Moving back to UK after 10 years away- tips please

bitsandpieces

If she'll have a job set up before getting here, her employer might help reassure potential landlords with an employer's reference - especially if employer are used to dealing with international staff. 'Dear LL, we are employing Ms X as a teacher from startdate, with a salary of £Y. She has a firm offer of a job with us, having satisfactorily completing the relevant pre-employment checks.' The employer may also be able to suggest agencies who can be helpful.

elonii

I came home after 8 years in Australia 2 years ago.

She'll be able to get a bank account pretty easily if she pre-loads bills / proof of address with a friend and gets a letter from her employer to the same address. Althought it's probably daunting right now, it is amazing how quickly things come together once you get started! Credit history builds fairly quickly too - I brought a foreign husband home with me (and boy does the government make you pay for that but that's another story lol), within 3 months he could get post billed electrical supply etc. On the flip side, people like vodafone are a bunch of horrors and refuse to give him even a £10 a month contract for service only until he has 3 years credit history.

I had no issues with a rental, due to the fact I was employed. I would have been happy to offer a few months rent in advance but the landlord did not require it. I have a vague memory of letting one of my own properties to a returnee a few years back, the agent asked them for 6 months rent up front in lieu of credit referencing. I'd have been happy with less, but they'd already arranged it.

She probably will suffer reverse culture shock, I certainly have and it's been dreadful. Even just not knowing where to buy a certain item you need is surprisingly frustrating. If she's got plenty of local friends though I'm sure you'll all support her and keep her busy / help her settle back in by getting her out and about.

I hope she settles back in well - and I'm sure she'll be looking forward to some nice European holidays and things. I certainly was!!

love_lifer

Ptolemyspuzzle and elonii thanks so much for taking the time to post. Ive passed the info on. She will benefit from your wisdom

Ptolemyspuzzle

You may find it weird/funny Rain Shadow, but I did actually move into my newly rented house on a Sunday after staying at my mum's for a couple of weeks. I forgot about the whole "Sunday" ridiculousness and had no food. The UK seems to want things both ways, they want the economy stimulated and people spending money, but then all hell lets loose when people suggest that perhaps they should extend opening hours.

The rubbish system here is annoying. I went from having daily collections to having to strategise on how to fit 2 weeks worth of rubbish into certain bins and put them out at certain times. It sounds silly, I know, but I had quite a few "collections" where they just left the rubbish behind because I'd got it wrong (cardboard isn't allowed with paper apparently, that kind of thing). Didn't know who to call or what to do to find out the majority of information that most people take for granted. I didn't know that there were "recycling stations" that I could dump things at. When you are just receiving your belongings and have a house full of boxes and paper (and broken belongings) things like that tend to go from a minor inconvenience into the straw that breaks the camel's back :P

Laws... think of things like the child seat laws, the fact that there are speed cameras every 500 yds in some areas, even consumer laws such as return policies and things, all damn good information which I had no idea about (one of the reasons I lurk on here, to try to bring myself up to speed with the foibles, good and bad, of the UK systems).

The DBS thing is still messing things up and I wish to god someone had told me about it before I came back. I can't even volunteer in my chosen area for another 1.5 yrs

When you are stressed and dealing with a lot of things, all of these minor little things add up. Most of them are trivial and can be mitigated.

Oh and yes, avoid Vodafone. They messed up my bill and destroyed what little credit rating I had. It took 7 months and contacting the ombudsman to sort it out.

Ptolemyspuzzle

OH!

One other thing, make sure to remind her to take photos of the place she rents when she moves in and when she leaves. My first landlord tried to charge me a ridiculous amount of money for all sorts of things that were there when I moved in (thankfully I had photos). I honestly think that my first landlord was hoping to take advantage of the fact that I was probably clueless about the system.

Where I used to live it was basically given that the landlord would repaint/redo the entire place at the end of a tenancy, so no cleaning was required, you just packed and left. Different systems that could catch you out horribly if you are used to that and then get slammed with a £100 bill because a lightbulb doesn't work when you left...

ERICS_MUM

Ptolemyspuzzle wrote: »

Have a friend set her up with a cheat sheet - all of the silly little things that make life stressful when you first move. Explain the rubbish system, days, re-cycling etc. What she needs to register for and where. Laws that may have changed (driving etc). Even simple things like reminding her that most of the country shuts down on Sunday, pubs close early, supermarkets may not be 24/7 and even if they are 24/7 it doesn't actually mean 24/7 etc.

Reverse culture shock is a pretty horrible thing, people assume that because you're "coming home" everything will be straightforward, but it isn't.

Good idea :T. How about reminding her that shops now charge for bags. How Freeview, I-Player etc works. Loyalty cards, Quidco. Most importantly get her to register on MSE !

Smodlet

steampowered wrote: »

If life in the UK is so bad, why don't you move?

Personally I think the UK is great. It isn't perfect but there is a relaxed culture, free healthcare, good infrastructure and democratic government (which is very moderate and competent by international standards).

The main negative of living here is that us Brits seem to be in a habit of complaining and moaning about absolutely everything, and don't even seem to care whether our complaints are factually justified or not.

Our police don't carry guns... tell me another country where that is the case.

always_sunny

Smodlet wrote: »

Our police don't carry guns... tell me another country where that is the case.

New Zealand?

martindow

Ptolemyspuzzle wrote: »

You may find it weird/funny Rain Shadow, but I did actually move into my newly rented house on a Sunday after staying at my mum's for a couple of weeks. I forgot about the whole "Sunday" ridiculousness and had no food. The UK seems to want things both ways, they want the economy stimulated and people spending money, but then all hell lets loose when people suggest that perhaps they should extend opening hours.

The rubbish system here is annoying. I went from having daily collections to having to strategise on how to fit 2 weeks worth of rubbish into certain bins and put them out at certain times. It sounds silly, I know, but I had quite a few "collections" where they just left the rubbish behind because I'd got it wrong (cardboard isn't allowed with paper apparently, that kind of thing). Didn't know who to call or what to do to find out the majority of information that most people take for granted. I didn't know that there were "recycling stations" that I could dump things at. When you are just receiving your belongings and have a house full of boxes and paper (and broken belongings) things like that tend to go from a minor inconvenience into the straw that breaks the camel's back :P

Laws... think of things like the child seat laws, the fact that there are speed cameras every 500 yds in some areas, even consumer laws such as return policies and things, all damn good information which I had no idea about (one of the reasons I lurk on here, to try to bring myself up to speed with the foibles, good and bad, of the UK systems).

The DBS thing is still messing things up and I wish to god someone had told me about it before I came back. I can't even volunteer in my chosen area for another 1.5 yrs

When you are stressed and dealing with a lot of things, all of these minor little things add up. Most of them are trivial and can be mitigated.

Oh and yes, avoid Vodafone. They messed up my bill and destroyed what little credit rating I had. It took 7 months and contacting the ombudsman to sort it out.

Inevitably there are going to be differences when you change countries.

Your experiences sound as if they were some years ago as Sunday trading has been around for years - whether it is more or less ridiculous is a moot point. Small shops are not constrained at all with Sunday opening. I'm not sure why you were without food.

As you suggest, researching as much as possible before the move is essential. This is now far easier as so much information is on the internet.

Smodlet

always_sunny wrote: »

New Zealand?

If you say so; I know this is not so in Australia... What about the snakes and creepy crawlies, though? :rotfl: To each, their own but thanks, always_sunny.