we're giving the UK the fingers up.Selling UK property before UK goes to the dogs

Pitby

yes, i had to laugh, well you wouldn't take it serious would you?

a_blue_4_eva	#13 08 Jan 2009 09:05
Signed: August 2005	re: re: Advice Required ! ...
Posts: 1,618 Hall of Fame	not only do immigrants get DHSS payments immediately without any fuss but they get mansions and penthouses to live in, a stream line set of limousine taxi's at there disposal to carry their huge families around and its all kindly paid for by the government and housing benefits!

above :  true but not really funny - when you're a tax payer.

Goodstitch

Unfortunately, alot of people would, and do, take it seriously!  I live in the middle east - a place where people think all the terrorists come from!! - and here's a link to a report in today's paper about a BBC radio presenter telling how he's afraid to mention his faith, christianity, for fear of how people would react!! 

Here, in the UAE, a Muslim country, we probably have more christmas trees and christmas displays in the shopping malls in December than you do in the UK!! 

That says quite a bit about the way the UK is going - and that's just a snippet!

www.newsoftheworld.co.uk/news/article43731.ece

just in case anyone thinks i've lost the plot, and to bring things back to : one of the many reasons why we think its time to get out of the uk before it hits the fan to such a degree that  a civil war may be next -  if people loose their money as the government set out on another experiement with more tax payers money etc.

and for the record, i take people as i find them i do not have an issue with religion/skin colour etc,i do however have an issue with the goings on re the above link, its my (and your) tax paying for this, when it should be paying for progress (but not the 2012 olympic stadium for eg)

please lets get back to the fors and against re moving to spain.

Dear All,

fantastic, I would never have believed it. Thank you.

TechNoApe, are you sure you are not laying it on a bit? It sounds like a complete Police no-go area. How did you manage not to explode?

Truly sickening - who would not want to escape that?

If you have converted the house described in UK into two new properties described in CDS then you are to be congratulated again.

What sort of person could find your account funny, I wonder?

Yes please, I would enjoy visiting your new home when next over - perhaps a pm with details?

Gravitatingsouth, I tried the DHSS website and found only the following:-

Owner occupiers

HB does not help with mortgage repayments. Pension Credit, Income Support or income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance may help with the cost of your mortgage interest payments.

How can the people under threat of re-possession be fitted in?

When you say spot on - are you suggesting your neighbourhood is similar?

Just how widespread is the problem?

Thanks again

Norman

Watch Trevor McDonald tonight to see what is happening to people who cannot pay their mortgages.

Norman

Just to clarify your query "What sort of person could find your account funny, I wonder?" (referring to TechNoApe's post), because it was obviously aimed at one, or more, members (because we know you like to do that!!), I found it funny because TechNoApe had obviously embellished his post with some obviously accurate details - because we all recognised them!!

And as for DHSS mortgages - I can tell you for sure of at least one person I know who did, for many years, maintain a mortgage via the DHSS!!  Single mother, with one child, until she married and started a business with her husband.

a sign at passport control at terminal 3 at manchester airport says it all. while we queue to get into our own country. the sign says,  :  non eu residents go to the front of the queue :

www.newsoftheworld.co.uk/news/article43731.ecepepart

so the link above wont shock you either, doesnt it make you wonder - who is voting labour, and why were shows like The Cook Report and Robert Kiroy-Silk taken off air ?  Answer : because they reported what no-one wanted the public to know

Normansands:

did you see Tonight ?

I would suggest asking to swap to an interest only mortgage, then (not sure what the new qualifying period has been reduced to - it was 9months) the DHSS should  (if you apply correctly - go see the CAB) pay the mortgage interest only. Or you could go for a 2yr int deferral with the lender.  Though have to say -it all depends on who deals with your forms -if you get an arse - forget it, its all about body language when you sit infront of them, they have to like you, of course there's the formal criteria compliance etc, but  - if someone beat you to a supermarket parking space, would youlet them go infront of you with 5 items - no - you'd say,wait your turn (well I would and I'm a nice person) youknow what I mean - all depends if they're having a good day or a bad one, or if someone remembered to bring cakes for their birthday.

Best of luck Normansands - you might find it easier if you go and get a very very dark spray tan and wear a tea towel on your head. Sorry - thats a bit of humour - dont all have a go at me ok.

Dear All,

I watched it and felt ashamed, why weren't those people helped?

I read the first newspaper page but the second link failed, suggesting it may have moved.

The first was a shock, but doesn't the Governments fraud system weed this out in time?

Whether you can escape it all is questionable, depending on personal circumstances I suppose you might move out but still end up paying for the scammers just as we all will with the banking experts.

