Island Posted July 20, 2020 Share Posted July 20, 2020 Hi We are moving from Sydney back to the UK as soon as possible. Postponed due to Covid & now we are in a bit of a rush as hope to arrive before start of September so kids can start school on time. Have only had a quote with Allied Pickfords - about $14,000 for 4 bed household move - would love suggestions of other companies to get alternative quotes. My other checklist (what am I missing???) Dog vaccinated and Pet Traveller crate - conditionally booked TOR form Application to leave Oz via Dept of Immi One terms notice to schools Flights to book Cancellation of all direct debits THANK YOU 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quoll Posted July 20, 2020 Share Posted July 20, 2020 Good Luck! Sounds like you’ve got it in the bag! Exciting times huh?! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Island Posted July 20, 2020 Author Share Posted July 20, 2020 Far from it - I'm a bag of nerves. Can't think there has been a worse time to move to England in the last century - but oh well, life moves on and you only live once! We are now officially ping pong poms! 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AliQ Posted July 20, 2020 Share Posted July 20, 2020 1 hour ago, Island said: Hi We are moving from Sydney back to the UK as soon as possible. Postponed due to Covid & now we are in a bit of a rush as hope to arrive before start of September so kids can start school on time. Have only had a quote with Allied Pickfords - about $14,000 for 4 bed household move - would love suggestions of other companies to get alternative quotes. My other checklist (what am I missing???) Dog vaccinated and Pet Traveller crate - conditionally booked TOR form Application to leave Oz via Dept of Immi One terms notice to schools Flights to book Cancellation of all direct debits THANK YOU Travel Insurance, and let the Australian Electoral Commission know to remove you from their list. Good luck, it's a lovely time of year to return to the UK. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Island Posted July 20, 2020 Author Share Posted July 20, 2020 Thank you, will add them to my list! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quoll Posted July 20, 2020 Share Posted July 20, 2020 Make sure all your passports are up to date and you know where they are - do NOT allow them to get packed into the container (yes, that has happened to a friend of mine) Cancel (or suspend, all depending on whether there is a vague chance you might be back) your health insurance if you have it. If you should return to Australia it will help you avoid the age loading on premiums Try and get a no claims bonus record from your car insurer - some UK firms will accept them otherwise you start at the beginning again Are you selling your house, renting it out or ceasing a rental in which case you will need to take some action depending on the scenario Sort out what you need to take with you for immediate access - scan important documents which might be going by sea just in case If you have Super in Australia, you may be able to cancel any insurances that you pay through your Super fund - you probably should advise them of a change of address but that might be best dealt with through your financial advisor if you have one (super left untouched for any length of time might find its way into the Unclaimed Super black hole) so touch base with the super fund every year just so they know you are there Think about updating any Apple products if you use Apple stuff - duty free and Australian prices are better than UK prices so leaving the country is a good time to update your MacBook or similar. Not sure about other computer products but they may well be the same Cancel all other insurances you may have My DH, a much better organiser than me put up a long sheet of card in the kitchen for a time line, divided up into days to departure and he had several related categories like Our travel, house clearing, dad's stuff (we were living in my dad's house and had to clear it - but you can categorise your own things) etc then he put post it notes with tasks on the timeline (which could be moved if we didnt complete by that time) and wrote tasks completed on the time line. It was very impressive I must admit and it saved us a headache or two. He was a project manager in a previous life though and it may not be to everyone's taste! Alternatively just have a list of things to do on the kitchen wall or some other place where everyone can see them. If you dont have it already, get a record of the kids vaccinations they've had since being in Australia Be drastic about getting rid of stuff you havent used in 2 years and not likely to use ever again Make sure you have enough knitting/crochet projects to keep you going until your knitting supplies arrive in the container (ok, so that's a bit niche but you've probably got things that you would like immediate access to!) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LKC Posted July 20, 2020 Share Posted July 20, 2020 Exciting times! We used Chess, and paid about $8,000 plus extra for insurance to move a five bed home from Sydney to Scotland. This was in September 2017. It seems quite a bit cheaper than yours, but given it was three years ago, and the fact that a large amount of our belongings were already packed and in storage (decluttered for the house viewings) so there was less packing to do, and that we didn't bring any sofas or mattresses back (we decided to get new in the UK), you might well find that a quote with them is a bit higher. Chess were great at the Aus end - nothing at all was broken or damaged. They used another company here (I don't actually remember which one), who tried to charge us more because we changed the delivery address at this end, but in fairness they did drop the extra charge once