Moving to the UK for husbands job

[SmallBlondeMama]

Help us decide on a place to live! We are moving to the UK from Canada for my husbands job in November. He works in banking and will be in the financial district in London. It's likely a 3 year assignment. We have 3 kids (5,4 and 1) and are looking for a family-friendly area with lots of trees and outdoorsy stuff around but also near shops and restaurants. Most importantly, I want my husband to have a decent train commute into London. 30 mins is ideal but no longer than an hour. Any suggestions on where we should start our house search? His housing allowance works out to be around 2500-3000 pounds per month for rent, utilities and tax. We are also looking for an area with good schools. Interested in any advice/suggestions please!! :)

Chislehurst?

You may have to live further away for that price to achieve all the requests

Thanks for the replies so far!

Rightmove.co.uk is your friend :-)

Something small in Wandsworth or further out so Norbiton, carshalton, leatherhead/dorking

State schools or private?

If he is going to be in Canary Wharf Greenwich works. DLR from Greenwich to CW is under 20mins, you have the beautiful Greenwich Park on your door step and lots of restaurants. Blackheath is also beautiful, slightly longer commute but less touristy than Greenwich.

State schools if we can get in. We could have an education allowance for an international school but since the kids are so young I don't think it's necessary. Would any areas in Surrey be realistic? What would that commute be like?

As @Bunnyhop1502 says - Chislehurst. Or even Sevenoaks.

Chislehurst is urban but 'villagey'. Sevenoaks is a country town with lots of pretty villages around. There are other areas in between these two places you could consider - Farnborough, Green Street Green on the outskirts of Orpington. (Orpington is nothing special). Both are villages with good shops and schools, but near to Orpington or Chelsfield rail stations.

There are also some slightly more rural but very nearby locations - Pratt's Bottom, Knockholt and Halstead. They even have their own village primary schools. You would have to drive to Orpington, Chelsfield or Knockholt train station.

His office is on Threadneedle Street.

The allowance isn't very much but I assume you are prepared to top up from salary.

I’m in Sevenoaks, and it’s lovely here. Chislehurst actually sounds very ideal for you and a bit closer commute wise! It’s lovely there too

Threadneedle St is Bank station then - so the DLR is ideal.

His allowance is $100,000 Canadian per year so we would have to convert that to pounds and then factor in that it would be taxed. Trying not to dip into his paycheque!

That allowance won't really go far at all! I would accept that for an expat positing.

And I'd take the education allowance! And base yourself close to whatever school you want.

Thank you all so much - so helpful to know what areas to type into rightmove!

The Crofton area of Orpington is great for schools. All the primary’s are rated Outstanding. Twenty fives mins to central London on the train. I’m not working on commission here I just think Bromley is one of the most family-friendly London boroughs!

What do you mean by tax? Does that need to cover commuting costs too?

Threadneedle street is only a 5 minute walk from Liverpool Street station, look at places out on the lines that come into Liverpool street. Some surprisingly distant places have faster trains, ie Saffron Walden, Bishops Stortford

I assumed council tax as it will be an accommodation allowance.

would't take that.

Seriously. I think you are being very naive.

I think it works out to be around $3500 per month but need to factor in commute costs.

Oops I mean pounds not dollars :)

At today's FX that's just under £60k per annum. Assuming he's earning a fair whack then 45% tax and 2% NIC (unless he's staying in Canadian social security) reduces it down to £31,800 net. That gives you roughly £2,650 per month.

I live in Blackheath and can vouch for it being easy to get into the City from here and Greenwich. Lovely parks and good state schools. Hither Green is another nice area. You will get more house for your money out towards Chislehurst and Bromley, but may have a longer commute.

Manning tree has fast trains to Liverpool Street