It looks like we might, finally, be in a position to return to the UK at the end of the year... for an indefinite period (so long as everyone's happy with the move etc.)

It has occured to me that only leaves 11 months or so to organise everything. We're going to rent out the Australian house initially but have to decide what to do with house contents (move/store/sell).

Can BE's please advise what other, unthought of things, we should be doing now and in the lead up to the end of the year?

Have you looked at the legal aspects yet?
Everything else takes second place to those.

Good luck.

brissybee, search this forums. Sallysimmons posted brill email about year or so ago about all things that she did and that others need to do before moving. she may even respond but it should help you a lot.

Thanks, will definately look that up.

Um, legal aspects? I know this is going to sound daft, but I wasn't aware of legal aspects. Please elaborate.

I'm a UK born citizen and husband should be ok for spouse visa so am not sure what else we need to do, legally?

You've got me worried now.

Sorry! Didn't mean to worry you.
I meant only that you have read and are able to fulfill all the legal requirements to obtain the spousal visa. Assuming you have, then everything else is just icing!

I say that because that is how I'm choosing to think of it. We are pre-visa acceptance (by a long shot). The selling of our house and booking of moving companies and shipping our two dogs overseas (from US to UK) is all just timey-managementy stuff! Details! Once the legal stuff is sealed and delivered, everything should be copacetic!
Again, didn't mean to cause alarm...

Will add to this tomorrow but couple of dull things:

- Start scanning and shredding documents that you don't need originals of.
- Start making a list of institutions with which you will need to update addresses etc, and any membership/account numbers associated with them (not compromising security).
- Start binning stuff. Seriously, there is so much stuff you'll need to bin, we kept running out of bin space in our last few weeks. Expand this to include sell/take to Salvos for things like CDs, DVDs, books that you won't keep. I can't emphasise this enough, my OH thought I was mad to start as early as I did but it takes time and is not always fun to do, it's not what you want to be doing in your last few weeks.
- Make a bucket list of what you want to do/where you want to go before leaving. Even just favourite breakfast haunts. Again, you run out of time.

Thank-you... this is all great advice.

Am looking forward to your additional advice tomorrow, much appreciated.

I second Almo's advice. Start purging now. I can't believe how much stuff we had accumulated.

From a financial point of view, determine if you need to address any tax issues. eg. in Canada we had to consider the impact of collapsing our RRSP's (retirement savings)

Insurance - Obtain your claims history, for both house and car, from your insurer/broker. Also get copies of driving records from the appropriate authority. These documents will make it easier to obtain insurance in the UK.

I'll have a look at my checklist and let you know if there are any things to add.

Best of luck with your move.

I just re-read you original post and see that you are planning to rent your house out. We considered doing this (we didn't in the end) and looked into the impact of Capital Gains Tax on the house after the change from principal reisidence to rental property. In our case, in Canada, we would not have to pay CGT on the gain from time of purchase to the change in use. CGT would have been due on any gain after it became a rental property, but we would have needed appropriate documentation to support our position. Just thought I'd mention this as it may or may not be something you need to consider.

If you don't have a portable e-mail address, make sure you copy all of you contacts to a portable acct. eg. Hotmail, gmail.

Have the Post Office redirect your mail.

we did not have to worry about visas but we go on Sunday we have managed to do this in 3 months including Pets etc

Suspend your private health insurance so that if you return you won't be penalised by the age weighted premiums

I just thought I would link to the post mentioned with all the great advice. I figured if it could be handy for others as well so they don't have to search. http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=753085

We are moving in less than 5 months now and really haven't done much more than starting on the purging process. I am at a complete loss for what should be done first and how to format a list. Not to mention I am a huge procrastinator- which doesn't help.
In your situation, brissybee, I'd first make sure visa's are in order. Do you have pets you will be taking with you? That's another huge issue for us to sort out.
Will jobs be a factor?
Where will you live? Have you gotten housing together?

And now I'm off to scour sallysimmons post some more!

I wouldn't worry about any Australian paperwork, let the tax dept go hang, who cares about any of the stupid institutions here if you are leaving for good, just liquidate everything you have here and get out as fast as you can - You will be having a decent beer in a decent pub eating decent food talking to decent people before you know it

Hi Brissy, I guess your council does pick ups if you book them in advance? We were allowed 3 a year with ours. I would book two of them well in advance - I had to wait a month for my date.
I did sell a few things on ebay too but left it a bit late as one of the buyers pulled out so ended up leaving it at the side of the road (luckily someone picked it up). So do your selling well in advance too.
When I cleared out all my books and put them in the car for charity shop they refused to take them as 'people don't buy books any more'. I had to put them in the paper bin (very upsetting).
One thing that's been good for me is that I had kept my bank account here linked to parents address. So when I changed my pre pay sim to a contract it was easy, also have applied for a new credit card and been accepted because of having an account for 20 years and a UK address.