We are a family of 5 living in Aus saving to move to England within 5 years. I keep reading that England is too expensive. We live in country Victoria about 2 hrs drive form Melbourne and we are planning to move to the same in England staying from large cities. I am unaware how the tax system works in Eng but here i pay around 15% tax as a sub contractor painter. We pay 10% GST on nearly everything we buy.

The Pound is now about half the Australian dollar and buy looking at rental prices, wages, food and elec/gas prices in Eng it is identical to what we are paying now

3 bedroom homes in our area around the $1000 pcm 500 Pounds
painter wagers $20-25 per hour 10 - 12.50 Pound
food $230 per week (5 people) 115 Pound
Utilities $200 per month 100 Pound

fuel is a lot cheaper as i pay 50c per litre on LPG

Is this sound right to anyone else

To live in St Kilda Melbourne 3 bedroom homes are being rented from $500 -1000 per week 250 - 500 Pounds per week

Utilities will probably be more than 100 pounds a month
don't forget you pay council tax as the tenant and we were paying over 120 pound a month for that alone. Add electricity and gas - ours worked out at roughly 100 a month, and water another 45 pounds a month.- $560 a month
Our rental was 575 pound a month, which works out to about $1250 a month.
otherwise most of your other estimations seem ok.

Yes But ST Kilda is like back packer central , and one of the best spots in Melbourne to rent

Try renting in Islington in London for a good comparison.

Life in the UK is as expensive as you want it to be I could not say any more unless i knew where you where going

Sounds as though you've underestimated a fair bit to me - we're a family of four and our grocery bills are usuall £100-125 a week, it was £195 this week (although I was stocking back up after being on holiday for a week but even so). I don't buy anything that is organic or expensive, we rarely buy alcohol, and I usually buy 'value' or reduced items when I can. So your estimate of £100 per month is highly unrealistic - a budget of £400 or £500 per month is more like it.

I'd also be surprised if you can get 3 bed house for £500pcm, but then I live in an expensive area where £500pcm wouldn't even get you a one bed flat! Whereabouts are you thinking of living?

Utilities will definitely be more than £100 a month, our gas and electricity is £100 a month on it's own and that's cheaper than most people we know pay. Add water, telephone, etc, on to that and I think you'll need to double it.

Plus, don't forget other costs like council tax (ours is approx £110 a month), tv licence, car tax and insurance, mobile phone, etc. And petrol is approx £1 per litre.

And as a rough guide for taxes in the UK, take off 25% of your income, unless you will be earning over £40k, in which case it's more (think it's 40%?). On the other hand, a painter and decorator will earn more than you've mentioned here.

I think you need to re-think your budget a bit more and look into it so you have a realistic idea of what it will cost you to live here.

Hope that helps.

We are looking at Middlesbrough Area but outside the city limits. The 115 pounds for food was based per week not month.

Thanks for telling me about

Plus, don't forget other costs like council tax (ours is approx £110 a month), tv licence, car tax and insurance, mobile phone, etc. And petrol is approx £1 per litre

This will give us more of an idea of what to look at

As for wages im planning on setting up my own Painting business and i am looking into Eng tax system to find out about deductions or possible extra expences in doing this

Thanks for all info

Isn`t this one if the cheapest areas of the UK to live in?

Out of interest, have you ever been there before? Middlesborough is cheap - but there's a reason for that! Recently voted the worst place to live in the UK.

Anyway, a good website for calculating your salary after tax is the one below, I've always used it and it's very accurate......http://www.pru.co.uk/home/calculator/income_tax/

Along with Nottingham its meant to be the crime capital of the UK but at least Nottingham and its surrounding area have some redeeming features. Not sure what Middlesborough has though?

A girlfriend of mine went to university in Middlesborough about 10 years ago and when visiting her I found it was the worst place I've ever been to - no kidding. Now I'm sure some people will disagree with me (probably folks from Middleborough) but I found the place a bit, erm, grim. Loads of crime, muggings were common place (even back then) and burn out cars in the middle of playing fields. The people however we great. Now this is my view of my experiences and there is only one way you can ever know for sure about the area and that's to visit it yourself.

If you're thinking of living in the UK then check it out first on a visit. Maybe make a note of a few places that will appeal too as a back up. I'm sure the same would apply for us poms looking at Oz.

But he said outside. It's not that far to some nice country and coast, is it?

I went there on our last trip, looking for genealogical stuff. It was grim in places, but I remember the countryside nearby as being quite pleasant.

Of course that's probably a lot more expensive, too.

Bev

This more or less is my opinion of the place based on what I have read.

You can be in the grimmest, ugliest and most depressing place in the UK but one thing for certain, is that wherever you are, there is going to be within reasonable driving distance nice areas and nice countryside etc. Hence I imagine that the most staunch lover of Middlesborough could defend it on that basis.

Oi leave Nottingham alone. Nottingham is a great city. I thought crime stats in Nottingham were high until I lived in Sydney.

It's the way it is reported,

Try these:

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/

http://www.findaproperty.com/

Both have rent search options to give you an idea. I'd also Google local newspapers in the area you are looking at - May give you a 'feel' for the local conditions!

Good luck!

Personally, I see the trio of East Midlands cities of Leicester, Derby and Nottingham as not bad places to live and all three have some very good areas. I know both Leicester and Derby better than I know Nottingham but I know Nottingham is often reported for its high crime figures such as burglary etc.

I would imagine that Sydney would have high crime figures and be comparative to say any large city in the UK or North America.