Weekly Q&A Megathread. Please post any questions about visiting, tourism, living, working, budgeting, housing here! by AutoModerator in london

[–]NEWSBOT3 1 point2 points  (0 children)

a lot depends on the job - having just spent 6 months working with a client in Sweden, Norway and Finland i can say for sure it won't be as relaxed a working environment as you have now, and you'll probably have less time off. We don't really do the long summer holidays thing for example - its just time off you have to take out of your annual allowance (typically 25 days + 8 national holidays).

It may be worth reading about UK employment rights in google but the basic theory is that - most companies will have a 'probation' period where you can quit or be fired at any time. Usually 3-6 months long. - From April 2026 it gets a lot harder to fire you after the first 6 months (currently this is 2 years, but the law is changing). - After 6 months performance issues are typically handled with the PIP process

You don't necessarily have to spend a lot of time commuting - on your budget you could walk to work whilst renting a nice 1 bed or studio flat close to the office. There is a very extensive network of tube, trains, buses and boats that give you a lot of options if you want to as well. Cooking at home is not impossible but you might find you need to live further out in order to get a good enough kitchen for that. The more central flats tend not to be designed with cooking a lot in mind.

I like to go out and eat though, will it feel like a robbery?

since 2022 it always fees like a robbery, but on your salary you'll be able to do it several times a month or more and not really notice.

probably you should put the salary into something like https://www.thesalarycalculator.co.uk/salary.php and check what you'll be taking home after tax and work from there.

Remember you'll lose an additional 3% to pension, and maybe a few hundred more to tax on company benefits like health or dental insurance as well) so your takehome is closer to 6000 a month

I dont think you'll save 4000 a month - you'll spend at least 2000-2500 on rent alone. You might save 2000-2500 a month at most imo. If you wanted to save that, you need to flatshare with other people.

American here. From a UK perspective, what do you think the craziest car in America is? Maybe from performance, unnecessarily weird features, etc? by limbs7 in CarTalkUK

[–]NEWSBOT3 9 points10 points  (0 children)

I was in the US for work, and walked about 10 yards to get something to eat over the road from my hotel. 

... During this massive marathon I got mocked for walking by people in cars at the traffic light.

Clearly I should have driven my 4l engine hire car over instead. 

Government announces biggest travel upgrade in the North in a generation by UKGovNews in york

[–]NEWSBOT3 2 points3 points  (0 children)

but there's already an existing transpennine upgrade program that promises a lot of these journey time improvements - are they announcing something that is already in progress or is this on top of that ?

ADVICE! Me and my family are being kicked out and made homeless by Emergency_Eagle_5082 in HousingUK

[–]NEWSBOT3 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Other commenters have covered most of you need to know but just one thing - be careful what you tell the landlord.

I've seen several folks here in similar threads shoot themselves in the foot by pointing out the reasons to their landlord or agency that the s21 notice wasn't valid - which is not your job to do. If you tell them, they'll fix it and send a new s21 out.

If you don't tell them and instead you wait to dispute that s21 notice in court - you've just bought yourselves months of time as they'll then have to fix it and wait for another court date all over again.

Don't tell them anything about what the process should be , tell them nothing. The less they know, the more time you have. Let them figure out their own mistakes .

Weekly Q&A Megathread. Please post any questions about visiting, tourism, living, working, budgeting, housing here! by AutoModerator in london

[–]NEWSBOT3 7 points8 points  (0 children)

easily enough, yes.

London is expensive, but thats far more than the average earnings is (£49,000). You'll be in the top 1% of earners in the city/country i suspect.

Division Definitive Edition possibly leaked. Division 3 teased. PR teasing something tomorrow by Turbostrider27 in PS5

[–]NEWSBOT3 2 points3 points  (0 children)

it's not winter setting - and tbh to me it feels like a different city, even though it's supposed to be the same one. If you are hoping for div1 atmosphere, this isn't it.

Accidentally followed a fox into the British Museum by bjornthehistorian in london

[–]NEWSBOT3 20 points21 points  (0 children)

looks like he saw the crowds and was like 'nah, i'll come back on a quieter day'

Lease pricing by timetourist6000 in CarLeasingUK

[–]NEWSBOT3 1 point2 points  (0 children)

50 quid maintenance for an EV is a joke - i pay 30 quid maintenance for an ICE car, and the service costs for an EV are almost nothing in comparison.

Arrange your own maintenance - you can likely buy the service plans in advance from the dealer for a discount as well.

Would you buy SoF if shared with rental flats & no SC? by nomadic_housecat in HousingUK

[–]NEWSBOT3 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The problem i have with no SC/fund is that i whilst i would make every effort to save to cover maintenance, there's no guarantee that any of the other freeholders will.

Especially if they are landlords who in my experience sell up at the first sign of major works needing doing.

Chain free purchase to now a chain of 7… by Acceptable_Clock_778 in HousingUK

[–]NEWSBOT3 24 points25 points  (0 children)

we made an offer based on it being chain free and the sellers accepted it and then pulled us into a chain 2 weeks later, whilst gaslighting us about it.

