Moving to UK from India

[kavi7678]

Hi !!

I am shortly moving to UK and would be based either in London or South East England. As a professional, I expect to earn about 45000 pounds ( gross)/ annum + travel taken care .

Could you advise me on what range should I keep in mind for renting out a property? I understand that taxes are very high, almost 40%??

What is the cost of living ? I would have my family joining in later , may be 6 months from now , could you also advise on any useful tips I should keep in mind ?

Is ealing a good place to be in? with my salary range , could I afford a one bedroom furnished apartment ??

I have my residency for Australia too, but decided against it, as I thought UK experience would be useful .. any thoughts??

[kaz101]

Hi Kavi7678,

Welcome to the forum.

Check out property for sale buy a at righhtmove.co.uk since that is a property site with rentals as well. That will give you an idea of the rentals in the areas you are looking at.

The website for UK tax is HM Revenue & Customs: Home Page

I left the UK in July 2007 so any figures I have for the cost of living are probably out of date by now...

The UK and Australia are very different and it depends on what you want to achieve with your move. We left the UK because we were tired of the rat race. We fell in love with Australia and decided to move here after our very first trip. Our lifestyle is more laid back, my husband walks 7 minutes to work rather than 2 hours stuck in traffic trying to get through traffic, we have money to invest and time to enjoy life.

Regards,
Karen

[jlms]

Originally Posted by kavi7678

Hi !!

I am shortly moving to UK and would be based either in London or South East England. As a professional, I expect to earn about 45000 pounds ( gross)/ annum + travel taken care .

Could you advise me on what range should I keep in mind for renting out a property? I understand that taxes are very high, almost 40%??

What is the cost of living ? I would have my family joining in later , may be 6 months from now , could you also advise on any useful tips I should keep in mind ?

Is ealing a good place to be in? with my salary range , could I afford a one bedroom furnished apartment ??

I have my residency for Australia too, but decided against it, as I thought UK experience would be useful .. any thoughts??

The tax system is a bit more complicate than that. I would say you keep around 65% of that ( a bit more than £2000/month after taxes).

Realistically speaking you could rent a good property (i.e. 2 bed flat) for half that, although £1000 left seems like a lot, I would think is just enough to cover all the needs of a family. Look for other recent posts in other threads for tips about estimating the cost of living. You should have no problem with renting a 1 bedroom flat (or an studio flat, that would be cheaper).

Keep in mind that London is very well served by Underground, buses and trains while the South East (outside London) has poorer public transport and you may need to preferably live close to your place of work, it is of the essence that you know as soon as possible the location of your place of work to plan in advance.

A lot of people opt to live in the London suburbs and commute every day (some people come as far away as Brighton, Manchester and in the financial district is not uncommon to meet people that commute from France) where housing is cheaper and certain aspects of life are more congenial to some (fresher air, cows and horse as neighbours :-) ).

Sorry I can't help about Ealing, it is not my part of town.