Owletts12

Can anyone give me an idea of what we should be paying to get a house rewired it has four room and a kitchen and bathroom it is 90 square meters and all on one level. Also how much for putting water and sewerage into out building ? Is 15000 per connection reasonable ie 4x15000 one for sink, toilet, shower and boiler not including the fixtures

fidobsa

For the wiring it will depend a lot on what is there at the moment and what you want in terms of lights, sockets etc. My house in Hungary had dodgy wiring but most of it was in conduit embedded in the walls. Quite a bit of rewiring could be done by putting new wires in the old conduits. My house in Croatia was wired with 2 core, figure 8 cable, nailed to the walls or ceilings and plastered over. In effect, to rewire that you need to start from scratch, making new channels everywhere. So far I have only rewired the kitchen as I didn't like the idea of kitchen appliances operating with no earth connection. I did it with the conduit system the same as in my Hungary place. If paying tradesmen to do it I would probably have needed a plasterer as well as an electrician.
Again with the plumbing it depends on what you want. If all the pipework is to be concealed it will cost more. In this case you might need a plumber, a plasterer and a tiler.

wolfi

Just one hint re wiring:

It's a good ides to have an "error current switch/cut out" installed for the whole house (FI or DI in German, don't know the English term) which immediately switches off when there is something like a short circuit to earth- like the hair dryer in the bath tub in those movies or someone cutting through the cable with the electric chainsaw (happened to a friend of mine ...).
Also you should have a look at the system - is it just two phase or already three phase? Two phase is not enough if you have several mashines working like a washing machine, a dishwasher etc ...

fidobsa

Sounds like you mean an RCD, wolfi. I don't know if they are available in Hungary but in UK I would fit a split load consumer unit with at least one circuit not on the RCD protection. This is in case it trips when you are away from the property for some days or weeks. The obvious thing you don't want to be turned off by a tripped RCD is the freezer but there may be other things like security lighting or a burglar alarm.

wolfi

Fidobsa, you're right!
Thanks!

wolfi

I can no longer edit, ok, here we go:
RCDs are the law in Hungary for "wet areas" or at least strongly recommended as in Germany and I told the builder I wanted one for the whole house.
Of course, we've always paid one of our neighbours as a "házmester" to look after our things, so an interruption of electricity would quickly be recognised and dealt with.

Peter_in_Hungary

In Hungary any upgrade of power (that is increase of available power or other change to the electric companies equipment) will require a modern type of meter box and the meter box consumer side upgraded to current standards. This will include a 30mA RCD as a standard fit and will cover all the circuits on the premises. The circuits can be split between 2 RCDs if required. If a night meter is installed this will have its own RCD

wolfi

Peter, thanks again for the clarification - when we rebuilt the house 15 years ago an RCD for the whole house was optional - good that it's now standard.

TheCrosbies

Hi all, from another couple of newbies considering buying Hungary - the info on here has been extremely useful. We have flights booked for August to view properties, we have done loads of research, although well travelled never been to Hungary. Our intention is to retire early with good pensions and move over complete with 3 Dalmatians and one cat. We have started learning the language - well trying to and conduct initial planning. It all seems ideal if so where are the pitfalls? Any help and guidance will be greatly appreciated.

PaulinEger

Hi and welcome.
Don't expect your money to go as far as you might initially believe. I know of 2 English couples locally who have retired early and expected to live like kings on 500-600 gbp per month. They've had a nasty wake up call as they now realise that they can't. They get by and do ok but can't do all the things they expected to.

TheCrosbies

Good point! I think it depends on your perspective of living like Kings, we live extremely hectic lives at the moment with no time for anything and are looking to live a slower paced life, we love cycling, walking, a little bit of socialising, we are definitely not city folk looking for the high life. I think our main concerns are any emergency costs - dental, medical, vets? Is it cost effective to have some sort of insurance or not.

Pollypaprika

Hello and welcome.

The vets here are very affordable and nothing like the high cost you pay in the UK The majority of them are also very well equipped and the staff very well trained. There is however one main thing that if I had known about I would never have moved here in a million years...the treatment of dogs in rural Hungary. It's heartbreaking. So if you are moving somewhere in the country, you need to be aware of this.

Other downsides are the lingo ( I have done a few exams now and can get by...but I never expect to be fluent), and sometimes the weather. If your dogs don't like storms...don't move to Hungary lol. Having said that on a recent trip to the UK all it did was storm!

I think you will be able to adequately get by on your budget assuming you are not moving to Budapest. However, you would definitely need something set aside for emergencies. Buying property in Hungary is a minefield...

Anyhow, apart from that I have nothing but positive things to say about living here (5 years today in fact)....but as an animal lover I think it is only pertinent to raise this.

As for insurance...definitely get house insurance. There are other threads here about healthcare.

Best

TheCrosbies

That's great advice - thanks! Yep I am aware of the animal welfare issue - We spent time in Bosnia and Kosovo and it was the same there, so we are prepared for it. My crazy dogs don't mind storms which is a bonus and as for the property issues, we learn by our mistakes and we have had a fair amount of those in recent years so hopefully we are more wary and know what to ask and look for. Everything sounds so positive and we can't seem to find any "sting in the tail" yet. The language certainly isn't easy but definitely worth making the effort to live and mix in the community. Thanks again for the advice, it certainly does help. Oh and congratulations on your 5 year anniversary!

Peter_in_Hungary

Hi and welcome
If you have not read the threat at the top of the forum - read me - Hints and tips for buying a propert in Hungary please do so, although polypaprikas' link may fail, the points listed are still relevant.

To which area are you thinking of moving?

The 600 GBP / month quoted is a bit more that 2 minimum salaries and people do live on that, although there won't be too much left at the end of the month. The UK (full) OAP if there are 2 of you will be more than enough.

Medical insurance is a personal choice, - not many bother here, especially for vets fees which has been said are reasonable.

We have been here almost 22 years and wouldn't want to go back (even if we could because selling here wouldn't buy you a garage in the UK!!)

fidobsa

I wish I had an income of £600 a month! I have not really got to the point where I can monitor my expenditure as I have been constantly spending money on house renovations since I came in 2011. As far as I'm concerned, the main saving from living in Hungary compared to UK is Council Tax. If you look at what it costs you to live in UK and subtract the cost of council tax it will give you a rough idea of what it will cost you to live in Hungary. There is a local government tax but it is very cheap and there are also savings on vehicle fuel, tradesman labour charges and a few other things which will at least cancel that out.