I have a bit of a long dilemma so please bear with me while I explain the issue.

My family and I have PR visa's for Oz and I have accepted a job with an Australian company on the Upper North Shore. My family and I were booked (flights, shipper etc) to move over lock stock and barrel on August 8th.

I have just found out that my new company is going through a takeover and my new job might be at risk of redundancy. This takeover and the redundancies should occur at the end of August. We have decided that it is too risky to put the family on a plane with the prospect of no jobs and income on arrival. My wife, who has a great job in the UK, has elongated her notice period until Christmas to provide us with some insurance against redundancy, and we have alerted the school to a delayed departure.

My issue is that I will still need to come to Sydney all be it to be made redundant within a month of my arrival on August 10th. As this may be a very short visit, I'm reluctant to enter into a protracted lease or tenant agreement that will tie me in. I have also found it is difficult to arrange a flat / house share without being in country.

Any advice on what options are available to me would be very gratefully received.

I have already considered a serviced short term apartment, and holiday lets but with trying to maintain the family in the UK they are financially not possible.

The ideal situation is that after a few months I will be out of the redundancy trap and hunting for a house to rent long term for when my family comes over at Christmas. If the worst happens and I'm made redundant I will spend two months looking for a replacement job before cutting my losses and going back to UK (I hope it doesn't come to that).

Any ideas / local knowledge would be gratefully received on house sitting, people who need respectable 45yo lodgers etc.

Thanks

Steve

The North Shore is not my area of Sydney so I can't help with specifics.

I think the problem with sharing is that you're not going to be able to find anything till you get here. Shares tend to come and go quite quickly and you need to be on the spot to check them out.

Occasionally our local paper has ads for cheap, boarding house type accommodation. You could possibly check out the local paper for the area you want to stay in. Not everyone who works in Sydney is loaded so there must be options for workers, long-stay accommodation on a budget. Local paper is also where you're most likely to find ads where old ladies are wanting to rent out their granny flats.

The other thought I had is to stay initially in a pub while you look around. Quite a few pubs have rooms. They are not usually very flash (though they can be) and would probably involve shared bathrooms etc but they can be cheap.

Assuming you're looking in the Hornsby area, checkout these links:

http://digitaledition.hornsbyadvocate.com.au/
http://www.hornsbyrailwayhotel.com.au/
http://www.bluegumhotel.com.au/
http://www.pymblehotel.com.au/Accomodation

Good luck

What sort of budget are you looking at - will you have transport? Upper North Shore is that around Hornsby or Chatswood? I agree the rental might seem dearer if wanting to be in the town centre. Travelling in from a cheaper area might bring down the price of a business rental and if booking for a couple of months you should get discounted rate. An idea of budget might let someone have an idea of where could be available.

Cheers

Steve

Sorry to hear of the predicament - not an easy time i'm sure : (

Have you looked on gumtree.com.au for flatshares available - this is very popular in Sydney? that way you would avoid the lease situation potentially.

I live in Gordon on the Upper North Shore and there would seem to be a lot of options around the lower & upper north shore. You see them advertised on notice boards in the shops and in the city. Should think that if you came over and stayed a few nights in a hotel you could sort something short term out.

Best of luck!

Not sure where you are looking at in North shore, but you may still be able to live elswewhere and commute anyhow.

But try this, some of them are actually for short periods, but most are just flexible, you don't get tied into a specific length of time, don't sign rental agreements, don't pay upfront. Will also be more fun for you to live with someone. Unlike many flatshare sites you can put a lot of information in to search on, so much more time efficient and you can search on age.

http://www.flatmatefinders.com.au/

In just one week i had six offers of flats to share and that was just from skype conversations and I didn't pay anything until I arrived. I asked them to send me the room dimensions and some photos and if they had a laptop they took me on a skype tour of the flat! If you don't want to commit before you arrive you could always do apart hotels for first few days and then actually look at the flat shares.

Be aware that most rentals are unfurnished, but there are a few that are furnished and even for the unfurnished Ikea do next day delivery so you'll have a bed within two days of arrival (I slept on the sofa for first two days!).