# Possible Relocation to Brighton, UK from LA, CA, USA



## AmynBrad (Mar 9, 2010)

Hi All
My husband has been offered a job in Brighton, UK for about 80,000/annual (pounds)- so is that a decent amount for a one-income family with 3 kids? We are open to living anywhere near a train station to get him to Brighton- so what housing costs are we looking at? 
Does anyone know if we can keep our US cars (have them shipped over to UK) and legally drive them?
Thanks!


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## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

AmynBrad said:


> Hi All
> My husband has been offered a job in Brighton, UK for about 80,000/annual (pounds)- so is that a decent amount for a one-income family with 3 kids? We are open to living anywhere near a train station to get him to Brighton- so what housing costs are we looking at?
> Does anyone know if we can keep our US cars (have them shipped over to UK) and legally drive them?
> Thanks!


I used to live near Brighton, not my favourite place, but thats just me. A lot of people who work in Brighton live in a place called Haywards Heath, which as a direct line into Brighton and is lovely, its about 10 miles from Brighton and a medium sized town with good facilities,schools etc. But perhaps take a look at the trains and their stops??? and then take a peak at those places???


Jo xxx


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## Bevdeforges (Nov 16, 2007)

AmynBrad said:


> Hi All
> My husband has been offered a job in Brighton, UK for about 80,000/annual (pounds)- so is that a decent amount for a one-income family with 3 kids? We are open to living anywhere near a train station to get him to Brighton- so what housing costs are we looking at?
> Does anyone know if we can keep our US cars (have them shipped over to UK) and legally drive them?
> Thanks!


I really, really wouldn't bother shipping your cars over to the UK. Driving on the "other" side of the road is MUCH more difficult if you're on the wrong side of the car to start out with. Sitting on the right side to drive kind of reminds you constantly to drive on the left... well, almost constantly. 
Cheers,
Bev


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## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

Bevdeforges said:


> I really, really wouldn't bother shipping your cars over to the UK. Driving on the "other" side of the road is MUCH more difficult if you're on the wrong side of the car to start out with. Sitting on the right side to drive kind of reminds you constantly to drive on the left... well, almost constantly.
> Cheers,
> Bev


Actually, and it may be a myth, but I've heard that USA cars are usually quite big and very "thirsty". Petrol is very expensive in the UK and theres a real drive (excuse the pun) to encourage people to drive small, economical cars - higher tax for big cars etc!

Jo xxx


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## Bevdeforges (Nov 16, 2007)

jojo said:


> Actually, and it may be a myth, but I've heard that USA cars are usually quite big and very "thirsty". Petrol is very expensive in the UK and theres a real drive (excuse the pun) to encourage people to drive small, economical cars - higher tax for big cars etc!
> 
> Jo xxx


My very first trip to Europe (back in 1972) I stumbled onto a full page ad in the London Times imploring Europe "not to make the same mistake the Americans have made" in opting for big, gas-guzzling cars. The cartoon that illustrated the ad was brilliant - and I'm still sorry I didn't save a copy of that advert.

But when I lived in the UK, I swear it was only because I was sitting on the "wrong" side of the car to drive that I only really once "forgot" which side of the road I was supposed to be on. Making turns at intersections is the worst time - when you tend to head for the right side of the road you're turning into if there isn't a car already there pointed straight at you!
Cheers,
Bev


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## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

Bevdeforges said:


> My very first trip to Europe (back in 1972) I stumbled onto a full page ad in the London Times imploring Europe "not to make the same mistake the Americans have made" in opting for big, gas-guzzling cars. The cartoon that illustrated the ad was brilliant - and I'm still sorry I didn't save a copy of that advert.
> 
> But when I lived in the UK, I swear it was only because I was sitting on the "wrong" side of the car to drive that I only really once "forgot" which side of the road I was supposed to be on. Making turns at intersections is the worst time - when you tend to head for the right side of the road you're turning into if there isn't a car already there pointed straight at you!
> Cheers,
> Bev


I'm the other way round here in Spain and yes you're right about the side you sit on determining which side of the road you drive on - I nearly drove a friends RHD car here in Spain a while ago and - no it would have confused the hell out of me !!!

Jo xx


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## Joppa (Sep 7, 2009)

AmynBrad said:


> Hi All
> My husband has been offered a job in Brighton, UK for about 80,000/annual (pounds)- so is that a decent amount for a one-income family with 3 kid?


£80k gross (which is around £53,500 net or £4,459 a month) is a good salary, but whether it's enough to ensure a comfortable life depends on the living standard you are accustomed to. It should be enough to rent a suitable house/flat in not too expensive an area, run one modest car and send children to local state schools, but if you need to pay private school fees (such as for American international school), it may not be. It also depends on what overall expat package you are getting, such as help with relocation, housing, trips home and education. Remember, you as his spouse is allowed to work in UK without work permit, including working remotely online for US employer and self-employment.


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## AmynBrad (Mar 9, 2010)

*Not a myth*



jojo said:


> Actually, and it may be a myth, but I've heard that USA cars are usually quite big and very "thirsty". Petrol is very expensive in the UK and theres a real drive (excuse the pun) to encourage people to drive small, economical cars - higher tax for big cars etc!
> 
> Jo xxx


@ JoJo - that's not a myth LOL, but we have a hybrid, a motorcycle and a two seater convertible, so that doesn't quite apply in our case. I was asking because both cars are new (1.5 yrs old and 3 months old) and we would take a huge loss financially to sell them as they are both very expensive models. So we would rather keep them if possible.


