevant here. If the spouse is not a PR and they want to purchase jointly, then FIRB approval will be required.

But the key focus for any sale process should not be the minimum amount that the vendor is willing to sell for. It should be to extract the maximum amount that the buyer is willing to pay. A system which allows the winning bidder to pay only $1 more than the underbidder is not going to do that. That is because an auction is a comparative process, not a competitive process. The buyer is at a huge advantage - they can see exactly what everybody is bidding. Too much focus is paid on the reserve. You see stories in the press such as "home sells for $1m above reserve" and I think "so what? Did the winning bidder pay the maximum he was willing to pay?" The reserve generally means jack.

That's what REAs and auctioneers will tell you, who just want a quick,pretty much guaranteed sale to get their fee. There is certainly a lot of hype about auctions, but only c. 30% of homes in Sydney go to auction, despite the non-stop coverage about them in the papers. The major flaw in selling at auction is that the winning bidder need only pay $1 more than the underbidder. A process that allows that can never hope to obtain the best sale price. This article is useful. https://www.revolutionaryrealestate.com.au/no-real-estate-agent-will-tell-you-this-about-auctions/

Even a permanent resident who lives abroad is allowed to acquire Australian RE without FIRB approval. The OP does not state whether the non-citizen is an Aus PR, but may be something to consider.

They still seem far more common than they are in the UK. I think they are a waste of money myself. Another thing that is far more common in Australia is the use of an auction to sell your home. This must be one of the worst ways you can sell your home.

An Australian citIzen does not require FIRB approval to acquire Australian residential property, even if they live abroad.

Generally, no.

I guess because it’s the place in Australia that is closest to the UK. Five hours shaved off a flight home is by no means insignificant.

IMO Sydney actually has disproportionately more attractions than Perth, i.e., Sydney may be double the size of Perth but it actually has about 10x the attractions. Same when comparing London (9m population) with Perth (2m). London certainly has more than 4.5x the world-class attractions, cultural institutions, galleries, performances etc. that Perth has. Perth is a cultural backwater, which is absolutely fine if you have little or no interest in the arts.

Makes you wonder why he hasn’t already offered to sponsor your PR.

It is indeed a sad statement. But Melbourne in particular is dying on its backside at the moment. The formerly fine cbd is pretty much dead. People are voting with their feet, and they’re either heading for the exit or not coming in the first place. You have to wonder why any prospective migrant would choose Victoria given what’s happened in the last two years. It is going to take years for Melbourne to recover its mojo. Years.

Just move to another state. Victoria is an awful place to live.

I’m sorry but this is nonsense. “How’s it going?” is certainly not an uncommon greeting in the uk and one would have to be a complete dolt to misunderstand it, even if you had lived in a cave all your life and never heard it before.

Yes, you can leave for 90 days a year after you have submitted the citizenship application. The residency requirement clock stops at the time you submit the application. If you are just going abroad for a holiday here and a holiday there then it should be possible for you to demonstrate continuing ties to Australia.

The residency requirement only needs to be satisfied at the time of the application. It is not an ongoing test. However, being outside Australia after submitting the application may be an indication that you will not have continuing ties with Australia, and your application cannot be approved whilst you are outside Australia.

It should be noted that it was for many years HMRC practice to allow all interest on released capital as a deduction against rental income (up to the value of the property at the time it became an IP). HMRC appears to have amended its manuals recently to stop this.

I would seriously consider whether moving to (or staying in) Melbourne is a wise decision. It's had a shocker of a pandemic. The impact of it on the city's economy is going to be felt for a long time to come. People are leaving in droves, in particularly to Qld. Melbourne really doesn't offer much at all now or any time soon. As Paul Keating once said, if you're not in Sydney, you're just camping.

Not sure when your father did this, but that wouldn't work today unless your father was paying market rent to your sister. If he wasn't, this would be a "gift with reservation of benefit" and the value of the house would remain in his estate for IHT purposes. Any rent received by your sister would be subject to UK income tax.