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?

Goodness, @Wantingtomove123 covid has really messed up your moving plans.

Thanks for the advice about school applications @1frenchfoodie I haven’t been able to get through to the LEA on the phone, I have emailed them about applying from here. I hope your address is accepted.

It’s good to have a plan for your July visit @KobaniDaughters it doesn’t sound like a very relaxing break for you though!

Hi @vbro! Where are you moving from and when did you last live in the U.K.? We are lucky that our house was rented to tenants and so we are moving back to the same place. I think children who turn 4 before 31/08 go into reception in September that year. There is an option to defer entry for summer born children.

I don’t know much about Bromley, but if you post on the local Bromley section or in the primary school section you could get good advice on schools and areas.

Would you have the option to visit the U.K. and look at potential schools before the move? It is so hard making these decisions without someone on the ground.

@Thefourthcraw is the annual sojourn home ever relaxing?! One of my main reasons for wanting to move back is to avoid spending all our money and summertime trekking around the U.K. seeing everyone

Thanks for the message @Thefourthcraw moving from Dubai. Unfortunately we are still on the red list so no chance to come before we move over. Not even sure how we would move as would need to go via another amber/green country for 10 days first as the hotel quarantine is not an option. I’m from London but north east so don’t know much about south London. It’s all making my head hurt a bit

Thanks for the good wishes and hope the LEA answer the phone eventually @Thefourthcraw We were able to find our LEA cut off date online (then confirm via email) - but it was pretty tucked away.

Our side there was an error on our posession order so I’m no closer to getting our home back - hoping the court can reissue it but with balif delays running to 8 weeks we’ll be sofa surfing for longer than expected.

Got my DH’s spouse visa a few days ago. It was much quicker than we expected! As we are redlisted, we are considering the hotel quarantine. Does anyone know if he’s allowed to enter UK from a redlisted country on a spouse visa with entry clearance?
Also, I’m thinking applying to school through local authority when we have found a house is okay since it’ll be September by the time dd starts school again?
Meanwhile, sorting out so many things at home …..

@Wantingtomove123 the red/amber requirements are the way the UK is controlling covid travel ‘risks’ (rather than some coutries that layer on requirement for the travel to be essential as well). So if a spouse visa with entry clearance would normally get him in I cant see any reason for that to have changed.

1frenchfoodie Thanks for your help! 😊

That was much faster than you thought @Wantingtomove123. I am also trying to get my head around the entry requirements of the UK. Every so often I think it is crazy to move countries in a global pandemic, at least everyone on this thread is contemplating it too. My friend recently moved from Dubai and had to do the hotel quarantine with her 3 kids, as her husband is staying on for work. She said it was pretty intense, but she got supermarket deliveries with snacks and small toys for the kids. We are in a green country, but I learnt today that we will need to order covid tests to be delivered to our address before we arrive. We will also need one to transit through Singapore before we leave. Its another thing on the to do list.

Sorry your possession order has got messed up @1frenchfoodie. I am slightly worried that our tenants have not responded to the notice we gave them, so we could end up in a similar situation.

I'm also from north London @vbro, hence why I have no knowledge of the South! Have you managed to find any more info from anywhere else? I think some more countries have been added to the green/ amber list now, so you could find somewhere for a holiday before you arrive.

This will be a very long journey from Aus for us as we wanted a stop over for a couple of day, no one will have us, we will need to have a quick change in Changi and then on the next flight. I hope the kids manage ok. I am thinking constant screens and snacks and hope they sleep!

Hopefully the lack of response from your tenants is nothing @Thefourthcraw but worth trying to contact them and checking all is in order. We had regular contact with ours so could see when penny dropped (about month 6 of 7 months notice) that onward renting would be difficult with big arrears and we were ready with court application for possession. The delays for court hearing/paper decision then baliffs add 1-2 months each step so it is worth being ready to start if it should come down to it.

@Thefourthcraw and @1frenchfoodie that all sounds horribly stressful re your tenants! I hope it all gets sorted soon.

Congrats on your spousal visa for DH @Wantingtomove123

We fly home for a month next week (and extra £700 on all the tests!!) and I have a ton of school tours lined up. Who knows if we would end up in any of them but worth at least taking DS on some tours and DM has wonderful agreed to trekking us around the SE to look at places to live

That all sounds very organised @KobaniDaughters and expensive for the covid tests. We will need to organise the same.

We have contacted the tenants again and await their response! I hope things are progressing with you @1frenchfoodie.

We have decided which flights we are booking which gives us 6.5 weeks until we leave! I haven’t done anything for a week as it is school holidays here. I am still so busy at work, I don’t think my boss understands that I am leaving in 4 weeks (I have told her!)

How is everyone else?

Hope your tenants respond positively @Thefourthcraw - we are no further forward. I have new legal advice that the original solicitors may be professionally negligent but still no valid posession order. Pack is 26/7 and move 30/7 with no guarantee we’ll have our home back even by end august. Booking family sofas and campsites now..

Did your tenants get back to you @Thefourthcraw ? We are 3 weeks from moving and hopefully only 6 from getting our house back. Packing beginning in ernest.

Can I join please? We are looking at moving back to the UK from Australia after 10 years, most likely in May/June next year so we can settle in before the school year starts. We have DCs aged 15, 13 and 8. We've been thinking about coming back since we arrived (standard stuff) but covid and the never ending border closures have forced us to make a decision. Our parents are getting older now, and we were always comforted by being able to get home within a few days if we needed.

