Got a job offer in KL any advice on schools and houses

That is very good salary.
You can stay in Bangsar Baru have good quality apartments.
Apartments or condos good because of security or you might consider gated housing again near midwalley Robson Condominium is walking distance and I used to live there.
I strongly recommend get the local newspaper (Star) and look for rental properties and you can feel the market.
If local Real Estate Agents know your salary they will mark up the price,that is confirmed.

Hi Jo,

Places like KL Sentral, Bangsar & Mont Kiara are recommended to stay. You will have 10-20 mts drive to work.

For schools you can look at Garden International in Mont Kiara. There are plenty of international schools in KL, that should not be a issue.

As recommended, get STAR newspaper and will get plenty of options to choose from.

Cheers

Hi Jo,
Tax rate is approx. 30-33% on that base. You should do fine with those sort of MYR's, but I guess that depends on how much you need to cover your UK mortgage. Living wise any of the suggestions above are good.

Thanks all for your replies; i will definately pick up the Satr when we visit and i might downgrade the salary when i speak to real estate agents.

We were hoping to send around 7500RM back to the UK each month to cover payments there, but i'm concerned that if i'm on 30% tax, that will only leave 10,000RM to pay for rent, school and living expenses. Can anyone give me an idea of living expenses in KL...things like transport costs, food, utility bills, phone, tv etc?

Thanks again!

Joamelie,
If u were a Malaysian like me living in Malaysia, with that salary, you could live in luxury. When I was a student in UK, my living allowance was only 265 quid/mth, more than enough that I could still send 30 quid/mth to my parents here. My point is you have to live within your income!.
The 30% tax I think is the tax u have to pay after deducting yr annual personal & family expenses, etc and those allowed by the M'sian income tax board. It's not 30% from RM20k salary. The board is not that mean!
You may check on-line version of the Star newspaper for recent rental of apmts around KL city ctr; Bangsar, Damansara, Mont Kiara, etc.
KL is always jammed during morning and evening ruch hours, worse during thunderstorm. Midvalley is near border with PJ, is a big fully developed commercial complex. You can find almost everything there. It has Light Rail Transport (LRT)(equivalent to London tube lines). Unfortunatelt, it only connects to Bangsar, not Mont Kiara. Western expats like to live in high end condominium or bungalows here.
If u live in Bangsar/Mont Kiara:
FF 3/4 BR condo/bungalow RM4k-7k per mth
Food RM1k per mth
New car RM150k (Honda Accord/Toyota Camry)
Petrol RM500 per mth
Eating out RM500 per mth

Hope this helps.

As mentioned, you can have several deductions on taxable income. Then, it's a sliding scale, going up to 27% max. Overall, I wouldn't be surprised if you end up paying less than 20% in taxes.

I'm a fan of KL Sentral as it's well-connected by rail and taxi. It's close to Mid-Valley. Cost slightly less than living in Bangsar.

There are several International schools in KL, costing about RM30,000-RM40,000 per year per child. There's one in Brickfields, GIIS, but it's got quite a long waiting list. I hear that it's mainly Indians who go there. http://www.globalindian.org.sg/Default. … .org.sg/my

Fairview is another good international school. Some further away are Garden International School and Mont Kiara International School, both in Mont Kiara. You'll have to arrange transport for your children though as traffic jams in KL are terrible in the mornings and evenings.

Thomas
[email protected]

j0amelie wrote:

Hi All,
I know you get a lot of these questions so sorry!

I have been offered a job in KL at a salary rate of 25000RM/month. What tax will I have to pay on this?

I know housing is expensive in KL, and we'll still have to send some money back to the UK to cover mortgage, but we have no idea whether this will be enough to live conforably in KL.
Also any schools that you can recommend or areas to live in .. I will be working in Midvalley.

We have a trip out to KL booked for the end of August. Can anyone recommend who we should contact to look at properties?

Thanks for any advice
Jo

Hi Jo,

For tax matters  - please visit the IRB website. Google Lembaga Hasil Dalam Negeri - you can read the page in English. They have the schedule of rates there. Malaysia practices a tiered tax system. Though not as annal as the rates in UK or Aussie - it can be pretty painful. Presumably you would be a tax resident i.e staying more than 182 days in Malaysia.

For the base Rm 100K taxable income (some minimal almost insignificant allowance is given for insurance premiums/pension fund/etc)  the tax rate is RM 14,235. Every dollar above that the rate is 26%.

In terms of property search  - try either iproperty.com.my or homeguru.com.my. Sort of shortlist what you have in mind  - then call the agents. Generally agents are a pain in the rear end - but you have very little choice. In Malaysia - the landlord pays the agent. The tenant pays nothing - so why bother. Please negotiate a Diplomatic Clause - i.e option to terminate the lease with one months notice without penalty in the event that you are transferred etc. Dont get conned in to paying the agent - i know a lot of expats do + they are very often misled to believe that the agent will act in their best interest - trust me they dont. I speak as a Landlord not a tenant.

Rentals are not all that expensive. It depends on where you want to stay.

School - i think you can google them. ON RM 25K per month - ISKL - the premier international school may be a very very great stretch.

Good Luck and welcome.

Cheers,

DA

Hi,
If you are from UK as I assume you are then you should be looking at Alice Smith School, Garden International School and British International School. Pls google the websites to get all the info you need.
Hope that helps.

Thanks...just to give you an update, we have been here 9 months now and are well settled. Schools, houses, cars, bank accounts all finally got sorted when we arrived.
Thankyou to everyone who gave us the advice, it's really valuable when you are moving your entire family 1/2 way across the world!

j0amelie wrote:

Thanks...just to give you an update, we have been here 9 months now and are well settled. Schools, houses, cars, bank accounts all finally got sorted when we arrived.
Thankyou to everyone who gave us the advice, it's really valuable when you are moving your entire family 1/2 way across the world!

Good to hear that!!

Now you can sit back and looking thru the calendar, public holidays in Malaysia is a lot, plus state's holidays, Agong holidays, festival holidays (CHINESE NEW YEARS, HARI RAYA, DEEPAVALI, CHRISTMAS), with these public holidays, you can plan some nice family trip to the beautiful islands in Malaysia.

how's your experience dealing with the locals?

Hi one thing to be aware of that there are no free places at any international school in KL this year. The government changed the rule that one parent had to be an expat and the flood gates opened. New schools cant open fast enough! So getting your kids into an international school may not be possible.

Must agree, all the holidays are great.
The Malaysian people are lovely. I work in a Malaysian company where the staff are predominantly Malaysian, and they have been very welcoming! There's always some celebration going on... I'm looking forward to openhouse tomorrow at the MD's house.
The expat community is also very supportive in KL. We have made some lovely friends and the experience is one we'll never forget!

Thanks Nemodot...no worries about school though, my kids have been in school here since Jan.