Expenses whilst full timing

TeamRienza said:
Depending on your ages, if you stop work and stay in the Uk or go abroad your National insurance contributions will stop. This will have an effect on your eventual state pension under the 2016 changes (even if you have a full record of contributions before under the old scheme). It can be very worth while making up the contributions which are about £795 for each year you buy. This will boost your pension by about £4 per week so if you have a reasonable life expectancy it is worth exploring. Get a personalised state pension forecast online, unless of course you are already of pension age.

This also applies to anyone who stops working before state pension age living in the Uk.

Davy
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you could just work enough and have payed in enough for the year but possibly only work a few months in uk.
i used to do it and when i had payed enough to get a years cover get off abroad again. . also you can get a tax rebate as thats based on you getting an amount of pay every week of the year. i used to come back end of april ang get away the end of summer. worked a treat.
might have changed a bit these days but its worth looking into.
 
You may only "Clear" £600 a month from a flat rental due to Tax Repairs Agents fees etc.
Less in first year !
What about no tenant in place ?
Others have alerted you to the 3 month rule.

With travel restrictions or Isolations likely to be in place..
I suggest NOW is not the time to do this.
Ok make your plans etc but beware
1 Cannot sell house at the moment
2 Rental market not functioning 100%
3 Have plans for if you are ill (not virus ill)
4 Bolt-holes in UK ?
Sorry this is a bit negative but that is where we all are as of today and maybe another year !
 
Have you somewhere to stay in UK as a base? Would make life easier when here, might be able to negotiate with a site for a longer term parking. It can get quite tiring always looking for somewhere to park up, although exciting initially always on the move. Have you a backup plan if the van breaks down and needs a repair and you can't stay in it? Would be worth an "untouchable" contingency fund to cover emergencies where you will need a lump sum? Sounds like you will have enough to live on if careful, especially once you have pension. We pay 8% agency fee for rental (plus vat) and allow to lose approx 1 MTHS rent a year for gas / electric certificate & repairs. Our agent doesn't charge a fee for arranging repairs etc, and a minimum amount on change of tenant, many charge for everything they go near, so choose carefully! Choice of tenant is crucial, a long term tenancy for a year, gives more stability. Changing tenants can involve loss of at least a months rental.
 
REC said:
Have you somewhere to stay in UK as a base? Would make life easier when here, might be able to negotiate with a site for a longer term parking. It can get quite tiring always looking for somewhere to park up, although exciting initially always on the move. Have you a backup plan if the van breaks down and needs a repair and you can't stay in it? Would be worth an "untouchable" contingency fund to cover emergencies where you will need a lump sum? Sounds like you will have enough to live on if careful, especially once you have pension. We pay 8% agency fee for rental (plus vat) and allow to lose approx 1 MTHS rent a year for gas / electric certificate & repairs. Our agent doesn't charge a fee for arranging repairs etc, and a minimum amount on change of tenant, many charge for everything they go near, so choose carefully! Choice of tenant is crucial, a long term tenancy for a year, gives more stability. Changing tenants can involve loss of at least a months rental.
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Hi Ruth,
Thanks for the info, we will have a slush fund hopefully around 30k-40k if all goes to plan, as for somewhere to stay in the UK I have a mate who has a field I'm sure would let me use from time to time also a local farmers I know has a cl site that I know i could get a good reduced rate on at worst.
Having been in the building industry all my life I know many tradesmen to call on for repairs should they be required. We have owned a rental property once before and I know choosing the right tenant is critical and can be a bit of a lottery, we are thinking if we buy a retirement type flat in a nice area we may have a better chance of getting a better tenant?
Do I take it that you are full timing, if so anymore info would be great.
Thanks
Dean
 
Yes that is healthy slush..You may need some for the flat to prepare it for rental.
When we first rented our house..we did so furnished...Our latest tenant wanted unfurnished and we agreed.
Not sure if unfurnished works with a flat but maybe ?
Getting a good agent will help with many things. We pay a higher % to the agent than Ruth but they do everything and no surcharges on tradesmens bills.
If you are travelling I suggest leaving the agent to organise tradesmen etc even though I note your comments.
Even with the 3 month limit you really can do without having to return to UK because of a problem with the flat..again the agent is key.
Motorhome insurance can be tricky or expensive depending on your precise residential status etc. A bit of legitimate ducking and diving may be needed.
Insurers in UK do not like "no fixed abode". Owning the flat will help.
Doctors is another consideration !
 
Hi jagmanx,
Is this something that are currently doing full Timing? If so what would you estimate an average monthly to be?
Thanks
D
 
We full-time for 6 months in the summer !
Tour Europe and spend about £1000 a month....plus all the yearly expenses..Tax insurance service etc.
We hibernate (cheaply) in the winter.
My other thoughts are ..Where will you be/stay in winter ?
 
Ps..
We would not choose to winter in Uk.
Too cold
Too dark
Ehu needed
Too much gas
No fun !...Others do it and enjoy !
 
Those were the kind of figures I was looking at when considering full timing. Longest we did was six months and it was roughly £1000 a month.