We're looking at getting our oldest into an IB school for years 11/12, they don't do GCSEs here. The younger two will be going into government schools, the 13 year old has significant SEN so that's another hurdle to jump. We don't have a property so will be looking for rentals, and DH needs to find a job!

I'm glad we've made a decision but also feeling overwhelmed, 10 years is a long time!

@Zpack welcome and sounds like in a lot of ways you’re in a similar position to us - glad to have another person on the same journey.

Do you know where you’ll be moving to roughly?

Hi everyone. We have finally heard from our tenants @1frenchfoodie. So that’s a big relief. We were hoping they might want to leave slightly early, at the moment it looks like we’ll have about 3 weeks in an Airbnb until we can move in. Not long until you leave now @1frenchfoodie.

Hello @Zpack, it’s good to hear someone else planning on making an international move from Australia. The borders brought things into focus things for us too.

We have a child with sen too. I’ve finally managed to get through to the LEA. They’ve said we can’t even apply until we are in our house and registered for council tax. I feel like this is wrong, but she was insistent and I have no proof, just the experience of others eg on this thread!

@KobaniDaughters we are aiming for Surrey to be close to family. We've got a virtual tour lined up with an international school for DD, I think finishing up school with a group of expat children is probably going to be the best approach for her. She'll need to do a gap year, if she hasn't been resident for 3 years before starting uni we pay international fees.

@Thefourthcraw yes I'd heard that about an address and council tax statements. There is nothing on rightmove, which is making me very nervous! Is there much on airbnb? I've got a family member who works in child services for the LEA and she thinks we should be able to submit an "EHC needs assessment" a few weeks before we get home. Basically we'll submit his diagnosis letters from the paed and psychiatrist, plus cognitive and educational assessments that were done here. The LEA then has 6 weeks to decide if he actually needs an assessment. From there the assessment can take a few months. I'm not sure if I need an address to submit first though, I need to look into it. I am going to look into homeschooling programs for both DSs to tide us over if there is a delay in starting school... although setting up a home will busy enough without homeschool in the mix!

I've started ruthless decluttering, I think we'll need to do some air freight but just the absolute essentials, everything else will be sea freight. Also need to think about how and when the dog and cat will come over.

I’m here now doing tours of schools and areas and the whole needing to have a fixed address before applying is nerve wracking especially when all the good schools are already oversubscribed.

Rightmove has nothing but I’m hoping the market will settle down by next year so trying to not worry about it yet

hello!

yes. we are most likely returning home to London after 6 years in Hong Kong.

DH is currently unemployed and the pool of jobs in his sector is too small to sit around and wait. Tenants move out of our home today, DS has a school place in a local is academy and I'll get a job once all settled in.

It's been a lovely 6 years, but we haven't had the best time socially. No one has seemed that friendly or interested so we've spent a lot of time together as a family. We have traveled quite a bit and seen some wonderful places.

We love HK as a city and will be gutted to go, but now is a good time. Family and friends await us at home. We were here for 3 years initially and made it to 6 so we are happy with that.

Hello everyone! @Zpack We have had a quick look on Airbnb and there is some choice, but we have a large search area, as we only really need to be near DS' school for the last 2 weeks. I asked the LEA about applying for an EHCP from here and they said we need to wait until DC is at the school. It might vary in different areas though. My DC had one previously when we lived in the UK and it took months and months and that was before the pandemic slowing everything down! I think I will probably be home schooling too and dreading it after on and off remote learning for the last 16 months. Well done for the decluttering- I haven't really got started on that and we only have just over 4 weeks til we leave, so its getting a bit late.

@KobaniDaughters I hope your trip is going well and it helps you narrow down your options. I think if you have some choice, it is good to move in July and get there before schools close, that way you can get places sorted before September and if you need to visit a school to make a choice that is still possible.

Welcome @citychick! You sound pretty sorted! I hope the move proves good for you socially. I am really looking forward to catching up with friends and family, dare I say, that's the only thing I am looking forward to?

I hope everyone else is getting on well.

So true @Thefourthcraw, I am looking forward to seeing family and friends, I'm worried about everything else!

Hello @citychick good luck with the move, it sounds like it's all falling into place

Welcome @citychick and yes agree sounds cut and dry for you!

@Thefourthcraw I’m thinking more and more it makes sense to move before the end of the school year, maybe even at the start of the summer term also def erring towards schools that choose GCSEs end of year 9 to get DS a broader education before he chooses. So far we’ve liked all the schools, haven’t been able to really narrow down an area at all. If the housing market stays the same maybe we just have to go to wherever we can find somewhere to live at this rate

May I please join? We’re moving “home” to the U.K. in 2 weeks, after 3 years away. Me, DH and two primary school children. I having serious cold feet. DH is ready to kill me, because I’m the one who wanted to go home in the first place. I feel like there’s so much unfinished business for us here, we live in this lovely community, and the pandemic has really limited what we’ve been able to do while here. I’m really resisting the idea that it’s too late to change our minds, even though the children have said goodbye to their school friends and we’ve basically spent thousands of pound already on this move. It would be so nice to feel I’m not alone. I’m going a bit mad here.

@Awomanwalksintoabar all my friends who’ve made the return to the U.K. have felt the same - I definitely do as well even though I’m also the driving force - just remember nothing is permanent and this is just the next stage of the adventure