Property advice

[Priapus]

Hi all,

I left the UK many moons ago as a teenager, to move back to my home country.
Now, I am looking to return to the UK with my wife and Son. Who are both British (Wife has been in SA for about 8 years now)

Thing is, we'll need to rent a property and get a lot of things sorted before the move.
Knowing literally nothing about how the UK property market works, I have some general questions that I hope someone can help with.

1. We're brining our animals over; as they're part of the family.
Three medium sized dogs and a small dog (and two cats) - costs aside, how difficult is it going to be to find a place for all of them?
When I do look at rentals, no one mentions pets. Unlike in SA, its are always mentioned (Weather they're allowed or not) I know finding a place will be expensive - our budget will be roughly 1500 to 1800 a month for rental, in East Sussex, near Hastings. Is this a reasonable budget?


2. Some sites show "Include Let Agreed properties" - What does this mean?

3. What other costs are there generally associated with rental (besides the normal, gas and electric) ?

4. Any other considerations I'm missing?

 

[Priapus]

When I rented with a dog I found I had to go private, there are very few landlords that will allow it unfortunately.

When you say private - was that then through a mate or someone you know then?

 

[Priapus]

Local papers, Facebook groups etc. more likely Facebook groups now as this was over 10 years ago. Also ring around the larger local letting agents and specify your requirements. At least you’re not on another time zone.

As above, most landlords aren't favourable to pets due to the potential damage they can cause. I'd worry that you've got quite a few pets there - some landlords might allow a single cat or a dog for example.

2 - let agreed means the property has a potential new tenant

3 - contents insurance, tv license, internet think that's about it

Appreciate that, thanks.

I've always figured it would be tough, with the number of pets we have. I don't think the wife will give any of them up - almost non negotiable kinda deal.
We do have lots of time on our side, to find the right property as we are only looking at moving next year. But I want to start now, getting an idea of things we need and the challenges we'll face.

What I am hearing, is that it's not impossible - just very difficult.

 

[Priapus]

@


@Ice On Fire

To highlight my edit, check the council tax bands for the area you are looking at, ours is more like £4k per year

Where can I find that information?

 

[Priapus]

Might struggle to find somewhere with that many animals. Maybe look for a older farm type house with land. No one will let you in a new build with animals, especially not 6.

On that budget, which isn't really small, it's just prices have jumped up, you'll struggle for somewhere with space for them all too.

We're not too fussed on the house really. The wife would prefer a farm-style type of house.

If we were buying a place; then the bets thing isn't a problem, right?

I'd love to rather buy, but I feel that is not within our means. I think my wife would have to put it on her name, as I am not a citizen.

 

[Priapus]

Oh goes without saying, it's akin to giving up your child.

Do you have other family in the UK who could potentially look after the cats/dogs?

I guess to throw another idea in the ring, as it sounds like your intention is to buy, why not start looking at properties now, if you need to visit the UK to check out some properties etc then at least it's a short trip and the pets can stay home.

Yes, we have a fair amount of family in the UK; the main reason to move back in because of family. Our Son is 8 months old and we literally have zero family in SA.

They might be able to assist, with maybe one or two of the animals until we get things settled, I guess. My In-Laws own a property, but I don't know if they'd tolerate another animal, to be honest. Maybe.

We're visiting the UK in July, for three weeks. Which is when we will be telling the family we're moving back. Want to rather have that conversion face to face. We generally visit the UK once a year for a couple of weeks. But it's gotten so expensive now, and with the little one, we figure it's time to move.
But we really do not want to give up the pets.

Yes our intention is to actually buy a place. However I am not sure how feasible that really is and costs involved? I guess I need to do more research on it. In SA, buying property is not easy and very expensive. We own our own place here and I doubt we will get enough out, to fund a new property in the UK.

 

[Priapus]

Usually 10% deposit but you might struggle to find a lender with no history in the UK, as they'll want address and credit history and if you don't have any I don't think it's that easy.

My wife has that. We've made sure to keep her credit score in check, whilst being over in SA. She has a loan we've been paying off for a while (Settling in march) and she's never missed a payment on it.

 

[Priapus]

Ah good, as otherwise you may struggle getting approved for a rental too unless you pay a significant amount up front, my mate had to put a year down IIRC.

Ouch!

My wife will have to rent the place in her name (If we don't buy) due to visa requirements - as she'll be the sponsor for the spousal. Fortunately our son will get his British passport this year and so we don't need to worry about him.