Tips on preparing to move home
 

Hey Everyone!

This question is for everyone that has moved back or is coming close to completing their move back.

Is there anything you wished you knew at the beginning of your preparation for you move back or any tips that you wished someone had shared with you?

I was thinking as someone starting their preparations to be home in Scotland within the next 12-18 months that this might be a good question to ask people who have already made the move! 🙂

Re: Tips on preparing to move home
 

We were very lucky that friends made the same move 7 years ago so could give us a lot of direction. We (well me) used this forum to the max and decided not to be too proud and just ask anything. There are so many helpful folks on here and I cannot praise them enough.

As for thinking ahead, I would start making inventories of what you would like to ship back and what needs to be sold/donated. The actual process can be quick but the mental process can take time. It can be hard to let some things go and you have to be prepared to decide what is important and what isn't. Everyone is different in this respect.

Tax planning definitely. Depending on your circumstances, I would also start preparing for departure tax and what you need to do. I would also organise banking ahead of time and make sure you have proof of where your money is coming from. We had to provide proof as to our funds in order to make an offer on a home at this end.

If your are buying a home, prepare for the process to be long or slow depending on your outlook.... Compared to Canada where real estate agents turn things around ASAP, solicitors are notoriously detailed, very thorough but pedantic. Which being Scottish is a very well known trait.
May I ask, what part of Scotland are you thinking of settling in?

Re: Tips on preparing to move home
 

With the great help from people on this site we really did “okay” on our return. We sold/gave away items of furniture that would be either to big or easily and cheaply replaced on we back in the UK had three moving quotes and chose the middle one who were the better sounding company anyway, brought all our car insurance documents so started straight away on no claims, brought our youngest sons school work from the past 6 months (he was starting college) we worked out what we would need straight away ie cutlery pots and pans etc so gave those items in Aus to charity (some nice items we kept and had them shopped over) the only thing we wished we had done was to pay our NI whilst overseas as it’s cheap to do so but if your planning on working here straight away and will eventually make up the total of 35 years (?) needed for a full pension then you don’t really need really need to make top up’s. Good luck

Re: Tips on preparing to move home
 

Thank you for those tips!

thankfully we all have opened banks accounts on previous trips home so that’s one thing crossed off this list 😀

I am trying to look into seeing if it is possible to start the home buying process before we leave although unless you pay cash I don’t believe that it will be possible

we will be heading to Cumbernauld!

Re: Tips on preparing to move home
 

Thank you!

I have started the process with my parents to have them start paying their NI contributions and will hopefully have that set up in the next few weeks here 😀

my brothers and myself are unfortunately a long way from retirement so paying into our missed years do not make sense for us

Re: Tips on preparing to move home
 

Just as an FYi at the moment if you buy in the UK before you have lived back home for 6 months you are classed as a non resident and subject to paying more stamp duty (ours would have been an extra 8k on a 375k house) Apparently you can claim it back once you have been home the 6 months but not sure how lengthy that process would be. We rented and will complete next month just after 6 months.

We decided not to bring back furniture as the shipping was so expensive and we knew we could buy again here cheaper. We ended up going with UpakWeShip. We shipped 18 big boxes, packed them up ourselves on a pallet and shrink wrapped it ourselves. They then come and collect the pallet £1850 Sept 2021. Wont work for everyone but suited us.

We found Aviva and NFU that currently take your no claims into consideration for car insurance. You need evidence. Also home insurance we will need evidence too.

We completed on our house sale one day and flew the next. At first we thought of staying a week to tie up loose ends, but then thought we would just be waiting around in an airbnb, so changed our minds. My advice ..... definately give yourself that week of extra time. It was so stressful and for Canada if you leave the country before you complete (there could a delays) you would have to pay capital gains on the house sale proceeds. I just assumed it would.all be done by bank transfer like the UK and we would complete ok, so flying the next day would work. No they actually take a cheque from the sellers solicitor and pay it into the bank etc, so delays are possible!! Also trying to transfer large sums of money back to the UK when out of the country is hard work, so if you can get that done before you leave that is alot better.
We left our bank account open for final bills to come out etc, and didnt cancel credit cards until home and all subscriptions and deposits etc that came from that were sorted (e.g. we used that card to book car hire at Gatwick and needed card for that once home) also kept our Telus phone contracts for a few weeks once back to make sure we didnt miss anything.

Canada post are great and to redirect for a year to UK was only $250, we thought that wasnt too awful, so paid for piece of mind.

Dont under estimate the pressure of the move, its worth taking some downtime after if you can. Also be prepared for the highs and lows, although it maybe what you want, there is still a loss of your old life and it takes time.
Good luck with it all 😁

Re: Tips on preparing to move home
 

Hi I am moving back to the UK Sept/Oct and am bamboozled by all the information out there, I have read some of the comments here and have made some notes, happy to hear of any other tips learnt over the past few months. It seems its harder and more expensive that 2 years ago.

Re: Tips on preparing to move home
 

The thing that took me by surprise was no credit rating - it wasn’t recongnised! I couldn’t even get a £10 p/m Tesco mobile account! To put it in perspective we are buying a house here mortgage free - thank goodness!

Re: Tips on preparing to move home
 

If you don't mind me asking, how did you solve the mobile phone problem in the end?
People have mentioned this issue before and I think some of them found a workaround but I can't remember what it was.

Re: Tips on preparing to move home
 

I just bought a phone outright and got a Tesco pay as you go SIM card, and buy one of their rocket bundles each month.

Re: Tips on preparing to move home
 

OK, thanks.

Re: Tips on preparing to move home
 

One other thing…if you need to get secure employment…you need to provide proof of address (2), for direct employment or even just with (good) recruitment consultants. Was just reading posts about accommodation so thought I’d mention it. We secured a rental to support our visa application, it was really hard to get something but now are thankful we didn’t go down the hotel or airbnb route.

Re: Tips on preparing to move home
 

That’s quite an achievement. How did you manage to open UK bank accounts before moving to the country?

Re: Tips on preparing to move home
 

I went into Clydedales ( now Virgin) bank on a trip home one year and they were able to offer me a very basic bank account. All I needed to do was have 2 pieces of ID (one of which they requested being by British passport) and proof of address here in Canada and they opened the account for me! I have had it for about 5 years now and send money over monthly.

My parents went in the next year and they were able to open the same type of account as I did

Clydesdale was the only bank that would even entertain the idea of opening an account for us

Re: Tips on preparing to move home
 

Very canny move on your part! I don't know of a single bank that would do that now.