Moving To London From Overseas Checklist

Summer is the time when most people think about moving to London. If you’re moving to London from overseas, you’ll have many more things to consider than the average Brit who can just stick everything in a van and drive a couple of hundred miles. So we’ve compiled the below checklist to give you some ideas of what to think about when you’re planning your move over here. It’s not a very country-specific list, so adjust it depending on where you hail from.

Do it A.S.A.P

• Sort out your visa. For more info about visas, please visit Ukvisas.gov.uk You should normally leave yourself at least a couple of months for a visa to come through, but it could be much longer or shorter depending on your circumstances.
• Write an excellent C.V and upload it for FREE to Monster’s database where employers can search for candidates for their jobs. It’s absolutely free to post your C.V up there, so if you don’t do it you’re really missing a great opportunity.
• Book your tickets. Take a look at current prices using Expedia
• Check that your passport is valid and has more than 6 months left on it

2-3 months to go

• Start looking for somewhere to stay. Sign up with Easyroommate . Use the box below to search for FREE for a room in London.
• If you need to stay in a hostel for a few days before you take up semi-permanent residency somewhere, book a room at Hostelworld which has many affordable, yet comfortable hostels located in Central London.
• Inform your local tax office that you’re planning on leaving the country so that if necessary you have time to fill in a mid-year tax return or possibly even get a tax refund depending on your situation and the tax procedures in your home country.
• You should also

1 month to go

• Find your medical records so that when you register for a doctor on the NHS, they’ll be able to quickly see your medical history. This is especially important if you have an ongoing condition or need regular prescriptions.
• Arrange your travel insurance for your journey. Make sure it covers the value of all your belongings for your trip.
• Give notice on your current accommodation and service contracts such as gym membership, cell phone contracts etc.

1-2 weeks to go

• Find out how to register for postal voting so that you’re able to vote whilst you’re away from home.
• Redirect all mail and inform utility providers of your impending departure.
• Start downsizing your belongings and make lists for packing.
• Have a going away party and say your goodbyes – make sure you have a full list of email addresses and phone numbers!

How much money do I need to move to London?

Following on from our ‘How Much Does It Cost To Live In London’ post last week, we’re now going to answer the next burning question for those of you who are looking to move to London in the near future. That being - 

How much money do I need to move to London?

Whether you will be saving this money yourself or borrowing from parents, or a bank, you’ll still need to budget a certain amount before you consider your move to London.

As with almost everything relating to moving to London, the answer to this question isn’t quite as clear-cut as perhaps you’d hope. It depends on that variable factor of ‘circumstance’, as in your own personal situation. Will you be working at a new job from Day 1 of being in London, or are you looking for work? Do you already have accommodation lined up, or will you require temporary accommodation whilst you look for something more permanent?

Either way, let’s take you through some general approximate costs, so you can work out how much money you’ll need saved up before you move here.

If you move to London without securing a job, then the first thing that you should do is upload your C.V FOR FREE to Monster, as you’ll probably want to start earning money as soon as possible. You can actually start looking for work before you arrive and you should possibly try and line up some interviews with recruitment firms for your first couple of days.

If you have already found your job and have the difficult position of having accepted a job, but have nowhere to stay, then unless you’re lucky enough to stay with friends or family for free, you should book yourself into some temporary accommodation. Dorms are often the cheapest option available for temporary accommodation, but they’re not always the most appropriate, particularly if you want a good night’s sleep the night before your first day at work. So, you could choose a private room at a hostel booked through Hostelworld. You can get a private room for as little as £17 per night. Many of the hostels are located in Central London, which is great because it means that you’ll be more likely to be nearer your workplace and you could even save money on transport at the beginning of your stay in London. If you’re looking for something a little less communal than a hostel, you might want to try Accommodation London who are able to offer an excellent standard of accommodation for as little as £48 per night for a self-contained studio apartment. The apartments are an open planned room with 2/3 single beds or double bed, TV, sofa, table & chairs. They’re fully furnished & fully equipped, everything you need is in the apartment, right down to linen. There is also a shared washer & dryer in most of the buildings.

