Anyone in the process of moving home?

[KobaniDaughters]

Looks like we’re more than likely moving back to the U.K. - maybe end of the year for DH but summer for DC and I. Feeling pretty overwhelmed and wondering if anyone else was planning to head back from abroad in the next few months for shared hand holding?

Hi @StayingHere you are so close to leaving! Do you have any advice for those of us behind you in the process? Are you back in lockdown in Singapore now? We were thinking of stopping over there on the way back from Oz, but don’t think it will be possible.

We have told the kids we are moving back to London in mid August. DS1 is very upset and doesn’t want to talk about it. I really hate telling people as it seems so real.

Hi Thefourthcraw not quite a lockdown but might as well be - kids have to learn from home and you can only do anything in groups of 2. Restaurants are closed but shops aren't. It's a bit shit tbh and my kids had their last day at physical school today which was a bit rushed as the government made this decision only at the weekend. My DD (8) seems fine but my DS (6) is a little more unsettled.

I don't have any advice because I feel like I'm badly winging it! You definitely won't be able to stop here on your way back they've given themselves a shock with this Indian variant slipping through.
Moving is really really hard. I'm never ever moving again once we're settled!

Good luck over the next couple of weeks @Musication

@Thefourthcraw how old are your DC and how did you tell them? I’d like to put off telling mine as we’re now not going until next year but I want to take my DS around some secondary schools when we pop home in July so he’ll have to know and we can’t tell him and not tell DD (and she’ll wonder why we’re looking at schools!)

Good luck @Musication. Such a shame you have to end your time without going to your favourite places in Singapore. It must be so confusing for DC. I never get much done when the kids are at home.

My kids are 11, 8 and 5 @KobaniDaughters. We sat them all down and told them we had some news. We were applying for schools for my oldest 6 months ago and just said it was in case we were moving home, so he knew that he had a school place, but it still seemed a big shock for him. This time last year he was desperate to move back, but he has got much closer to his friends here now. I think he has been in denial and now he doesn’t want to talk about it

The other 2 seem excited, but I don’t think they remember the move this way and so haven’t really understood how final it will be.

Good to hear your experience and thoughts @Thefourthcraw

That’s an interesting tactic. I wonder if we try to keep it vague as well, as “this is what we’re thinking” rather than “this is what we’re doing”

Same as you kobani also pretty much decided to move back next year. My son will also be year 9 by then. We don't really want to move back but it's that or leave family home with us far away while we put kids through high school here and worry about us college or expensive overseas uk uni fees. We also did a session of counselling cos we were no good at addressing the issue! My two know we're going back.

@SummerLightning snap on so many levels! Def a part of it is if we don’t go now then we’re basically stuck here for another decade

How did you tell them and did you tell them you’re def going? Where are you moving back to and from?

Sorry killed the thread by not answering 😬

We just told them, they like it here but miss the UK too, we are lucky they are quite chilled about it all. Hopefully they still will be next summer as this year has obviously been shit with school shut a lot of the time.

Well my efforts to declutter have been thwarted by a circuit breaker lock down here, I was donating about 1 bag a week to the charity shop before that. We have a zoom meeting with the relocation people on Tuesday to talk about getting a container etc. I want to find out if they advise sending the stuff so it arrives about the same time as us. Although that would mean the container leaving in the next few weeks.

How is everyone else getting on? @Musication you must be getting close now!

@Thefourthcraw yes two weeks! So exciting. We're sorting our packing boxes this weekend, have found a rental in the UK and have almost sorted a school place out for my two DC. I've gone past nervous now and I'm really excited to see my mum and my friends and go to a good British pub garden and visit Sainsburys! I'm going to miss Singapore so much but our time has come to get back to the homeland. Where are you based that you have another circuit breaker? We're in heightened restrictions here in SG which is a bit tiresome but not as bad as a circuit breaker.

We're in Melbourne @Musication. The circuit breaker is apparently for 7 days and I'm keeping everything crossed it only lasts that long, I need to get back to the charity shop! We did have plans for another trip within Oz before we leave, but that's looking unlikely now as we leave in August.

I'm glad you are at the stage where it is exciting. Well done for the rental and almost school places. That is great progress. I am supposed to email our LEA about my DC with sen and I just keep adding it to the new to do list rather than sending the email!

