Moving away for first time

sc0ttie

I have lived in Surrey all my life. I have met a woman whom I have been living with for 2 years. We want to move from our 1 Bed flat to a 2 bed house. We will be renting, hopefully a two bed house, hopefully in Kent. I have never moved away like this before so I am not quite sure what comes first, new house or new jobs as our current jobs will be too far to travel to from Kent. We chose Kent because we do not like the area we live in now, its too urban and expensive for us.

If anybody has some experience of doing this then I would like to hear from you, as I say, I have never relocated to another area before so I am not sure how to go about it. I know we can quite easily find ourselves a house and rent it, I am just a bit worried about the jobs thing and how to plan it.

thanks in advance.

BitterAndTwisted

What would I do? Carry out some extensive research and narrow it down to a specific area and then figure out likely rents and wages. Ensure I have sufficient savings to pay the rent for at least several months while securing new employment.

Of course it can be done the other way round but it might be difficult the commute for interviews or persuade a potential employer of your seriousness to relocate once an offer has been made. Finding the right property might not coincide with your start-dates in any case.

Whereabouts in Kent did you have in mind?

CloudCuckooLand

If a long commute is making you consider changing county, then you have to get jobs to suit the location you wish to move to - otherwise, if jobs don't come up, you could be unemployed or doing a grotty job for a pittance just to be close enough to where you have chosen to live.

As you are renting, its easier to chop and change locations, should it be required. So, get jobs first...which is easier said than done. If need be, if 1 of you got a job quicker than the other, you could always B&B for a couple of weeks/months while other elements fell into place.

Is your industry recovering post-recession, or are you possibly going to struggle to get re-hired in a shrinking sector of the economy?

Maybe you need to understand in your own mind the Kent idea, i.e. why not Sussex? Draw a circle round your job locations and see what might be commutable. Then, from a new location seek new jobs, is another way to do it.

sc0ttie

Hi B&T thanks for your reply. We have been looking at Canterbury as it suits us there. Using the online public transport planner my partner who works in Twickenham would have to get 3 trains and spend 2 and a half hours getting to work each day if she kept her job. I think it would be better for at least one of us to secure a job in Cantebury before we move, rather than both move there and both be unemployed for an unknown amount of time.

I wouldnt mind being the one to move first, if we had to move a few weeks or months apart but I suppose having not done it before I find it quite daunting.
We do have saving of about £4000 I don't know if that will be enough to tide us over if we both moved there without jobs. Rents for what we want, a two bedroom house, are good around £700 a month and council tax is about the national average there.

Do you think it would be better for one of us to move first and find employment whilst the other stays back with their current job until the other finds a job in Canterbury?

BitterAndTwisted

Depends on which one of you is the higher-earner. It's do-able for one of you to move first but have you considered other parts of Kent because Canterbury is quite expensive because of the Uni? Plus, for some jobs you might find yourselves competing against the students for them as well

sc0ttie

Thanks CloudCuckooLand I work in admin for public sector and my partner works in customer service. We chose Kent because not only have we spent a lot of time there we like the place. Also, my partner speaks French and Dutch, which she uses in her current job, and I think perhaps with the links Kent has to the rest of Europe, she might have better luck at finding a job there where she can use her languages and thus have a better salary than a job without using her languages. I may be wronmg about that, but it is what we have felt as looking around at job websites for french speaking jobs in Surrey and Sussex, there were hardly any. We do not want to move in to central London either.

sc0ttie

We have considered more specifically Faversham, Ramsgate and Ashford area. We both really like Faversham, but like Canterbury more.

PasturesNew

If you've no job, you won't get the rent paid on a 2-bed place, do you know the LHA rates in the area?
If you've given up jobs to move, you might not get JSA/any benefits - have you looked into the rules on this?

You're really stuck in catch 22.... and the only way forward is to apply for jobs in that area until one of you gets a job. Then, both move, but move into a studio flat. Then the 2nd one can start applying for jobs and you can both learn about the area.

Hopefully, within 6 months, you'd both then have jobs and be able to look at renting somewhere bigger/better.

Moving to an entirely new area, in the hope of getting a job, is a massive undertaking .... and I am wishing to do it myself, but looking at £500-600 rent on a 1-bed place, a place I've never even visited .... and still scared. Tried applying for jobs, but employers prefer people to already live in an area before even interviewing them.

sc0ttie

PasturesNew wrote: »

If you've no job, you won't get the rent paid on a 2-bed place, do you know the LHA rates in the area?
If you've given up jobs to move, you might not get JSA/any benefits - have you looked into the rules on this?

You're really stuck in catch 22.... and the only way forward is to apply for jobs in that area until one of you gets a job. Then, both move, but move into a studio flat. Then the 2nd one can start applying for jobs and you can both learn about the area.

Hopefully, within 6 months, you'd both then have jobs and be able to look at renting somewhere bigger/better.

Moving to an entirely new area, in the hope of getting a job, is a massive undertaking .... and I am wishing to do it myself, but looking at £500-600 rent on a 1-bed place, a place I've never even visited .... and still scared. Tried applying for jobs, but employers prefer people to already live in an area before even interviewing them.

The LHA rate for 2 bed house in Canterbury is £159 I believe. My partner and I are both currently employed in the south London area and will not want to be unemployed at all if we can help it. I was posting for advice before we make the move, as we are not sure of how to go about it. As explained, we currently have £4k in savings which we are able to use for deposit, rent, council tax and moving costs. Not sure how long that would last, which is why I asked about one of us moving first.

It has occured to me to rent a house in canterbury, keep living in our current 1 bed flat on until one of us has a job in Kent then move down there. Rents for a 2 bed place in Kent are about 600-800 for a place like we want. I dont think it is a catch 22 because there is a way forward, I just am not sure yet which one to choose.

If anybody has an first hand experience of relocating with or without jobs then I would be interested to read them.

PasturesNew

One of the points I was trying to make is that you'd not get a 2-bed LHA rate, you'd only qualify for a 1-bed LHA rate, which is £126/week (£546/month) ... should LHA ever be something you needed to call upon. Therefore, in my opinion, it's worth bearing this type of detail in mind until you're established in an area.

elfen

Problem with Canterbury is that most of the jobs that require the languages are either in Ashford or Folkestone (Eurostar/call centres)