JaneandJim

I use Letsure and its taken me over a year to get them to take notice of my change of address.

I wrote them a letter last year informing them. They cashed the enclosed premium cheque but ignored the letter. This year I phoned them a month before the premium was due. A very nice person took my payment and changed my address on the system. When I got my credit card statement, the premium hadn't been taken. I phoned them again and another nice person again took payment and changed my address. I still haven't had any policy documents although the payment has been taken so at least I'm covered.

Unfortunately, there don't seem to be too many companies that will insure you if you live abroad, so I'm stuck with them.

Jane

toon williams

Having thought long and hard we have decided not to rent out the property and we are going to sell it!! I think that we decided being so far away is a bit of a pain in the arse if something goes wrong!!

So had the agents round now just deciding which one to go with!! Were very pleased as house was valued £15,000 more than we thought it would be so that is a bonus!!

suzimc

It is a pain in the arse, I can vouch for that! But when it goes smoothly it's pretty good!

debbiemc

i have 2 properties that i rent out and had some exceelent advice from someone on here a while ago which is going to save me a lot of money! once i become a non resident and a year passes, you no longer have to pay CGT in the uk so long as you dont return in 5 years! of course i'll still be liable for oz tax but apparently not a patch on uk!

its all legal and above board and i contacted IR for the relevent forms! also, when it comes to selling, make sure the property is in joint names and the tax bill is even less!

JaneandJim

You might find that the tax here will be higher than you think. When you sell, the gain will be added to your income for that tax year and taxed at your highest personal rate, which will probably be (after your capital gain) at least 40%. There are no tapering reliefs here like there is in the UK. You pay tax on the lot.

Jane

Alan Collett

Remember:

- There's a CGT discount in Australia if you have owned a CGT Asset for at least 12 months (from the date of becoming a tax resident of Australia if owned on arrival)

- Capital gains arising before becoming a tax resident of Australia are

Best regards.

JaneandJim

Didn't know about the first point, thank you. Could you please clarify your 2nd point?

Jane

Alan Collett

Oops ... not sure how I managed that ... the word to complete the second point is "ignored" ...

There are some free tax factsheets available here if you are interested:
www.collettandco.com

Best regards.

debbiemc

thanks alan, have been meaning to get in touch for a while now, just mega busy though!!

milliewoos

Does anyone know about this? I'd heard that this was the case from friends in Oz previously but I haven't managed to unearth any further information about it

suzimc

I've heard this before too but when we asked our tax advisor he didn't seem that keen for us to persue that route - he said there were enough other expenses to do with the property that could be offset, without having to look at things like that...

windsordave

Can you expand on these expenses suzimc? (or anyone else?) Thanks! Dave

MartinLuther

With regards to tax deducting flights back to the UK. If you fly back just for the purpose of managing the property then you can tax deduct this. If you mix business and pleasure then you can only deduct a portion of it (depending on you proportion of business and pleasure). This tends to be rocky ground (tax-wise) which is probably why suzimc's advisor was not keen.

suzimc

Mortgage, maintenance of the property.... not entirely sure exactly what else because my hubby saw the tax advisor, but that was what he told me after the meeting