Auswifey

Hi all,

My husband is British and I am Australian. Both children have British passports.
We are planning the move back to the UK next year and I'm aware that I will need to apply for a spouse visa.
My husband will be asking for a work transfer.

Just a few random questions I hope someone can help with:

1) Does anyone have a time frame of how long the visa approval process for Aussies at the moment?
2) Is it correct I will have 3 months from the date of approval/date I put down as wanting to leave Australia to actually move and activate the visa? If not, what is it?
3) Can I fly to the UK to "activate" the visa then fly back to Aus just to tie up any loose ends (if needed) before I migrate permanently or am I not allowed to travel for a certain period?
4) We will be looking at a purchasing a house in the UK outright before we move, could any experts advise on what fees we would be looking at especially as we will be making the purchase whilst still in Australia (conveyancing, stamp duty etc etc)?
We won't be needing a mortgage so we just want to check what else we need to factor in before we go ahead.

Thank you in advance.

SanDiegogirl

1. Visa applications are taking somewhat longer than usual. Some people are getting them within the 12 weeks as stated on the UKVI website, others are waiting longer.

2. No ..... you can only apply for the visa up to three months in advance. The visa will be valid from the date you state and then you have 30 days to enter the UK and get your BRP

3. Yes

4. Sorry can help with this. Contact a UK estate agent - or Google conveyancing charges?

BritInParis

1) Check here but be mindful there have been long processing delays in recent months which may or may not be fully resolved by the time you apply.

2) You have 30 days from the date you indicated on the application or from the date of issue, whichever is later, to enter the UK. You then have 10 days to collect your BRP.

3) Yes, providing you collect your BRP before you return to Australia.

4) This will depend on the purchase price of the property, the fees set by your solicitor, etc.. Try this calculator for stamp duty.

Auswifey

Thanks for your prompt replies guys!

Can you please advise, if I were to go on holidays back to Australia during my temporary visa, does the time away get discounted towards the calculation of the date I can renew the visa? eg. I went on holidays for 6 weeks so will need to add an extra 6 weeks onto the original renewal visa date.
Sorry hope that makes sense.

Thanks

spouse of scouse

No, the expiry/renewal date on your visa won't change

BritInParis

But spend too long away and it could affect your ability to qualify for ILR/citizenship.

spouse of scouse

Yes, but the OP was talking about a 6 week holiday. OP, don't take 6 month holidays every year!

Auswifey

Thank you for the reply and advice
No definitely would not be taking a 6month holiday! I will prob need to take some short holidays back to Aus so I don't get homesick when we make the move

spouse of scouse

Our situations are very similar, I'm an Aussie married to a Brit and have been in the UK on a spouse visa since November 2015. Have made 2 visits home, one with husband, one without - it's so lovely to be able to hug my family again but the goodbyes always get to me!

We visited the UK in June 2015 to buy a house, so if you have any questions about the process you're welcome to ask. It takes much longer to complete a purchase here than in Oz.

Auswifey

Oh how did you find the transition to living in the UK. All his family have said that they don't think I would settle because I'm so used to the warm weather and being so close to my family and friends We have decided to do the move so that my husband can spend some quality time with his parents as they are older now and he has been abroad for a long time plus my kids can spend some time with his many cousins in the UK. It's a tough decision!

I would love to know more about the process to buy a home in the UK, thank you for offering.
1) How long is settlement?
2) As we won't have a mortgage so no bank fees, are the only fees we need to consider stamp duty and legal/conveyancing charges?
3) Is there any type of red tape we need to consider? With me being on a spouse visa would that mean I can't be on the title?
4) any other advice you can offer before making a purchase?
We are currently just looking on Rightmove for houses.

Thanks in advance for you help!

spouse of scouse

I love living here and found the transition surprisingly easy. That's probably partly due to having visited several times and also because I love the cooler weather. I was so tired of Perth summers, I'm more a winter person.

Zoopla is good for searching for property, as well as Rightmove. Depending where in Oz you live and where in the UK you're moving to, you'll either be pleasantly surprised at what you can get for your money, or you might faint Here on the Wirral we bought a 3 story Victorian semi-detached, with sea and river views and walking distance to everything, for at least $200,000 less than anything vaguely similar in Perth.

Depending on the age and condition of the property you're buying, you may want to consider getting some kind of survey done prior to making an offer. Different types of surveys have different prices, we just had a home buyers survey which was around £200 but if you're buying a really old property you may want to consider a structural survey, which is quite a bit more expensive. You can Google different surveys and their prices for areas you're interested in.

How long is settlement - it does depend on factors such as whether the sellers are in a chain (you're obviously not), but I've bought 3 houses here (one to live in and two rentals) and settlement periods ranged from 3 months to 7 months! The 7 month one was because the sellers had to look for another house and they wanted to complete the sales on the same day, but the 3 month one was a cash purchase with no chain and no complications - and I had to push to even get it done in 3 months.