@Thefourthcraw if your LEA is anything like mine they apparantly need a 4 week run up to process applications! Unbelievably slow, so I applied this week in the hope that it'll almost line up for our children to get a few weeks in before the end of term. When is your moving date?

That’s interesting about the 4 weeks @Musication. We are likely to arrive in the U.K. on 16 August, so I need to apply before we arrive as school starts just over 2 weeks after. Did you have proof of address when you applied? We may need to start paying council tax again in our house that is currently rented out to tenants.

Congrats on finding somewhere to rent @Musication there seems to be absolutely nothing available on the market. I’m hoping it all
Calms down over the next 8-10months

Am currently fantasising about us leaving in April next year and road tripping for a month across America on our way....

In the meantime have booked several weekends away in our state to places we haven’t been to that are on the bucket list and I think we’ll go to Hawaii for thanksgiving

@KobaniDaughters it was a real bunfight finding a rental. Hardly anything suitable around - I got it by offering to pay 6 months up front.

@Thefourthcraw I needed the signed tenancy agreement as proof of address. It might just be my LEA that needs 4 weeks they're not the most efficient!

I’m planning to move back to England once my dh gets his visa and we have sorted out finances here. We will still have property here. I grew up there and have family there. Now moving back with dd and dh. Dh is used to life there as lived there before moving here and dd has spent many holidays there before covid. Looking to rent outside London but we won’t be working so I assume we will pay rent upfront (a year perhaps?) hope landlords will be okay with that. Planning to buy in a year or 2. If renting outside London doesn’t work out, will rent near family and where I grew up.
Dd will be going into year 9 but as she has been doing UK Cambridge syllabus, hopefully it won’t be a huge difference. Will have to find a place to rent and then apply for school..... I’m so excited to be moving back!

So me and DH finished work today. Pre departure covid tests done and just 2 days till we leave. Feeling a mixture of happy and sad, being an expat really changes you doesnt it. Here is to the next chapter and good luck everyone with your moves.

Got my France-UK pack date at end July. Shame my tenant ignored his 6 month notice to leave, stopped paying rent forever ago and we have 8-10 weeks of posession order, baliffs etc to go. Quarantine while sofa surfing here we come.

Do you know how long it will take for DH to get a visa @Wantingtomove123? It sounds good that DD is doing the UK syllabus, I think my kids will be completely out of synch coming from Australia.

Wow @Musication you are almost on that plane!! I will have to add covid tests to my pre leaving checklist! Good luck with your travel and settling into your new home.

Hi @1frenchfoodie I had no idea about the 6 month (now 4 month) minimum notice period. We gave our tenants 3 months notice, trying to be nice, but that is now 4 months so we will have nowhere to live for a month. I really hope it doesn't mess up the school applications for us. That sounds like a total nightmare for you with bailiffs etc, I hope your tenant does the right thing and moves out on their own accord.

I hope everyone else is getting on ok.

Oh sadly I’d put the chances of them moving out at zero @Thefourthcraw - we already had to take the tenant to court to get the posession order so they have a CCJ and nothing to lose. I’m just hoping the local authority accept a baliff eviction date as confirmation we will be in the address by the start of term. Technically we need the local address by 9 July if we are to get a school place for the start of term as applications after 10 july are allocated for a late september start. Probably worth you checking your own local authority doesnt have a similar cut off for applications.

Thefourthcraw, Apparently over 3 months because of covid. We are now a red listed country by UK so we are thinking of waiting till we become amber before moving. Otherwise have to pay for hotel quarantine for all of us… Also our country is in lockdown so can’t sort out our finances. Need to renovate our apartment in order to give out on rent. Looks like this is going to take a long time 😕 And I was hoping to put DD to school there before September

What a nightmare @Wantingtomove123 covid has buggered up so much!!

I’ve started contacting schools to hopefully do some tours when we’re back in July. It feels so overwhelming at the moment but I’ve narrowed down to some areas and some schools so at least we won’t be applying blind

Joining this thread as we are looking at a possible move back and feeling totally overwhelmed by the whole knowing what area to pick and what schools to be in. The school thing seems like a complete minefield! My youngest is 4, he is in FS here but I don't know if we move before the end of the year if he redos reception or how it works. My eldest is 8 and going into yr 4 and have been told to look at goo secondary schools catchment areas but I can't seem to make head nor tail of it all! We have been spoilt with the level of education here and will be going into "normal" not private schools in the uk. Looking at Bromley area. How have you all managed to narrow down and sort houses etc?