To leave UK due to weather and cost of living

[Blossompink]

We are absolutely fed up of this constant cold, wet and dreary weather and are seriously thinking it's time to leave the UK. It's not just the weather which is making us miserable but also the cost of living is just ridiculous simply trying to keep the house warm and do simple tasks like drying clothes outside.

We are late 50's, no mortgage, have some savings, but would probably need to have an holiday let type set up to bring some money in or a small business.

AIBU to have had enough of life in the UK and want to move elsewhere?

I’ve got family in several other European countries. The grass is not greener.

Yes but once you’ve been there for 3 months you can cancel this and apply for PUMA?

Moved to Spain. BEST THING WE EVER DID. Cost of living is SO much cheaper - lovely 3 course meal out with wine for 2 is 35 euros average. Seriously.

Of course some things are still annoying as all hell but the biggest realisation is that everything is a lot less annoying when you can go and have a swim in the beautiful sea and sit in the sunshine pretty much every day to get over it.

Also incredibly easy to meet people - large ex pat community where we are with people from all over, not just UK.

Visas bit tricky but def not impossible - get out of that drizzle and get the vitamin D in ya!

Yes but once you’ve been there for 3 months you can cancel this and apply for PUMA?

So effectively lie in your visa application? Good luck when applying to renew/for your titre de sejour. Also, it takes CPAM months to process applications.

100% agree

😂

Just one other thing to consider how many people do you know have moved abroad "forever" have returned in old age to use the nhs.I know about 20! The system may change and you may not get back to the nhs, or become ill abroad and end up spending a fortune.

I've read a lot of those "year in province" books. ..you get to read between the lines and some are actually honest and say they are isolated, struggle with the language, the bureaucracy, the unexpected cold winters, the lack of marmite, tea, spam whatever, the problems with tax the pension problems

Also if you move abroad you won't be allowed a British bank account these days. They are being closed due to new rules.

I would also add that anywhere on the planet has its pros and cons. You will not find a perfect place. You are likely more successful coming close to 'perfect' staying put and building on what you've already got here and, especially at middle age.

Be careful of assumptions that everywhere else is pressure free or holiday like when you are living there. We live abroad and there are definite pros and cons. We don’t think we would continue to do it if it wasn’t part of one of our jobs, mainly as the retirement options for foreigners are limiting unless you are very wealthy. Weather is also potentially quite a short term view given climate change. We live in a hot country and can’t go outdoors in the day comfortably at the moment. As others have said - healthcare, whether you’d be entitled to anything if you returned later to the uk, potentially double taxation and different inheritance and other laws are all important factors to look into if you are retiring.

Unless you are existing EU passport holders any stay in Europe will be limited. Visas are (supposed to be) coming in later in the year.

Portugal's D7 visa looks much more affordable than that. I'm not sure it's suitable for the op's particular circumstances, although it would probably suit other posters on the thread:

The key requirement for making a successful application is to be able to demonstrate that you are in receipt of regular ‘passive’ income, which may be derived from a pension, rental, dividends or certain categories of investment income.

The minimum income requirements...

01 Main Applicant – 100% of the minimum wage (currently €9,120 per annum).

02 Spouse or parents of main applicant – 50% of the minimum wage per person (currently €4,560 per annum).

It is advisable to hold a minimum amount equal to 12 months’ income within a Portuguese bank account.

https://www.sovereigngroup.com/portugal/private-clients/residency-in-portugal/portugal-passive-income-d7-visa/

This is on all the legal sites not sure if it is counted as fraud. The loophole is if you are legally resident for 3 months you can apply for PUMA.

Can’t I Just Join the French Healthcare System?For most expats, it will be possible to register for France’s state healthcare system, but you must have been resident in France for a minimum of three months in order to do so.
However, once you have registered for the French social security system and begin receiving state healthcare, you may wish to cancel your private insurance policy and take out a French top-up healthcare insurance or mutuelle’ instead. Be sure that your private health insurance policy allows you to do this.

BTW @Howmanycatsistoomany I have an EU passport 👍

Many European countries like Portugal, Greece are very much wishing to appeal to older British ex pats.

Hi writing from Europe, Milan to be precise, which I know you don't mention but please don't be under the illusion Europe is easier, cheaper and the grass is greener.

Just to give you some reality, it's May 2nd, usually it's hot but this time of year, but we've had the heating on every day since November and it has rained non stop for weeks on end! My last gas bill in January came in at €1000 for 2 months worth of gas, that's the cost for heating for my two bedroomed flat, I'm due another €1000 bill soon.

Shortly the intense heat will come and will be here until October. The last three summers have been literally unbearable, in my 25 years here I don't remember them being so hot bar the odd one. Too hot to do anything, too hot to work, we don't have air con, so sleeping has been terrible. Last year we had hurricanes and hail the size of tennis balls that damaged our cars and houses, Insurance wouldn't pay up for some of them... So many mosquitoes we can't even think about sitting outside!

Food is expensive, a decent quality chicken for roasting has cost me €14 today, €2.25 for sliced bread, €3.36 for 1.5kg of potatoes and €2.55 for 500g oats & €1.90 for a litre of Milk. Prices have always been higher than UK and have risen recently, UK used to be very cheap and now it's caught up with us. Pasta is still cheaper in UK!!

My rent on a 2 bed flat is €1500 + €250 monthly condominium costs, the average salary is €1300-€1400. There's no min wage either, the government set all job contracts and decide how much we're paid. I'm lucky enough to earn a little bit more than that, but I pay nearly 40% salary tax on it. Standard working hours are 40 a week, I do around 43, you can't rent a house without a job contract, and you need to pay 6 months rent in advance when renting a new place, although some will drop to 3 months. The average price of a 3 bed apartment is €500,000 or €900,000 if you live in the city centre.

