How many of you have sold up, lock, stock and barrel and gone to Australia??? We don't no weather to keep a property here in England and rent it out, just incase we don't settle when we get to Oz, pessimistic I know!!!. Does anyone understand the "Capital Gains Tax" laws in Australia??? or indeed England?? Someone has told us that if we keep a property in England they can tax us in Australia when we arrive??
Any help would be greatly appreciated
Hoping to be in Brisbane By June/July!!!!

Hi, Sorry can't help with your question, just to say we are hoping to sell and we want the money to help us settle in Australia (if the visa ever comes) many people do rent though so i wouldn't of thought tax would be a huge problem.
We live just down the road from you and hope to be in Brisbane/gold coast Aug/sept depending on sale and visa.
Hopefully someone with more knowledge will be able to answer your question.
Claire

Hi Claire,

Thanks for responding. We had a good look through some of our Aust & NZ Mags last night and found a really good article on this subject, so got some advise from that.
What visa are you going for?? Do you have any kids?? We got a 136 Visa and have 3 daughters but only 2 are coming, Eldest is 19 and living with her boyfriend, real shame she won't come. The other 2 are 14 and 4. OH has family in Middle Park, Brisbane, so they will help us out to start with. Have you any family out there?? My OH is a plumber and also Qualified Chef.Hoping to get back into Catering.
Good to here from you. If you need any help just drop me an e-mail.

Lisa

Tough decision isnt it. We;ve been here 2 years in April and decided to keep our house in the UK. We still dont know if we made the right decision. The first tenant we had ripped us of and we were down by about 1200 pounds - took a while to get a new tenant and they've just given us notice after just 5 months! We're now back to square one and deciding whether to sell it or not.

God knows!

We sold up, for various reasons. In no particular order:-

Don't know if that helps, but good luck!

Hi Lisa,
Just recieved our visa grant this morning 136modl so a bit excited, we have one son aged 9 who is so excited about a new life, must be hard to leave one behind but at that age they already have their own life.
We don't know anyone in Australia but hope to go in March for a reccie and validation trip to look at some areas. My husband is an electrician so will need to go through licencing and I am a childcare manager so hope to find work term time only.
Hope to go completly in August / Sepember house sale permitting.
When are you hoping to make the move?

Claire

We sold up everything only shipped over 72 boxes
(not much for 30+ years in UK)
wish we had bought everything with us now! Hindsight eh!

We hadn't visited Oz before either!

It was a big step but
1) we needed the capital from our property to allow us to buy here in Oz
2) We felt that we wouldn't put 100% into our new life knowing that we had a bolt hole if life got a bit hard (which it has on occasion)

It's worked for us so far!

Sold up everything and moved.

How could we feel that this was our home if we always knew in the back of our minds that there was our home in the UK still waiting there.

No regrets a couple of years on.

Oh Well Done!!!! It's a fantastic feeling. We really want to go by the same time as you, hopefully!!! I would go tomorrow but we still have the house to sell, can't wait.
Just read all the other replies and the general feeling is that we should just sell and forget about a property here. Are you keeping one here or not, its such a difficult decision.

Enjoy your moment, and have a large cyber drink on us!!!!

Thanks for the reply. Thats mine and OH biggest worry. Still lots to think about. Thanks once again.

Lisa
Oh and by the way its freezing here and pouring with rain!!!!!! Now tell me why i would even want to keep a property here!!!

Thanks for the reply, so many just up and go, thats how i feel but family and friends try to tell us different, they just don't want us to go.
Thanks once again.

Thanks for reply, your 100% right, just need to try and convince ourselves we our doing the right thing. Its just like being a child and having a security blanket i suppose, need to grow up and get on, Thanks once again. Here's to yet more talking with OH tonight.
Lisa

Same here, except we brought most stuff with us and just ditched a load of crap before we came

Difficult one - we are in same position.
We know somebody who has kept their property here but renting out via social security thus guarranteed income. The family who moved in are lovely and look after the property well but it's deffinitely a gamble.