a practical guide to moving to London

Jun 28

Jun 28 a practical guide to moving to London

It is true that moving to London involves a vicious circle of dependancies and it’s very easy to get lost and frustrated in the process. A very good example: you need a bank account in order to rent a flat but you can’t open a bank account if you don’t have a permanent address in the UK… What the actual f**k?!

There are a few tricks and hacks though that that can make this all easier but are not obvious. I wish someone had told me about them when we were moving last year - it would help us save a lot of time and money, not to mention the stress of it all.

Finding a job
It was the first step for us but doesn’t have to be. Depending on your financial situation and whether you have someone to stay with in London while searching and settling down, this step can come last (BUT you will not be able to rent a flat without a proof of employment and salary statement).
For me (being me) it was important I had a job first before moving to the place. I decided to look for a job online, pass interviews, and move to the city only after having this one sure. Here are a few tips about looking for a job in London:
- I didn’t find LinkedIn as successful as the newly discovered by me Indeed. It is essentially a platform working in exactly the same way but I did get a feeling of it being more local and approachable. Just to give you an example: responses on LinkedIn after a week of sending out CVs - 0! Responses on Indeed after 1 day: 5.
- In terms of the right to live and work in the UK as a European, up until now you didn’t need anything specific. However, I do not know how this will change after Brexit will be in place. Polish people can look for more information here.
- In order to be able to work, or rather receive your salary, in the UK everyone needs a National Insurance number. This is a very easy process to go through but timely so you should definitely apply for it as soon as possible after you receive a confirmation of employment.
  Yes, you can work for the first month or 2 without it (I did) and it’s a lie if someone tells you otherwise but you do need it anyway so just go and do it.
  You can find all details about what to do here.
Getting UK phone number
A simple advice to avoid a “I need a phone number to open a back account but I do need a bank account to get a phone number” trap I got into. Why? Because I did forget about the existence of the pre-paid phones that don’t require a monthly debit! Just go to the closest EE, Vodafone, O2 or whatever and buy yourself a SIM card.
Here you go - 5 minutes and you’re done.
Tip: Once you do have your bank account and are a fan of the monthly payment plans, you don’t have to change your number - you can simply move on to a chosen plan by visiting the store you bough your SIM card in (watch out, in EE it has to be the exact same store! I don’t know about the other networks…).
Setting up a UK bank account
Now that it took you 5 minutes to get a UK phone number, it will take you another 5 to open a completely legible bank account.
At this point, do not go to a regular bank like Lloyds, NatWest or whatever, unless you do have a permanent address and a salary. It will take you loads of time to stand in a queue and at the end no-one will allow you to open an account.
Instead, go for the online banking and if you haven’t tried it already, it will completely change your life (seriously though, no-one is paying me for this but I would advertise it to anyone for free anyway). The most popular one at the moment is Monzo and that’s the one we’re both using - and loving it. You can also try Revolut as it’s more known internationally, but it does have certain restrictions if you want to use it as a daily account so watch out (I personally wasn't very happy with this one).
All you need to do is download the app and sing up there giving your personal details and a scan of your passport. That’s it. Here you go - another 5 minutes and you’re done.
Tip: You do need to provide an address if you want to receive a bank card but you can use the temporary one, or one of a friend, and easily change it afterwards. The card usually arrives in 48 hours.
Also, once you have a permanent address and a job, you can go back to one of the physical banks and open another account if you wish to. I fell in love with Monzo though and for the moment, can’t imagine banking any other way.
Finding a flat
And this is where the things get more complicated. The truth is, looking for a flat in London is quite a bit of a challenge. The market is soo fast-paced that once a flat is up for rent, it often gets rented within first few hours. Some people even decide they want to rent a flat without visiting it - that’s how fast you have to be.
There are 2 ways you can rent a flat in London:
- A more informal one though numerous Facebook groups or SpareRoom. This might be better for renting a room and flat-sharing but you can find some offers for flats there as well.
  Pros: You don’t go through agency so you have much less paperwork and additional costs (agency fees etc.).
  Cons: You have to be careful because A LOT of these offers are just scams and it’s easier to get ripped off.
- Second option is to rent through an agency and let me tell you - it’s a thing in London! Never have I seen so many agencies in the city, they are basically everywhere! You can just stop by any of them and have a chat with an agent - they will take over from there and you can sleep better.
  
  I myself can highly recommend Foxtons - they worked magic for us and found us a perfect place in few days. Another plus about this is that they don’t require a “holding deposit” upfront when you want to make an offer! Unfortunately, most of the other agencies do and as high as £1000 which is not ideal if you’re not sure you’re getting a flat. It is fully refundable in case you don’t but still it freezes your assets for a moment.
  
  Tip: I would rather choose a more known and recognised agency, you can look for opinions on the Internet or just ask around. Unfortunately, we did get scammed at the beginning by a weird small agency and though we’d never get our £1000 back!
  
  Pros: The whole search is done for you and the agent will help you organise everything. Plus it’s just more safe.
  Cons: Additional costs like agency fees (usually around £250/person) and loads of paperwork.
  
  Tip: If you know you’ll be renting through an agency, you might as well start preparing all the documents you will need as they require A LOT of them (we went though this in Paris so it wasn’t such a surprise but I’ve never seen this in Poland for example…). You should look into preparing for every locator:
  - passport photocopy
  - proof of current address (i.e. bank account statement or electricity bill)
  - proof of employment and earnings
  - landlord reference from your previous rental
  - recent pay slips for the last 3 months
  - full bank statement for the last 3 months
  - tax confirmation for the last fiscal year
Moving your dog
There are certain rules for a dog to be able to enter the UK (you can read all about them here). In short, you have to make sure that your dog:
- has been microchipped
- has a pet passport or third-country official veterinary certificate
- has been vaccinated against rabies (at least 21 days ago)
- has a tapeworm treatment (no less than 24 hours and no more than 120 hours = 5 days before you enter the UK)
Another important point to notice here is that you can’t bring your dog by train to the UK since the only international train from Europe is operated by Eurostar which doesn’t allow dogs onboard. For our move from Paris we rented a car and will most probably do the same when moving out one day since plane is not an option for Buddy.