Moving to the UK

gary the great

Looks like i might be moving to England next year, probaly Surrey or Birmingham. (job offers over there). Although if anyone suggests an area of England that is great to live in I may invesitgate.

Anyway i just want to know what its like to live in England, my wage will be about 27k sterling per year. Is that enough to live with a good standard of living and possibly buy a nice house? Does that wage travel further in the UK than the same amount over here?
Is the standard of living better/worse over there?
Any other pionts, issues or experiences people have had from moving to the UK would also be appreciated.:D

Paul Tergat

Try Bradford, great standard of living!!!

Mezcita

Think you will find that you money goes further as you head North. Could not get over how much cheaper Yorkshire was compared to down towards London.

Check out: www.rightmove.co.uk Shoud give you a decent idea about the price of property.

The Sweeper

Surrey can be extremely expensive. If you get a decent house share it will make a big difference, because bills like council tax and water rates will be split between the housemates and come right down. If not, your utilities can be very expensive.

www.findaproperty.co.uk is a good site for rental accommdation if you were going out on your own or sharing with a friend who'd agreed to hunt for accommodation with you. The Surrey Advertiser www.surreyad.co.uk is good for room shares etc.

Train fares are expensive in England, but cars and insurance are cheap. Bus services in Surrey are pretty crap in my opinion and vary vastly area to area. Trains are better but again, depending where you work, you should choose a place to live close to it.

27K sterling is an okay starter wage for surrey - but there's no hope in hell of you buying a place on it in the home counties unless you've a massive deposit from someone and intend to rent your spare rooms out - or are buying a 3-room studio apartment.

You'll net in the region of £1600 a month out of a 26K salary.

Where in Surrey have you got a job offer, and I can tell you more about the region?

gary the great

Its actually looking like it wil be Birmingham City Council I will be working for now! Anyone any views on Birmingham??

p.pete

Apart from the funny acents (Ireland has a few of them anyway ) it's the second largest city so there's going to be plenty of things going on there. I've only visited the city once so don't have too much of an opinion, seemed like a nice place though.
Your 27k should go considerably further on average I'd imagine.

isolde

I live quite near Birmingham... the Midlands are nicer than I thought they would be to be honest. Some parts of Birmingham are quite dodgy so I'd be careful when you're looking for somewhere to live, saw a man after he was stabbed on Broad Street once... not good. Great social life though, great shopping, a bit under 2 hours to London, airport really handy, great flight connections to Ireland (Aer Lingus and Ryanair) and wherever else you want really.
You will live pretty well on 27k. Enjoy yourself

tj-music.com

gary the great wrote:

Its actually looking like it wil be Birmingham City Council I will be working for now! Anyone any views on Birmingham??

I´ve been to the UK lots of times including Birmingham. It is a kip. No spirit whatsoever, just one big negative place from what I have experienced. Maybe outside Birmingham is o.k., I dunno but in all honesty it has got to be the crappiest of all towns, sorry but thats my view

WhiteWashMan

the city centre of birmingham is cool, but otherwise its a bit of a kip. but then again, i have never lived there.

besides, youre beside dudley, the land of the most boring accent in the world.

gary the great

Ok guys sorry to drag this back up but its going to be Surrey, two of the lads have a job sorted in Elmbridge council, so its around that area I will be living in. Anyone any experiences of it? I also need to know what councils are next to or not to far from Elmbridge council, as this is where I will be applying to.
There is going to be 3 of us on 27k sharing a house, so we shud get some decent for that?

Also another question, i need transport over there but I only have a provisional licence here. Whats the situation in the UK, can I drivre on an Irish/UK provisional or do I have to pass my test? Cud i even get some sort of motorbike/ped on a provisional?

Thanks

larry1

tj-music.com wrote:

I´ve been to the UK lots of times including Birmingham. It is a kip. No spirit whatsoever, just one big negative place from what I have experienced. Maybe outside Birmingham is o.k., I dunno but in all honesty it has got to be the crappiest of all towns, sorry but thats my view

Don't do it!!! The whole place is a kip. Mental move!!:(

The Sweeper

You can't drive without a fully licensed driver in the UK if you've a provisional license. But the driving test waiting list is only about 6-8 weeks over here - even less in places - as opposed to the milennia it appears to be in Ireland.

Elmbridge covers the Weybridge, Walton, Cobham, Esher areas. North East of it you have the Kingston Borough/Surbiton areas, South West you have Woking, Guildford - places like that. (I'm judging this in straight lines along the train line).

There's PLENTY of property to rent, and areas go from total kip to as posh as it gets around that region.

Let us know if you've any updates...