we pointed out that we were in fact much closer to the dockyard at Grangemouth than we thought we would originally be, and thus we should be getting a refund for the mileage not used! I would recommend having a good sort out. I have just unpacked 5 boxes of toys that the kids insisted that we bring back - they were packed in about March 2017, and haven't been touched since then! I'm sure there are more boxes of things in the garage that I could have done without bringing too! If you pack any of your things yourself, there is an app called Sortly, which allows you to list inventory and print out QR codes to stick on boxes, so you can see what is in each books at a scan of the QR code. I found that invaluable, particularly because we left much of our stuff packed when we arrived, as we were in a rental and decided not to unpack much of our stuff until we bought. It allowed me to easily find items that we did need in the mean time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
irish4ever Posted July 22, 2020 Share Posted July 22, 2020 Hi what is the application to leave oz? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marisawright Posted July 22, 2020 Share Posted July 22, 2020 3 minutes ago, irish4ever said: Hi what is the application to leave oz? Currently, Australian citizens and permanent residents need permission to leave the country so you have to make an application. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Island Posted July 23, 2020 Author Share Posted July 23, 2020 Thank you so much for all this fantastic advice - have made some notes! Have given Chess removals a call too - thanks for that! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martinbjulieb Posted July 23, 2020 Share Posted July 23, 2020 (edited) 16 hours ago, Island said: Thank you so much for all this fantastic advice - have made some notes! Have given Chess removals a call too - thanks for that! We used Chess too and they were fantastic. Along with things others have mentioned also keep some bank statements handy for reference purposes for mortgage/rentals etc. Keep a no fee bank account open ready for when you need to access your super later down the line. Get Doctor/Dental/Optical records if you can. Good luck!! I remembered I did a post about paperwork NOT to pack in the container when we were moving. I have pasted it below for info. Birth certificates Marriage certificate NHS cards UK tax info NI number etc Children's immunisation records 1 year of school reports Last year of Australian tax return Evidence of no claims for contents, building and car insurance Rabies certificate (dog, not us!!) Container insurance certificate Shipping info and contacts UK driving licences including paper section All passports (!!!) Evidence of deposits from house sale to our U.K. bank. Edited July 23, 2020 by Martinbjulieb Added text 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Island Posted August 13, 2020 Author Share Posted August 13, 2020 Oh My Goodness, this is amazing and invaluable advice that I would never think of - thank you so so much 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Egorfester Posted August 17, 2020 Share Posted August 17, 2020 On 20/07/2020 at 13:32, Island said: Hi We are moving from Sydney back to the UK as soon as possible. Postponed due to Covid & now we are in a bit of a rush as hope to arrive before start of September so kids can start school on time. Have only had a quote with Allied Pickfords - about $14,000 for 4 bed household move - would love suggestions of other companies to get alternative quotes. My other checklist (what am I missing???) Dog vaccinated and Pet Traveller crate - conditionally booked TOR form Application to leave Oz via Dept of Immi One terms notice to schools Flights to book Cancellation of all direct debits THANK YOU can I ask who you used for the pet transport that is currently operating? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senfield Posted August 19, 2020 Share Posted August 19, 2020 On 17/08/2020 at 12:22, Egorfester said: can I ask who you used for the pet transport that is currently operating? Have applied for exemption yet? Desperate to leave to return to the UK but my application was denied Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Island Posted August 19, 2020 Author Share Posted August 19, 2020 HI, yes we have been given exemption. We are moving back permanently - I guess they just want you to show you aren't going to try and come back in six months. For shipping - we used Chess and pet transport we are going with Pet Traveller. The TOR forms are very pedantic - so do this well before you try and leave - the shipping and pet travel need it before getting you on a flight. Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PTe Posted September 4, 2020 Share Posted September 4, 2020 On 19/08/2020 at 12:07, Island said: HI, yes we have been given exemption. We are moving back permanently - I guess they just want you to show you aren't going to try and come back in six months. For shipping - we used Chess and pet transport we are going with Pet Traveller. The TOR forms are very pedantic - so do this well before you try and leave - the shipping and pet travel need it before getting you on a flight. Thanks When do you move back? We're just kicking off the planning now... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marmitegirl Posted November 21, 2020 Share Posted November 21, 2020 On 20/07/2020 at 15:01, AliQ said: Travel Insurance, and let the Australian Electoral Commission know to remove you from their list. Good luck, it's a lovely time of year to return to the UK. Just interested if you managed to get travel insurance and who you went with? I can't get it as no one is selling :-( Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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