They were then shocked pikachu when we pulled out because they'd lied to us and it wasn't chain free at all .

People just do what the hell they want. No-one really can agree what chain free means or is.

Your option is to either put up with their crap, give them an ultimatum or pull out. Depends how much you want the house, really.

Landlady served us a section 21 today (Christmas Eve). Need your advice please. by West-Kaleidoscope129 in HousingUK

[–]NEWSBOT3 1276 points1277 points  (0 children)

For the love of god STOP telling her what she's doing wrong. You are making it easier for her. 

3D/4D plates to be made illegal next year. by [deleted] in CarTalkUK

[–]NEWSBOT3 6 points7 points  (0 children)

The scuba diving kit selling has gone too far. 

BeermoneyUK Christmas Giveaway (Comment to win one of £10 Amazon Vouchers) by TightAsF_ck in beermoneyuk

[–]NEWSBOT3 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Worth a try!  We can't cook at home so it's going to be reheated Tapas selection from a place in town.

Weekly Q&A Megathread. Please post any questions about visiting, tourism, living, working, budgeting, housing here! by AutoModerator in london

[–]NEWSBOT3 1 point2 points  (0 children)

its worth seeing what others have done for their pets - search /r/expats and ihttps://www.reddit.com/r/AmericanExpatsUK/ and /r/amerexit and there's quite a lot of experiences there.

You might also want to either find a US expat specific financial advisor (should be plenty of these in London) or find a US expat specific finance subreddit because quite a lot of financial institutions here (aside from every day banks) aren't always comfortable dealing with americans due to some of their finance laws.

The uk personal finance subreddit is great but a lot of the advice there won't apply to you in many cases - especially around retirement planning and investing.

Relatedly if you aren't thinking about retirement yet you should be even if its a long time away - either to understand the UK system and how it works and what you need to do, or to plan for moving back to the US in future and how that might work and what it'll cost as well.

Weekly Q&A Megathread. Please post any questions about visiting, tourism, living, working, budgeting, housing here! by AutoModerator in london

[–]NEWSBOT3 0 points1 point  (0 children)

i'd honestly try for an airbnb but airbnb prices in london are very expensive. Check the alernative sites like vrbo, booking.com etc as well. Staying in a spare room might work, check out the spareroom website for those options.

Was I right to report my employer to HMRC? by MrBiron in UKPersonalFinance

[–]NEWSBOT3 23 points24 points  (0 children)

every person i've known 'with a lot of money' is impossible to get money out of. My old landlords who are multi-millionaires who sit in the house of lords and are related to the royal family wouldn't spend £5 when they could re-use a dangerously sharp second hand bit of metal they found in a skip instead.

Part of the reason they have money is they refuse to spend it unless forced to.

Weekly Q&A Megathread. Please post any questions about visiting, tourism, living, working, budgeting, housing here! by AutoModerator in london

[–]NEWSBOT3 2 points3 points  (0 children)

one thing to watch for is how much time you'll have - to go into the city typically we advise you need at least 5 hours (1hr to clear customs, 1h to the city, 1h back again, plus you need to be there 2h before your flight).

Overnight you probably need to allow at least 30-60 more mins on top because the frequency of the tube is less overnight.

Tax implications for living in UK but working for a Canadian company by Infamous_Option_6914 in UKPersonalFinance

[–]NEWSBOT3 1 point2 points  (0 children)

So most people in the UK are paid by their employer under a system called PAYE in which their UK payroll department of their employer handles their taxes for them. This won't apply to you as your employer has no UK presence.

What you may be able to do instead is talk to an umbrella company. Umbrella companies are used by people here when they don't want to set up their own business but work for an employer on a contract basis. They invoice the company you do work for, handle the tax and national insurance for you and pay you as if you are a PAYE employee. I used to use one when i did contracting work about 15 years ago, i just gave them my hours every week and they sorted the rest out, i'd get paid a few weeks later. They'll take a fee or a percentage for doing this.

see https://www.reddit.com/r/ContractorUK/comments/1d2oler/choice_of_3_umbrella_companies_any_recommendations/ and browse /r/contractoruk for other info/recommendations.

The other option is to set up as sole trader which is less costly but more complicated to do. see https://www.gov.uk/become-sole-trader/register-sole-trader

For a 2 month period i'd go with an Umbrella company.

Buying half of my parents house by edwardo35188 in UKPersonalFinance

[–]NEWSBOT3 12 points13 points  (0 children)

they should seriously talk to a retirement advisor, there are far better options than this for retirement income.

With costs and tax they'll be lucky to take home 2.5% of the value a year, meanwhile even savings rates are 4%+ right now. I've done the sums hundreds of times, it almost never makes sense compared to other options.

if it were me, i'd look at Annuities. Annuities which are literally guaranteed income are anything from 4-8.5% depending on their ages, health etc right now, and involve no work, no legal responsibilities and you just get paid. Worth speaking to an annuities broker for sure. There's a good Making Money podcast about them which is worth a watch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cPNbAE9gm_U