To move here now after Brexit a single person must earn at least €31,000 per year, while a married couple must earn at least €38,000 per year

• Proof of address, which can be either owned or leased
• Proof of health insurance, with a minimum coverage of €30,000 and coverage for all medical expenses.

Despite saying all this I choose to live here, I have done for a very long time and I am happy and I do think in many respects I am better off here, especially for healthcare which is top notch here in Milan, but I just wanted to let you know the reality. There are plenty of good point too I should add!!

Greece’s golden visa is now set at 800,000 EUR for places like Attica, Thessaloniki, Mykonos, Santorini, and islands with a population of more than 3,100. 400,000 EUR everywhere else. You get a permit for up to 5 years which is renewable upon application and payment of a further fee. you need to have private health insurance, the golden visa doesn’t give you access to the labour market, your kids can come in on it up to a certain age.

Beware the cost of living is no joke here either though!

I’d be really interested in the list of good points if you wouldn’t mind sharing x

Not to mention the healthcare. Our private hospital in Greece was third world. I could have died. People have to think very carefully if they are older.

Spain have a wealth tax, so if you're a legal resident you will be required to submit details of all of your assets in all of your bank accounts in order that you can be taxed on them. Spain also charge capital gains tax on properties bought and sold.

I have no idea about other eu countries, but it’s always worth checking if there’s wealth taxes and/or capital gains. I have a relative who recently returned from Spain who is now paying a lot less tax than when resident in Spain.

@CantHaveTooMuchChocolate no im not in Spain but inlaws have a 2nd home there and i can see the appeal, great weather, safe, cheaper.

Im in Switzerland, working. Its expensive nut wages are so much higher, low tax. Amazing healthcare. Everything works -infrastructure, transport etc. My quality of life is so much better than the UK.

I'm in SW France. It has pissed here intermittently almost every day since February. I spend a lot of my time in London for work and kids. Everything, bar housing and heating is cheaper in the UK. Healthcare is better but you have to have (hefty) insurance in your 50's. There is no tertiary healthcare. Brexit has truly hammered prospects and mobility for Brits. Be v careful.

My take on residing in Europe is that it is possible, with a passive (unearned) income over 35k in euros for a couple. That rules out doing gites or similar. While I dont want to take on that commitment, I think we would qualify, but only just qualify and we have over £1 million in assets.

And when the threshold ratchets upwards and past today's cut off, which it will, it is going to happen that the UK will decline returns. Sorry, but the issue is the baby boom. it/we were a huge number of people, born together and ageing together. So now we all want to retire in the sun. So sorry to say this, but don't kid yourself.

The good points! Well, I feel safer here, there's less gang yob culture, that I see in UK. Youngsters overall have more respect for their elders. Education is good but hard, home work hours the second highest after China! Kids know that if they want to get a good job they must study, and study hard!

Healthcare is great, waiting times are getting longer but nothing compared to UK. You are very much responsible for it yourself, you get a prescription from the Dr for what you need and then log into the health system and search all the region'ss hospitals then book the treatment you need in any hospital which has the availability.. You get the results back after 2-3 days, they belong to you and are never sent to your GP. Lots of employers enter you in a private scheme, which is very affordable, this means for example I can get an MRI in a week for €45. I'm lucky enough to have a good permanent job contract, this pretty much guarantees me a job for life (unless I really mess up!) with a good pension too. Kids go to a Paediatrician and not the GP that adults go to. The attitude to health is very much prevention, so most people have annual blood tests, there are health centres everywhere and are very easy to get.

Quality of the food is outstanding, especially the fruit and veg. Less chains, more small family run businesses, so they care a lot about the service and their products. The high street is not dead either.

I think people have more self respect and care about how they look, you'll never see people walking around in legging that are far too small, they are VERY obsessed with weight though, but that may just be here in Milan.

The weather when it's not being unusually cold or far too hot can be great, you can guarantee sun pretty much daily usually from May to October.

I have made some great friends, I do speak the language though and this made the biggest difference. We eat out a lot, and it's such an important part of the culture, long lunches with friends and their children, everyone is always happy.

We get a lot of bank holidays but they are not moved, so can fall on a weekend, in which case they are lost. Summer holidays are long, schools close for three months in the summer so most people take off to the beach for around 3-4 weeks.

During Covid everyone wore a mask without any protest, most were vaccinated. Visiting UK during that time was a huge shock for me, in a bad way. I didn't feel safe one bit.

Depending on the job contract you can be paid 16 times a year. I get 13, my DH gets 15. We both get lunch vouchers as part of our salary which can be used in the supermarket too.

Privacy is very important, if you're ill from work ( and are not self employed) you have to go to the Dr on day one of your illness to get a certificate, which is sent to your employer as a code, they are never allowed to know why you are ill. We don't have X number of sick days a year either.

I'm sure there are more!

You might be better off buying a little place in France, Spain or Portugal and staying from the beginning of November to the end of January then living back in the UK for the rest of the year. If you have adult DC you would surely have some pension entitlement at 67 as you'd have got automatic stamps paid whilst you claimed child benefit. You can check out how much you will be entitled to on the government website under NICs. See how many years you have been credited with. You'd probably also be entitled to Pension Credit if your savings were less than a certain amount. If you bought a lock up and leave foreign property it might be. Have a look at the TV programme A new Life in the Sun on catch up TV. It follows Brits starting to live in Europe. There are 9 series to follow.

IIRC you can retire to Portugal but you need quite a hefty stash of cash* - they don’t want incomers being a drain on them.

€500k dh thinks - we have American friends who are contemplating it - fed up with New Hampshire winters, plus of course the prospect of Trump getting in again.