I wouldn't rule out wintering in the uk though. We have a great CL and CS network with hookups on many and deals to be done. We have done some long term touring in the winter here. The three month thing for Schengen is a complete PIA but don't get me started on that. If I were seriously considering full timing now I would maybe look at citizenship in an EU country then the world's your oyster. Duel if possible. Portugal? Latvia?

Mind you there is a case going on at the moment for Brits to be able to retain eu citizenship as the argument is its illegal to strip someone of their eu citizenship just because it's country leaves the union but I don't know if it will work.

Of course the big unknown is how we all come out of this crisis. It could make all sorts of differences.

Good luck with it though. I always wanted to cut all the ties but never quite managed it.
 
Good plan . Go for it we have .I've been renting out for 5 years no problems. Sylvia rented her house out 2 years ago.and that's been good to.
Got small static for base camp at my son's
Go for it..
 
I’ve been doing the sums and bear basic living would cost approx £400 pm this is when all is going well and no unforeseen bills.
This would be living a basic lifestyle not a holiday type one.
The next thing we need to do is upgrade our van to a fixed bed one, if anyone can suggest any decent vans or ones to avoid that would be very helpful budget around 30k
Thanks all for the advice, please keep it coming
D
 
I suggest £400 a month is optimistic
£300 on food
£200 on Fuel
£100 on campsites/aires etc
These being minimum figures !
 
Yes you may be right, it may be a little more, fuel would probably be half what you suggest tho as we don’t plan on moving too much once we get somewhere suitable.
We don’t plan on staying on any aire that charge if at all possible, I understand that this won’t always be possible.
Cheers
D
 
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Maybe just a thought for you, but if you bought a small plot of ground in Spain you can put ashed on it anyway. To buy it you have to have a NIE number, then of course a residencia then you shouldn't have a problem with how many days you spend away. I tis not difficult to do as we did it. If you go an hour inland from Valencia you should be able to pick up a plot of land with water on or close by for about 7000euros. While we were there 3 years ago there is a little village called Pedralba. There was a three bedrromed bungalow with water a fitted ready for solar panels it could have been bought for about 30000euros. Once you go about an hour inland from Valencia the property goes for nothing as such possibly even cheaper now. As for renting your property out, I wouldn't like to put you off but we had a hell of a job with some tenents. Strangly enough the ones with all the good references were the worst. Of course Ken in Spain will be more upto date about buying property over there than we are.
As for a fixed bed MotorHome we have a 16 year old Burstner which is superb.
PJ
 
The first thing I found when I went fulltiming was that my MH wasn't really fit for fulltiming,it did me for the first three years but it was a big compromise. It taught me a great deal about what I really needed/wanted,so I started out with my requirements to decide what vehicle I went for. Fixed bed, compressor fridge,multi fuel burner,lots of solar,lots of water, and space....lots of space,the only way to meet my needs was a self build so that's the way I went.
How long have you spent in one stretch in your current MH? That gives you some idea of your needs,but remember you have to carry your whole life with you so weight is a big factor in deciding on your forever home.
 
gypo said:
Hi all,
Today me and the better half have been chatting and come up with a game plan to go full timing in the van, hopefully being able to spend most of the time in France or spain.
We have worked out that if we sell our house and buy a flat we can get a rental income from the flat of at least £750pm with no mortgage.
In a years time I will be able to take a pension of approx 9k a year.
we have gone through the fingers the best we can for out goings and the figures seem to work.
We are not sure of things like health insurance etc tho and how much that will cost but most things we know the costs of.
I understand we will have to come back to mot the van and little things like that we have tried to account for things like laundry,fuel food,phone and insurance.
Can anyone see any flaws or issues that I may have Missed?
Any advice would be great
Thanks
D
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Don't forget you can only stay in Spain for 90 days They are talking about a sticker to go in you windscreen with the date that you entered Spain,
 
pamjon said:
Maybe just a thought for you, but if you bought a small plot of ground in Spain you can put ashed on it anyway. To buy it you have to have a NIE number, then of course a residencia then you shouldn't have a problem with how many days you spend away. I tis not difficult to do as we did it. If you go an hour inland from Valencia you should be able to pick up a plot of land with water on or close by for about 7000euros. While we were there 3 years ago there is a little village called Pedralba. There was a three bedrromed bungalow with water a fitted ready for solar panels it could have been bought for about 30000euros. Once you go about an hour inland from Valencia the property goes for nothing as such possibly even cheaper now. As for renting your property out, I wouldn't like to put you off but we had a hell of a job with some tenents. Strangly enough the ones with all the good references were the worst. Of course Ken in Spain will be more upto date about buying property over there than we are.
As for a fixed bed MotorHome we have a 16 year old Burstner which is superb.
PJ
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There is plots of land over here near me between 8/10 thousand euros, but first you must go to the townhall before you buy any land and ask them if it is ok to put a motorhome or caravan on the land , just say to keep tools in while you work the land find a small village you will find them more helpful. Don't buy any thing with a building on the land incase the building is illegal then as the owner of the land you could end up with a big fine and made to knock the building down
 
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