matthandy

Tax on rental income in the UK is only payable on any PROFIT.
Example:

Mortgage is £900 per month
Service charges and ground rent are £150 per month
I rent my flat for £800 per month
The agent charges 12.5% leaving me with £700

£700 - £900 - £150 = -£350

My rental income is negative therefore my total income for the tax year (assuming no other UK income) is less than 0 therefore there is no tax liability.

There are forms to fill in to inform HMRC of this exact situation.
Letting agents should not withold tax.

bensyd

This is very true. Most suburbs have shopping strip that will usually have a baker, butcher greengrocer etc. The quality is positively correlated to income, but as the OP mentioned he was looking at the North Shore his better half shouldn't have too much trouble finding something comparable to Waitrose.

FWIW the TD website lists stores at Mona Vale, Crows Nest, Lane Cove and Hornsby.

ozzie

I was making my assumption on tax on the fact that the rent would be a profit given the low interest rates in the UK at the moment. Of course losses aren't taxable, and neither can you negatively gear them in Aus. Agents definitely need to withhold tax on profits (at least, that was the position a couple of years back when I looked at it).

jpatokal

YMMV, but I find Oz cheese pretty abysmal, which isn't really all that surprising given that until very recently there were only two varieties available: "Sharp" and "Tasty". The cheddar can be good, at least if you hunt out the (notionally) supersharp ones, but non-cheddar hard cheeses seem to be non-existent (eg. made-in-Oz parmesan bears a suspicious similarity to cheddar that's dried out a bit on the sides) and soft cheeses like local Brie, Camembert etc are all remarkably tasteless. Even the boutiquey little dairies perched in scenic spots near wineries only seem to churn out mild soft cheeses; I was at Yarra Valley Dairy this week and in their own shop anything involving mold or a color other than pasty white is imported from France. Maybe I just need to start buying my cheeses half a year in advance and seeing if maturing them helps at all

ozzie

Try the cheese counter at the David Jones foodhall :-)

JSC

OK just an update (and thanks for the further tips on food...)

So I will get LAFHA so can now afford to look for some houses in nicer areas than we were originally thinking. Also I get a relocation consultant to help out with finding suitable places, arranging the move, etc, so also great news there. I've set him an upper budget of $1500pw for a 4 bed house in Mosman, Cremorne, Neutral Bay - any idea if this is realistic?

Secondly I have a dilemma....I managed to use my Amex 241 to get F to SYD on roughly the dates I want! However this is for me and my daughter and so will still need to buy a WT+ or CW ticket for my wife, with the plan being we alternate in F (maybe go with WT+ as its behind F). My problem is I'm not sure this is a great use of miles as (1) my daughter won't really appreciate being in F as she's 2 (2) I or my wife will probably be constantly worried about her falling out of her seat when sleeping/being noisy/bored/etc.

The alternative would be we just go for all 3 of us in WT+ for the same miles (or more likely cash as there is no availability), which will be probably be easier to handle for all of us.

Hmmm....I really like the idea of F to SYD but just not sure this is the right time to do it

bensyd

Yes, you should be able to find something at that price point. One of the nice things about government subsidised residential housing investment is that rental yields are often very low compared to the value of the house (if you ask me you'd be stupid buying but that's another thread). Also once you into more premium accomodation rental yields fall away pretty sharply.

My grandfather recently passed away and my parents are in the process of his home on the lower North Shore, the guy they have been dealing with at Belle has been extremely helpful. I'd be happy to get his contact details and pass them along as he works the areas you mentioned.

I really have nothing to add, but I know there are threads dedicated to arguing about whether people should switch seats. I've never really cared but others seems to find it annoying.

ozzie

I think that's a very realistic budget for that area. You COULD get a house that fits those requirements for less than $1000 a week - but paying $1500 a week would mean it's probably quite a nice one.

And Ben, that's depends on where you buy your investments. I like to rent where I want to live, and buy where I don't want to live :-)

The question I'd really be asking is why your employer is not flying you out !!

JSC

They are paying but only the cost of a one way direct, non-changeable fare. I do have the option of either using my miles and they will pay the taxes, or buy a more expensive ticket and cover the extra cost myself. I'm starting to think that the paid WT+ x3 option is best for flexibility and tier points/miles which should allow me to renew Gold just before the end of my membership year.

ozzie

I tend to agree. I think it would be a waste of your miles to fly first even using a 2 for 1. You'll end up the whole flight worrying about changing seats, whether your daughter is bothering others, etc. You'll be happy in WT+ and not worry when your daughter wants to get up every 2 seconds. But then, I don't have any trouble sleeping in WT+. Why not go QF Premium Economy instead ? It's far superior to WT+ in almost every single aspect.

matthandy

Absolutely agree 100%, QF PE beats the pants off BA WT+, it is more like J- rather than Y+, you have very similar service, the same wines and similar food.

JSC

Just an update with about a week to go before we fly out...

Most importantly, I ended up buying us flights in discounted J...LHR-FRA-BKK on LH, stopover for 3 days then onwards to SYD on BA. I thought this wouldn't be possible with just an allowance based on Y but I managed to find an Expedia fare for £1700pp (one way), so in total its costing me an extra £2k^ My main worry now is what the transit in FRA will be like as I've heard horror stories about it...An added bonus is the BA flight requalifies me for BA Gold.

I've also decided to go through the long process of shipping my car over but I won't start that until I arrive. It seems a shame to sell it for so little especially when they cost so much over there. However I'm preparing myself for the fact it won't be cheap or quick, so if anyone knows a good shipping agent then let me know.

For removals we are using Allied Pickfords through my employer and they seem fairly efficient so far but lets see what condition it arrives in (in 3 months)

We've looked at a few places online but there isn't much at the moment, maybe that will change in Jan. We're still thinking of Mosman as well as Cremorne and Cammeray, as these seem to give a but better value for money.

Also opened a HSBC Premier account and will pick up my documents and cards when I arrive. Yet to set up a money transfer account but will do so with ozforex probably.

Finally I've been reading about Vodafone's troubles so it looks like either Telstra or Optus. I'm also looking to get a sim-only mobile broadband package until we move into somewhere permanent so let me know if anyone has a good bundle with a sim-only iPhone plan.

Its getting exciting but still lots of little tasks to do. Thanks for everyone's help!

number_6

I lived in Cammeray for a year and it is my favourite part of Sydney to live in

FRA is a shambles for BA, always late, very disorganized and unpleasant facilities. LH is in another terminal (train between the 2, or walk 1km) and quite efficient and pleasant in J on the ground; the on-board J is a step down from BA J, more like QF PE; hence the often cheaper fares on routes where LH competes with BA. If you can't afford to miss the connection, the only sure way is to fly BA the day before (or switch to LH out of LHR, they seem to do much TXL-LHR, for ebetter). I refuse to fly BA FRA-LHR any more, due to all the problems (while BA is great xample).

number_6

Your only choice is Telstra for SYD north shore; much of Vodafone's problems are due to severe lack of capacity there (fine in much of the rest of Aust and Sydney). Optus is also bad in that area. Only Telstra has reliable service; presuming dropped calls don't look good for your lifestyle. Same for data, you get what you pay for and the cheaper plans are much slower; they all spec the same, but run much slower 23 hours a day.

Christopher

I never had trouble with Optus on Sydney's North Shore, but I have even so changed to Telstra for my times in Australia because I find their service is vastly preferable. (I hope I'm not tempting fate by saying that.)

Telstra undoubtedly has the best coverage in remote areas of Australia, although in my experience you have to be truly remote for it to make any difference.

I have not used Vodafone...