TechNoApes contrasts were unarguable but is Spain the best choice?

Cyprus is being heavily pushed as a better bet at the moment.

It is even suggested that it does not suffer from the same crooked lawyers.

Best Regards

Norman

normansands wrote

''TechNoApes contrasts were unarguable but is Spain the best choice?''

That part of TechNoApes post  about the UK was just a daft extreme comment, no doubt with elements of truth. A bit like saying Spain is nothing but ugly unfinished buildings in a country with nothing but corruption, lack of regulation and hopeless justice.  Yes of course it exists, but to label a whole country with its worst aspects, while ignoring all the good points is just rubbish and smacks of desperation to justify a decision.  There are horrible areas in every country as well as lovely areas. There are many pro's and cons to living in the UK or Spain, as we all well know.  Surely we chose to live in the place where to us as individuals, the pro's outway the cons.

We have feet in both camps.

As we were unable to sell our UK house, we made the decision to let it and move to Spain 3 months ago. Unfortunately my husband has to commute to London every Monday to Friday.

The house that we let was priced at £950 per month and we actually had people come as prospective tenants who were unemployed and said that the DSS would pay that amount. I was horrified.  Is all our tax money being given away at that sort of rate?  Not many employed people could afford it. This is in South Devon for a pretty large 4 bedroomed bungalow.

Since arriving in Spain, we have been settling in well. It's not an apartment. It's a finca that we had renovated and is very well insulated with thick cavity walls. Positioned amongst Spanish farmers in the campo. These people are so similar to the neighbours we had as children in the 50s and 60s. The family all visit the older members virtually every day. They sit outside and pass the time of day together. They are happy to dig up their home grown vegetables and fruit and give them to people like us. The community spirit is still alive here.

I have chosen to not read any English newspapers to avoid the irritations that built up every morning when I read of more incompetence, spongers and  idiocies happening every day in the UK. As my husband is there all week, I get reports of the miserable weather and the latest stupidities. It feels as if it's a world away from here.

So. The verdict here is that I am happier in Spain than back in England and can't wait for the recession to end in order that we can sell our house.

Laury

Hi Laury

You said 'The house that we let was priced at £950 per month and we actually had people come as prospective tenants who were unemployed and said that the DSS would pay that amount. I was horrified'.

You're not the only one, that is unbelievable !  

We'll be over most of March, perhaps finally we'll meet up. I know it's not been possible before as our paths haven't crossed (been over at different times, haven't we ?) I'd love to see your finca, I feel I know it with your photos & info over so long.

Sorry that your UK home still hasn't sold & that your husband's away all week in London. I certainly wouldn't like it.

Take care

Lauryc

that's great that you are happy with your situation. The many people trying to leave Spain to get back to the UK, but can't sell, would see it from another angle no doubt.  Doesn't mean they are any more right or wrong than you though. I just hope they see both sides with open eyes, and remember the good and bad about both countries.

There have been a couple of reports recently about houses in London worth millions being rented out and paid for by Housing Benefit  costing around £50,000+  a year in rent, and they weren't rented to British nationals either! Makes you all aglow doesn't it...........

Regards, Poppyseed

I have chosen to not read any English newspapers to avoid the irritations that built up every morning when I read of more incompetence, spongers and  idiocies happening every day in the UK.

I take it that you also avoid reading Spanish newspapers, then?

Yes Roberto. I have given up on reading ALL newspapers.

Laury

Not really intending to play Devil's advocate here, but.........if you had given up reading the papers whilst still in the UK, therefore, you could have avoided the irritations without actually moving all the way to Spain.

My point here really is, that while many of us move home, whether locally or internationally, or make other life changing decisions, for perfectly good reasons, such as just wanting to try something new, broaden our horizons etc., some of the comments on this thread seem to imply that others are simply trying to escape from a situation that they feel is out of their control. Sometimes making a major change may solve the problem, sometimes it may just be a case of burying your head in the sand in the hope that it will go away. I'm thinking of course about the first post on this thread by Gravitatingsouth. I wonder if the urge to quit the UK and settle in Spain would be as great, if it was on the condition that the kids come along too? I'm not saying it's the wrong decision necessarily, but just made me wonder if perhaps the criticisms of the UK had got a tad blown out of proportion?

Discuss.

Dear All,

if TechNoApe is to be believed and it was not some fun, then that is not out of proportion.

In fact it sounds very much like retreat in order to survive, an extreme lifestyle choice perhaps, but most necessary.

We must be a good deal luckier here in Kent but if things change, then the choice to go somewhere would be easy, I suggest.

Regards

Norman