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## AmynBrad (Mar 9, 2010)

*@Joppa - Thanks*



Joppa said:


> £80k gross (which is around £53,500 net or £4,459 a month) is a good salary, but whether it's enough to ensure a comfortable life depends on the living standard you are accustomed to. It should be enough to rent a suitable house/flat in not too expensive an area, run one modest car and send children to local state schools, but if you need to pay private school fees (such as for American international school), it may not be. It also depends on what overall expat package you are getting, such as help with relocation, housing, trips home and education. Remember, you as his spouse is allowed to work in UK without work permit, including working remotely online for US employer and self-employment.


[email protected] - Thanks- I know there are a lot of determining factors of "comfortable living", we would likely have just one car and only 1 of our 3 kids is school age, (15yr old) the other two are babies. I wouldn't work for at least 5 more years so I can stay home with the babies until they are in school. We don't yet have the final details of the relo package, but I do appreciate you post as it gave me some valuable information to ask them to include in it such as housing allowance and trips home both of which would benefit us.


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## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

AmynBrad said:


> [email protected] - Thanks- I know there are a lot of determining factors of "comfortable living", we would likely have just one car and only 1 of our 3 kids is school age, (15yr old) the other two are babies. I wouldn't work for at least 5 more years so I can stay home with the babies until they are in school. We don't yet have the final details of the relo package, but I do appreciate you post as it gave me some valuable information to ask them to include in it such as housing allowance and trips home both of which would benefit us.


I personally think that 4,000 + a month would be ample in most areas south of London. three children, a car.... 4,000 sounds good to me. Ok, you're not gonna be living in a mansion or have house staff, but you'll be fine being a normal family with young kids IMO !


Jo xxxx


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## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

Joppa said:


> £80k gross (which is around £53,500 net or £4,459 a month) is a good salary, but whether it's enough to ensure a comfortable life depends on the living standard you are accustomed to. It should be enough to rent a suitable house/flat in not too expensive an area, run one modest car and send children to local state schools, but if you need to pay private school fees (such as for American international school), it may not be. It also depends on what overall expat package you are getting, such as help with relocation, housing, trips home and education. Remember, you as his spouse is allowed to work in UK without work permit, including working remotely online for US employer and self-employment.


Hhhmm, I friends who live in Sussex and manage more than comfortably on half that ammount and with 3 kids!!

Jo xxx


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## nina874 (Mar 13, 2010)

AmynBrad said:


> Hi All
> My husband has been offered a job in Brighton, UK for about 80,000/annual (pounds)- so is that a decent amount for a one-income family with 3 kids? We are open to living anywhere near a train station to get him to Brighton- so what housing costs are we looking at?
> Does anyone know if we can keep our US cars (have them shipped over to UK) and legally drive them?
> Thanks!


Will you be renting or buying? If you are renting I suggest that you have a look at rightmove.co.uk or primelocation.com they are both good places to start to get an idea of how much it will cost you. Then I would try to decide whether you want town/country/coastal as all of those things can impact on the price that you pay, and the type of life that you lead
Both sites have handy maps that you can use to tell where the house is, and I think when you click on the property at least one of them tells you how far it is to the nearest station.

The income that you are talking about should ensure that you are comfortable, and you will find that you can do things like nip over to the rest of Europe if you look out for the cut prices flights etc.

If you have children of school age you may want to check out the league tables around the areas that you like to make sure that you get into catchment!

Best of luck for the move, I am sure that you will love it.


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## SBP (Jan 4, 2010)

Working in Brighton:

If you like the coast then Eastbourne is 30 mins drive away and about the same on the train and is a lot cheaper to buy/rent than Brighton.

Haywards Heath has a lot of bars/restaraunts as friends have just moved there and they love it.
Brighton is also on the fast line into London if you fancy seeing the Queen...you know you Yanks love her 
Going the other way is Worthing but full of old duffers so might not be the best place for a growing family.
Look for schools on the Times newspaper site as they list all the schools each year by exam ranking.

And 80K a year is OK for the UK, but remember as American you get taxed back home on your global income and I think the allowance is roughly $90K US before getting clobbered, so get your employer to give some tax advice as part of the relocation package.

Have fun


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## ketchup (Feb 27, 2012)

AmynBrad said:


> Hi All
> My husband has been offered a job in Brighton, UK for about 80,000/annual (pounds)- so is that a decent amount for a one-income family with 3 kids? We are open to living anywhere near a train station to get him to Brighton- so what housing costs are we looking at?
> Does anyone know if we can keep our US cars (have them shipped over to UK) and legally drive them?
> Thanks!


Hi, being from the UK, look at the government web site, your husband will probally find he will be on 40% tax!! then have to also pay national insurance, not as much but stil a sizeable amount, housing will depend where about you want to live....,try gumtree website that will give you an idea on costs of rents,,,,brighton college is a private school with good grades, but you will also find independant state schools which are free, the English schools are good also! you can get a league table from the internet, but you should be looking for housing in catchment areas for schools, if they are not attending a private school, and the good schools, the housing becomes more expensive in that catchment...... good luck


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## Joppa (Sep 7, 2009)

ketchup said:


> Hi, being from the UK, look at the government web site, your husband will probally find he will be on 40% tax!! then have to also pay national insurance, not as much but stil a sizeable amount, housing will depend where about you want to live....,try gumtree website that will give you an idea on costs of rents,,,,brighton college is a private school with good grades, but you will also find independant state schools which are free, the English schools are good also! you can get a league table from the internet, but you should be looking for housing in catchment areas for schools, if they are not attending a private school, and the good schools, the housing becomes more expensive in that catchment...... good luck


This thread is nearly two years old, and the OP hasn't been back in the meantime to tell us how they are getting on. So I assume they are no longer looking at this site and your comments, while well-intentioned no doubt, will be wasted.


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