Have you moved from the UK to Ireland recently? What are your top tips logistically?

[MellyDelly]

After years and years in thatLondon, my partner and I (both Irish) and our teenage daughter are moving to South Dublin/ North Wicklow, closer to his family. Well aware of how difficult it will be to find somewhere to rent, let alone buy, differences in taxation, differences in healthcare etc. but there are push factors that I won't bore you with. Daughter is fully on board with the move (wouldn't consider it otherwise). So our house here is sale agreed, contracts are with the solicitors, we would be buying mortgage free, because a) we are ancient and b) we won't get a mortgage in Ireland. Budget is 700k absolute tops, I would dearly love to spend less. However, as everything is going for 10-20% over the asking price, I realise that's not our 'real' budget, if you see what I mean.

Anyway. I have logistical questions.

1. Sorting out a rental property - if I'm looking for a rental starting in late July, is it too early to start looking now? Is it worth registering with estate agents now? I've already sent out a plaintive WhatsApp message to relatives and friends in the Dublin area asking for early leads.
2. Buying a property - in an ideal world we'd just buy right away, we have a good idea of where we'd like to be, where we can afford and where's going to work for us in terms of commuting, schools, etc. Our chances of getting a sale sorted out by September are slim, right?
3. Transferring house sale proceeds from UK bank to bank in Ireland. Have you done this? Did you use a currency broker? If so, would you recommend them?
4. What other admin/ logistical things did you need to sort out and what do you wish you'd known then that you know now?

My husband and I are literally in the process of doing this exact move! We are also moving from UK (Cambridge) to North Wicklow/ South Dublin ( I'm Irish, husbands British). How did you get on with your move?

I'm living in North Dublin but I would recommend that you check out www.daft.ie and www.myhome.ie for properties in the areas that you're looking for.
Perhaps approach some estate agents in the areas you'd like to move to, to see if they would have anything that might suit.

I would check out primary/secondary schools in those areas. Schools will have some form of uniform and books are paid for by the parents. The schoolbooks could be part of a book rental scheme or you buy them outright and can perhaps sell them on later.

I'm seeing that you posted this @MellyDelly back in May 2022 so I'm hoping that you have managed to make the move to Dublin/Wicklow without too much difficulty.

@Shauna27 - how has your move gone/how is it going?

Yes, we are now on the south Dublin/ north Wicklow border, renting in Cherrywood because it was literally the only rented flat I could find! Eye wateringly expensive by London standards but about average for Dublin. If you can stay with family or get a rental through friends of friends, I’d recommend that.

Pluses - got a place in one of the state schools I felt was better for my neurodivergent teen. She is settling in and has made good friends and found her niche on the LCA programme. It’s a lot less of a pressure cooker than the UK and suits her better. She’s not a huge fan of change normally but has surprised us by being fully on board with the move.

Found a good GP without too much heartache. Paying to see a doctor takes a bit of getting used to, but I don’t miss the 3 week wait for a GP appointment…

We just had an offer accepted on a house that we were outbid on a few months ago! Housing market does seem to be calmer than it was a few months ago though supply is still sketchy.

And if you’d like a recommendation for a currency broker let me know - the one we used saved us thousands by offering a respectable exchange rate, it really helped take the sting out of renting.

Minuses - customs!!! The paperwork for moving our furniture took me a week to complete! I had to send 51 different pieces of evidence to prove we were re locating (no, that isn’t hyperbole). Ditto for importing the car. (Registering the cat was straightforward though)

You don’t always get the right info from various government departments, on PPS numbers for minors, or your rights under the Common Travel Area Agreement for example. Save yourself some time and aggravation and check with Citizens Information first before talking to anyone else.

I don’t regret moving at all - daughter has a less stressful path to further education/ training, I love being closer to my family and career wise there are tons of opportunities around at the moment. I love Dublin as a liveable city (would have loved Bray or Wicklow even more but school places…). The admin involved in a post Brexit move is insane ( I finished my last piece of paperwork recently) but forewarned is forearmed, right? 😂

@LookItsMeAgain - Thanks for asking. We arrived in August and it’s been pretty full on since then - all our stuff is in storage, I’ve started a new job, so has OH, and DD is in a totally new school and new education system, and I have seen far too many overpriced, shabby houses for sale. But the house hunt is over now, so we have time at the weekends to explore the neighbourhood, and we have a Lidl living Xmas tree up in our apartment, I am meeting friends for a pre Xmas drink in an hour, and it is starting to feel like home now.

Also, the Craicnet threads on schools were incredibly helpful- I made a shortlist of our preferred schools in South Dublin and North Wicklow based partly on honest discussions on here.

I'm delighted that you're settling in. Hope your Christmas is a good one!

I can only imagine the levels of paperwork involved in moving from the UK (outside the EU now) to any EU member state. It must be a bit easier with the forms being in the same language though (trying to find a silver lining if there is one) 😄

There is minimal paperwork for moving from UK to Ireland (Common Travel Area). I am a Brirltish citizen who had never even set foot in Ireland before, moved to Ireland in 2020 with (British) husband and child with SEN plus two adult children who are not actulally here as they are at uni in the EU. Had to get PPNs but apart from that, very simple and easy. It's not the same as moving from other non-EU countries. UK citizens have all the same rights as Irish ones to live, work, benefits, healthcare etc etc

I am an Irish citizen recently returning after 3 decades in the UK and I found the paperwork extremely onerous. That, and the fact that I never got the same answer twice to a question.

Hi @MellyDelly we are making the move soon, glad to hear it all went well for you. I don't know how to direct message on here but please could I ask for the details of your currency broker, we have no idea how much it will cost us to transfer the proceeds of our house sale over to Ireland. Thanks a million.

Hey, we used Currencies Direct and I found them brilliant. Any currency transfer service will save you thousands. I still had to fly back to the UK to make the transfers due to money laundering limits on how much you can move without being face to face,as we moved the day after we completed our house sale, but that barely made a dent in the savings.

Thank you so much, that's great! I can't believe you had to fly back to make the transfers, to think in this day and age it can't all be done electronically. We will be in the same boat as our sale doesn't go through until after we have moved.

You could still move it remotely in 10m chunks but with charges and fluctuations in exchange rates it’s not with it IMO! And it’s driven by anti money laundering legislation- still a PITA though! But it gives you a chance to stock on things you forgot to pack, like cheap paracetamol or anything from John Lewis…

@MellyDelly hey! Glad to hear you’re all settled in well and it’s feeling like home! Hope you don’t mind me asking but what age was your daughter when you moved? I’m thinking of moving but won’t be until after my daughter finishes her GCSEs, all being well.

She was 16. If you can time it so that your child can do Transition Year when they get here, that feels like a good and natural break point. Gives them a year to acclimatise. Going from UK system right into 5th Year was tough.

Make sure you sort health care within 9 months or you will have to pay a hefty extra cost if you are older
Get all car docs in order before the move as it is very administratively heavy and hard to find all the docs you need if you've just moved and applications MUST be made within a week of arrival.
Get an Irish SIM card before you move ( Tesco do a €15 monthly pay as you go SIM) as most Irish businesses don't like to deal with international numbers
and it's hard to set up things without providing a contact no.

@MellyDelly thanks for your reply. How does your child find it? I hope they’re settling well? Was she able to cope with the change in education system - that is, was there much of a difference? Thanks again. So hard to figure out what to do!

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