Word of warning if you're coming home

[Appletrees]

Prepare yourself.

Moving back from Europe to Bristol this year. We can't get back into our house because our tenants refuse to move out despite masses of notice. We may be homeless when the children start school. We have no credit rating without our address. We can't get on the electoral register.

You can be so screwed over if you've rented out your house and the tenants, even corporate, moneyed tenants, refuse to move. It takes three to five months to get an accelerated possession order. I would advise anyone to give notice for five months before you need the house.

Keeping and using a British credit card doesn't make a difference. I think you need to be on the electorol register and have a british address associated with you. When you apply for credit, they always ask your previous address(es) and if they are not UK ones, they cannot check your credit and therefore your rating plummets (even if you have a mortgage and credit cards already.) It's ridiculous. When I sold my house a few months agi, I was even turned down when I wanted to open a bank account that I wanted to put almost $50,000 in because they did a credit check.

That's bloody ridiculous grockle.

Good lord Grockle. That's scary. We too have kept up mortgage payments and kept a British credit card (paid off monthly), which I've used to order online from M & S, John Lewis, etc etc. It's made no difference so far.

We've bought car insurance since being back, to our old address, and that might help, also we hope to remortgage with the bank I've been with all along, and they say it will be ok as soon as I'm on the electoral register (so far prevented by the sodding tenats). The bank says that a new mortgage might help. They are sympathetic but can't really do anything about the credit rating.

I am on the electoral register as an overseas voter based on my previous address. Does this count?

We we rented out our house, we were advised to rent it unfurnished as the unfurnished/furnished distinction made a different with squatters' rights.

Is this a factor in your situation, Appletrees? I never understood it, just went along with the advice. We also had company funds to bail us out if anything catastrophic happened.

Hope everything works out and it is just one of the (little) stresses that goes along with international moves that you will laugh about in years to come.

I don't think so Tad. Though if you ever find outfor sure please let us know!

Thanks Madame, I don't think squatters' rights apply: they are wrong but I still can't get them out until mid October if I follow every letter of the law. It doesn't matter how wrong they are, if I do anything NOT according to the book I could be done for illegal eviction.

It seems unfair that eviction can be illegal but not over staying.

O