AustinWong

Hi there everyone,

I am dead keen to move to the UK from New Zealand with my wife and 3 children.

I would like to go for about 2 years.

Why? Because it is an english speaking country,I can practice my profession and is close to the mediterranean countries.

It will be a great life experience and hopefully I get to bring home some squids!

I get mixed messages. Some say great and the latest say I am crazy to move there with wife and kids. They say it is too expensive and unsafe women and children.

What a dilemma.

What I need to know is how much do we need to earn to live in a safe part of either, Newcastle, Durham, York or Lincoln as these are the places I have narrowed down to be reasonable parts of England to live. Based on North being cheaper to live (though colder) and also people are more friendly up North.

We live comfortably but modestly in New Zealand, don't eat out often at all or spend money on luxuries. Nor do we try to keep up with the Jones.

Sp what salary before tax would we need to earn? 2 Children are school age the 3rd preschool. Will be 4 when we get there. What are average power bills? rents?How do you o about renting,?What are hidden costs in renting?

Actually how old are kids when they go to school in England?

Any help would be great. I have struggeld to get a good picture of cost of living in theUK generally.


Regards


Lawrence

celine_uk

from what im hearing new zealand quality of life is a lot lower than the Uk for many reasons.......

dunroving

What is your profession? Do you know that you will be paid a lot more in UK than NZ?

If you are only going for 2 years, and expect to come back quids-in, I'd make sure you do a lot of research. Just moving from one country to another (and back) can be very, very expensive. Also, if you plan to experience UK culture, etc., as well as Europe, it sounds like you will be spending more than in your current NZ lifestyle.

Some people make a stack of money from being an expat. They typically are in higher professional positions, working for companies that pay for everything, have good timing re: house prices, exchange rates, etc., and/or work in places like the Middle East (where salaries are very high, and tax-free).

Others are not so lucky. They are expats for the sake of experiencing a new place, and/or were unlucky (couldn't get a job, timed things badly re: house prices and exchange rates, etc.). Make sure you know which of these will apply to you, or you could become another expat sob story.

Mummy

With 3 children in tow, if there is only 1 of you working, I would say that as a absolute bare minimum to live up north and have enough to go visit Europe ocasionally, a salary of £25000-30000. Rents are likely to be £650-1000 depending on your requirements, plus council tax and bills on top.

Children go to school from 4 years old, depending on when their birthday is.

To go about renting, usual thing is to turn up in the town, go to all the letting agents there and ask for their rental lists. Then make arrangements to view the ones you are interested in, and then pick one.

Expect people to ask if you are south african - most will have never heard a NZ accent before.

Great name - my son is Laurence

AustinWong

We are expecting to earn between $40,000 pounds and $70,000 pounds as we will both work.

And yes Lawrence is a great name .... .

Are you folks able to give a breakdown on costs?

I understand you have to pay rates on rentals or something.

Mummy

If you are expecting to earn that much then I wouldn't worry about it - you'll be fine. Council tax is the rates you refer to, and the amount depends on the house to rent - probably £100 a month-ish

Sue

I think he's talking about New Zealand Dollars, so $40,000 - $70,000 would equate to around GBP13,000 - GBP24,000. Which won't work if he's earning at the lower end.

Always21

Well he did write "pounds" after it, and I don't think with two of them working he'd be expecting to only earn from GBP13,000 up! The dollar signs ARE confusing though.

As "mummy" said, if you're expecting to earn that much (assuming it IS GBP) you should be fine. I'm expecting to earn less than the lower end of that and support a wife and two kids. We should get a lot of equity out of the house here though, so I'm expecting our accomodation costs to be lower than most people's (in a modest house or flat).

Sue

I know ..... confusing me before I've had my coffee in the mornings is just too confusing ..... I didn't see the "pounds" at all.

Now where did I put my coffee ....

wmoore

York is a great city - I have a mate who lives there. But it's expensive to live near to the city - much cheaper to commute if you can. We used to live in Northallerton (33 miles from York), which is a small-ish town but nice. It has greenery on 3 sides, good links in the A1 and east coast mainline (train). You can get to places like Newcastle, York, Manchester, Scarborough, Northumberland and the Lake District within 60-90 mins and the locals are friendly

I can't compare with NZ but I wouldn't think that NE England is any less safe than anywhere else to be honest. I was born in Middlesbrough and lived within 30 miles of it all my life until last year and never had any bother.

Rents - I'd probably go with what Mummy said - 650 upwards, depending on what you want. Add on council tax (work on 1000pa), water rates (250pa) and utilities. Mrs M and I earned about GBP35k between us and did allright (no kids).

Depending on where in NZ you are from, you might find that climate only a little bit cooler in the north of England. Expect a minimum of -5 in winter (maybe the odd cold snap colder than this I guess) and a high of 30-ish in summer.

geordie mandy

Im from the Durham area although it has great countryside to live in a nice area it will be expensive we can barely aford to live. My oh has a good job in the army and we live in our own house, an ex council house in an area that is quite deprived. We can not afford to live in the nicer areas as house prices have rocketed . An example of this is a 4 bed house in the catchment area of the best schools are around £350,000 plus. Way out of our league .
The website upmystreet.Gives info on houses schools and crime. Personaly i would stay in NZ. PM meif you want further info and i will try and answer honestly.
Mandy