Let’s say for arguments sake that you spend 2 weeks in temporary accommodation whilst making a real concerted effort to find accommodation of a more permanent nature, perhaps in a shared house. In this case, you’ll require between £238 (hostel room) and £672 (studio apartment) depending on your accommodation preferences. Even if you find somewhere you like on the first day of looking, you’ll often find that it can take a week or so for credit and reference checks to be done on you before you actually ‘get the keys’.

When securing long-term rental accommodation through an estate agent, letting agent or private landlord, it’s normal to expect to hand over 1 month’s rent in advance, plus a damage deposit of between 4-6 weeks. If you consider that the average cost of monthly rent in London is around £450 pcm, then this would mean that you’d be required to hand over £1125 upfront (if the damage deposit is equivalent to 6 weeks rent). Ouch! But try and remember that you’ll hopefully get most of your deposit back at the end of your tenancy so long as you behave yourself!

You’ll also want to budget money for food and transport. Try and budget £40 per week for food and ensure that you eat breakfast and dinner at home and make a packed lunch out of this budget. Transport is a more difficult thing to estimate upfront, as until you’re settled into permanent accommodation, you probably won’t want to commit to purchasing a travelcard yet. In this case, get yourself an Oyster card (see our Transport in London page for details) and top it up with £20 and see how long that lasts you.

Now you’ve got some ideas of how much you’re going to require for your move to London, based on your own personal situation, please make use of all the other resources that our site has to offer to help get you here. You might be interested in our Affordable London page, which has great ideas on how to save money once you’ve moved here.

Rental Accommodation in London

As we approach 2010, we’re getting ready for a new influx of people arriving in London for the first time and top of any newcomer’s list is sorting out their rental accommodation in London. This is why Moove2London is pleased to be able to recommend extremely affordable, yet high quality rooms and private studios situated in Willesden Green in North West London.

Depending on your situation, whether you’re arriving by yourself, in a couple or as part of a group, you have the option of staying in a variety of a different accommodation types.

Let’s start by talking about private studio apartments. These can cost as little as £19 per person per night, depending on the length of time that you commit to. The studios are self-contained with power shower, w/c and kitchen. They can sleep up to 3 single beds or a double bed depending on your requirements. The apartments are fully furnished with beds, sofa, table and chairs and TV(!) and fully equipped with everything you could possibly require, including linen. A shared washer/dryer is located in most of  the buildings as well as free wireless internet. A security deposit will be required at the time of booking. Click here for more information, including prices and photos on these private studio apartments.

Next up are private rooms within a shared house. These are available from £18 per person per day. Once again, depending on your circumstances, you can have the option of booking a double, single, twin or triple room. Your room will be fully furnished with beds, linens, drawers and wardrobes. The rest of the house is also amply decked out with plenty of facilities for everyone – 4 showers, 4 toilets, 2/3 equipped kitchens and some even have shared lounges. All bills are included for private rooms, there is free wireless internet and coin-operated laundry facilities. A security deposit will be required at the time of booking. Please click here for more information, including prices and photos on a private room in a shared house.

Finally, if you want to cut costs a little further and meet new people as soon as you arrive, then you might be interested in booking a dorm room within a hostel. The hostel that we recommend was fully refurbished in 2008/09. All the dorm rooms have wooden floors, lockers (you will need to supply your own padlock), memory foam mattresses, TV/DVDs and a fridge. The building offers Sky TV in a communal lounge area, free internet, 4 fully equipped kitchens and a garden. You’ll also receive free tea/coffee throughout the day, free toast and jam for breakfast, fresh linen, free washing powder and free noodles when you check in. The building is manned by a very popular 24 hour caretaker so you can be assured of safety. There are 6 mixed dorm and female-only rooms available. Please click here for more information, including prices and photos on dorm rooms within a hostel.

The area that all of these accommodation types are situated in, is called Willesden Green. The nearest tube station is also called Willesden Green and is on the Jubilee line in transport zone 2. If you’re heading into town, you can be in Central London at Bond Street station within about 15-20 minutes. There are also good bus links making this an incredibly accessible place to live.

These accommodation options are the perfect opportunity to commit to somewhere for a short amount of time (minimum of 7 nights) whilst you get to grips with living in London and start looking for work. If you have any questions, then as usual, please email contact@moove2london.com for further advice.