Will I have enough?

It's that old cost of living chestnut once more. I know it's done to death, but it can be hard to translate others' experiences Into my own. My wife is keen to move but is worried about the finances. I feel we would be OK, but i was hoping some of you might be able to comment and offer some reassurance.

Based upon the assumption I will be renting, three of us (wife and 8 year-old son) and looking to live a comfortable lifestyle - holiday, cinema,   meal out every couple of weeks, too many bottles of wine on a Friday, etc etc. Don't want to have to scrimp and scrape. I would be grateful if members would be good enough to comment on my following assumptions:

Rent - 700
Food - 600
Elec and water - 200
Gas - 30
Internet and cable - 50
Transport - 60
Mobile - 30

Not sure what insurance I'd need. Also not sure about school. I'd favour  private and have factored in 250 per month.

We'd be living on income from rentals I have in the UK. This would leave me with about 2,700 per month net of UK taxes and expenses (tax is collected on UK rentals regardless of domicile). Not sure what I'd have to pay in addition vis a vis Maltese taxes.

In a nutshell, I think we'd be fine. Total expenses are circa 1900 (Inc school fees), which leaves us around 800 discretionary spending. We have savings to fall back on. Figures are in Euro.

Your rent will depend on where you want to live.  For a three bedroom apartment our electric/water is working out at about €80 at the moment, €45 if we get charged the right residential rate.  That's at the cheapest time though because we're not using any heating or air conditioning at the moment.

Gas bottles are about €22 and from what I've read can last up to six months if just used to cook with.

I'm not sure about private school because my children go to state school, but that sounds a little bit too low for private. We looked, but decided private wouldn't benefit them so they're in state school.

Came across this http://www.verdala.org/en/school-fees in another post, looks to be circa 600-700 pm depending on the age (I know you say 8). This is just one school though.

around EUR 3,000 per annum for Chiswick is about right - probably slightly more as this is based on kindergarten (age 5).

Figures look good - realistic (you'll probably find they are slightly lower but a good estimate). We reckon an average over the year of 120 Euro pm for Elec/Water and use little gas (maybe one 18.5 Euro) bottle every three months (for cooking and very occasionally heating)

As others have mentioned depends where you live for rent but you'd get a palace (or at least a very nice apartment) for 700 in the south (we are in Marsaskala). We have friends with a pent house to die for paying around 1000 pm

You might want to give thought to Transport - while the buses are cheap (they will be going up soon) I'm not sure you'd run a car on 60 Euro's - we only use about 50 Euro of fuel a month but there is still running costs.

Do you really have to pay UK tax on rental income? I'd better have a chat with my accountant
  :)

Thanks for all your replies thus far.

Re tax on UK rentals, yes I believe you do have to pay. Currenlty you still get your personal allowance, 10k sterling at  present, but there is talk about abolishing this for expats, so we'd pay tax on all income from the first pound. Seems a bit harsh, since we are using non of the services. Also talk about expats paying CGT.

I know there is talk of abolishing it but I don't think it is current - and I've also heard a whisper that it might not happen for a while. But, we'll see. All the best with the move - the forum is a great source of info.

martinaw wrote:

Also talk about expats paying CGT.


Is this only on property or on shares and financial investments too?

My parent's house is half in my name, the other half in my sister's name. At them moment if we sell it after they die I would be exempt from CGT since I'm not resident there. Not for much longer by the sounds of things.

martinaw wrote:

Thanks for all your replies thus far.

Re tax on UK rentals, yes I believe you do have to pay. Currenlty you still get your personal allowance, 10k sterling at  present, but there is talk about abolishing this for expats, so we'd pay tax on all income from the first pound. Seems a bit harsh, since we are using non of the services. Also talk about expats paying CGT.


I would suggest you check with an accountant re Taxation as, as far as I know, If you move to Malta and become resident here you will lose your UK personal allowance anyway and have a personal allowance under the Maltese Taxation system, which is substantially less. You may then be able to recover some of you UK tax by setting that against tax payable in Malta through the 'Double Taxation' system.

Ray

Hiya,

You are certainly on the right track there, Rent depending upon where you are, South is Cheaper to the fact that I have seen 3 Beds for 300 a month. Food i would say is a little high, depending of course on what food you buy. Electric and Water is a Little high but good to factor it in, Gas you would use that in 3 - 4 months not monthly. Internet/Cable if you go through an andriod Box with a Sub about 15 a month plus 25 for Internet so not to far away, Mobile i would factor more than than, 30 is a basic monthly cost would be more probably and Transport is ok if your busing but as stated if you own a car then you have the expenses.  Note Insurance is not a monthly cost you have to pay in one go.

With what your saying you shouldnt have any problem based on your costing to enjoy life here on the rock.

Julian

Thanks for the replies, folks. The only other  potential fly in the  ointment is exchange rates. I did my calcs beard upon a 1.25 exchange rate.

martinaw wrote:

Also talk about expats paying CGT.


Thanks for mentioning this, just did some research and the new law has just come in to force in April this year. I didn't know about it, I presume there might be quite a few who were unaware. The good news is it's only gains from the value of the property on April 6th this year. And your still allowed the £11,100 CGT exemption.

More info here -

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/prop … worst.html

Gee - thanks for this. No I didn't klnow.

Thanks for the link - am getting hold of my accountant today!

i feel that there could be a case against the government here, as this cannot be right, i am exercising my right to live in a European country whilst i purchased my Property in the UK 20 years ago. Why should I be judged against because i now live outside of the UK ?

scubaboy, you're not going to be tax liable for any increase in the value over the last 20 years, only increases from the value of the property at the start of April this year. That is of course if you are still living abroad when you sell it. If you move back home and it becomes your primary residence again, you would get partial tax relief.

So it might be a very good idea to get a couple of chartered surveyors or estate agents in as soon as possible and get a couple of written valuations on its current price. They should be kept safe until you are ready to sell it.

I've just got off the phone from my family back home, my sister is going to get a couple of estate agents in for me this week. If you don't do it now it could be very complex and much more expensive in the future to get a retrospective valuation.

The chances are I won't have to pay any CGT anyway, unless my dad lives until he's 100 and it doubles in value from its current price. But regardless of any profit or loss, a Non-Resident Capital Gains Tax (NRCGT) return now has to be filed with HMRC when the property is sold.

" You can still reduce the size of your future CGT bill as the profit is calculated only on the increase in the property's value from April 6 this year. To do this, you need to get it independently valued by a qualified chartered surveyor or a local estate agent as close to this date as possible even if you have no plans to sell it in the near future.

It's a good idea to get two valuations – if they differ widely, you can always get a third and choose the one in the middle. The valuations will be in writing - keep them for your records in case the taxman asks for them after you've sold. Remember, surveyors will charge a fee while estate agents' valuations are usually free. "


Good luck with trying to get an estate agent to give you a free valuation, none of the ones we asked would, unless the property was going on the market. So I'm having to pay £250 to get a chartered surveyor to do it. Cheers Mr Cameron.