Be aware that a property transaction is not final here until the conveyancing process is completed. The seller or the buyer can pull out at any time before that, without penalty.

You'll need a solicitor to handle the purchase, don't be afraid to ask them about their capacity to complete quickly as some seem to take on too much work. Of course, that goes to the wall if the seller's solicitor is slow as a wet week, which unfortunately so many seem to be.

Not needed a mortgage makes the conveying process less complicated. There are various small fees that the solicitor adds to their quote - here's a copy of the fees for our last rental purchase - the additional 3% stamp duty is because we own more than one house so that won't apply to you:
PROFESSIONAL� CHARGES*
COST
Legal� Fee £399.00

Money� Transfer� Fees £25.00
Completing� Inland� Revenue� Return� (SDLT) £25.00
Electronic� ID� Check� (per� name) £5.00
Lawyer� Checker £10.00
Search� Fees £122.00
Land� Registry� &� Bankruptcy� Search £7.00
Land� Registry� Fee� (Electronic) £40.00
Stamp� Duty� Land� Tax� (including� additional� 3%) £2,700.00
PURCHASE� TOTAL £3,333.00
TOTAL� (Inc� VAT) £3,425.80

Absolutely no problem with you being on a spouse visa and having your name on the title, my name's on all our properties along with my husband's.

The most important bit of advice I can give you is to purchase freehold property, unless you're buying a flat, in which case you probably won't have a choice but to buy leasehold. Leasehold houses used to be quite rare, and were typically old terraces where you'd pay a peppercorn rent of £1 per year. Unfortunately, developers have realised what a cash cow leasehold can be, and are building leasehold houses and selling the freehold to companies who can make your life a misery with their fees. The matter's been raised in Parliament and there are noises about banning the practice, but I wouldn't hold my breath!

Like Oz, negotiate the advertised purchase price. Even if a property is advertised at 'offers over ££', you can still put on an offer below that. You're in an extremely strong position as a cash buyer - a seller's dream - so use that as leverage. I've obtained at least a 10% discount on the asking price for all 3 properties simply by being a cash buyer. This will depend to some extent on the area though - in an area of high demand where similar properties are selling quickly, the seller may be reluctant to lower their price too much. Never be afraid to put in a 'cheeky offer' though - you never know your luck! You'll also need to research the local market to make sure that the asking price of any property you're interested in is in fact at or around market value, and not artificially inflated. A home buyer's survey gives you a property valuation, but there's also a lot of information on Rightmove, Zoopla, Prime Location and other sites that allow you to drill down into average and historical sale prices.

Do you have personal knowledge of the area you're looking to buy in, or family/friends who can advise you? Even within a relatively small area there can be desirable streets and also 'no-go' areas.

Are you going to come over to view properties, or are you thinking of doing it all from Australia?

Novocastrian

SoS.

The OP might gain some useful info by reading a thread I started a couple of years ago when we were purchasing a property in the UK.... http://britishexpats.com/forum/movin...-speak-869090/

Cheers.

Garbatellamike

I am just buying back in UK myself and i suspect conveyancing likely to be in the range of £500-£1500.

Example Stamp Duty if you buy a house for £275,000, the SDLT you owe is calculated as follows:

0% on the first £125,000 = £0
2% on the next £125,000 = £2,500
5% on the final £25,000 = £1,250
Total SDLT = £3,750

don't forget survey and local authority searches i think about £450 for the survey and £100ish for the searches

Auswifey

WOW THANK YOU so much for the detailed response, I really do appreciate it!!
I've just had a quick look on Zoopla and Prime Location, seems like they have the same houses as Rightmove but ill keep them all on favourites just in case one agent uses one over the other. Thanks for the tip.

We are not purchasing an apartment/unit or terrace, looking at either semi-detached or detached house. We want to be within walking distance to my in-laws and a local school that we have our children set on attending so we are very limited in terms of location. But we are also not in a huge rush so am happy to wait for the right house to come along.
I guess when we do purchase a house will determine when I apply for my spouse visa. It's a tough one as my husband will also need to wait for his transfer at work so many things have to align for us to make the move happen.

We are going to do the research and buying from here, we've got my inlaws on standby so that if a house comes online we've asked them to go look at it for us and perhaps do a Skype viewing for us. We just came back from the UK on holidays and I can't justify another flight over especially with little ones LOL

Thanks for the listing of fees, seems like the stamp duty is a lot less in the UK compared to Australia! All the others seem pretty reasonable and standard. Will definitely be using your tips when looking for a solicitor, we have a great one here in Sydney so it will be interesting when dealing with one via email/phone. I'm so used to being hands on with everything so this will certainly test me!

Cheers for all the advice!

Auswifey

Thank you for the link