# General help and advice required!



## burnie (Sep 12, 2011)

Hi All,

I stumbled across this forum a few weeks back and have spent a bit of time reading through some of the very detailed posts so hopefully some of you can help me!

My wife and I are looking to move to Cyprus in the next 6 months and we have 2 young children (2 and 5).

My questions are quite general...

Firstly, I have a job lined up in Nicosia but I know Oriklini (parents use to have an apartment there) quite well so we are looking to rent there. We probably won't be able to afford private school and I've read here before that the state schools are Greek speaking. We will all make the effort to learn Greek and whilst this will probably be easier for the kids, does anyone have any experiance of settling children of a similar age into a school with a foreign language? How did they find it? What were the main problems? Would be good to hear the positives about this as well as the negatives...

I'm a qualified FA football coach and I really enjoy coaching children to play football. I currently coach an under 6 football team and would like to get involved with something similar (for my 5 year old) locally to Larnaca. Does anyone know of any local teams who have a team for that age group? Also, is there a local tea to Larnaca? I need to feed my football addiction by going to watch it live occasionally!

What assurances do you have as a tenant when renting? One of my wifes main concerns is that if we rent then the owner may wish to sell during our lease and ask us to leave at some point. We are thinking about making an offer to pay a years rent up front (to reduce the price) but I wondered if the tenancy agreements out there are in anyway significantly different to what they are in the UK. For exaple, we pay a years rent and then after 3 months we're asked to leave and not given any money back...

I've had a look around on the internet for cars but every google search for hire cars is geared (pardon the pun!) around holiday car rentals, does anyone know of a good company who would do a 1 year car lease? What sort of price would this be for a standard car, ford focus size? I'd also consider buying a car if the prices were ok.

TV. Some people might read this and wonder why it's important and I guess you're right but, I love my TV! I've seen you can just about get Sky with a 25m dish but what if I can't fit one at the propery I rent, what other options are there?

I've looked on the tinternet and I believe tax rates are (approx) 6.3% social security. Up to 20k tax free, 20k - 35k 25% and 35k + 30%. Can anyone confirm if this is still the case as it will play quite a big part in budgeting what we can/can't afford.

Any other tips I would really appreciate as well. As I said above my parents use to have a place in Oriklini but if anyone else knows any other areas that you think would be of interest to us I'd be grateful, would consider up to a 45 minute drive to Nicosia.

I'm sure there's more but I'll post them when I remember and if I can't find the answers already on here!

Many thanks in advance!

Burnie


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## maggiej (Feb 17, 2011)

Burnie - I bet you will fill a book with questions - there is so much to know before the 'BIG' move - and it is a huge decision when you have children. I have many years experience with children who are 2nd language learners. The great thing about young children is that they soak up a new language like a sponge. The earlier they start they better. My advice is to register your children with a local nursery where there are Greek children. Children don't start main school here until they are 6 years. So both children would have a fantastic start to their education in a Greek school and you would learn through the children. Will come back to your other questions later as off out to enjoy a favourite pastime with expats - dinner at the local taverna. Keep asking the questions - so important. Good luck.


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## zin (Oct 28, 2010)

Hi, I'll quote the ones I can help answer.



> I've had a look around on the internet for cars but every google search for hire cars is geared (pardon the pun!) around holiday car rentals, does anyone know of a good company who would do a 1 year car lease? What sort of price would this be for a standard car, ford focus size? I'd also consider buying a car if the prices were ok.


All car rental companies would be delighted to rent their cars for a year. It really is just a case of shopping around once you get here. You should be able to find something for 500 euros a month easy, even less if you commit to a year. Aim for 10 to 12 euros a day in your negotiations.



> TV. Some people might read this and wonder why it's important and I guess you're right but, I love my TV! I've seen you can just about get Sky with a 25m dish but what if I can't fit one at the propery I rent, what other options are there?


What you after from Sky? You can stream via the Internet (using a VPN), Slingbox via your home in the UK or put up a 1m dish and get the OSN channels. Abu Dhabi Sports has every single Premier League game and Al Jazeera all the cups, Spanish, German, French and Italian leagues. 

To be honest I'd be surprised if in Oroklini there wasn't a communal Sky dish already on the roof as it's expat central there.



> I've looked on the tinternet and I believe tax rates are (approx) 6.3% social security. Up to 20k tax free, 20k - 35k 25% and 35k + 30%. Can anyone confirm if this is still the case as it will play quite a big part in budgeting what we can/can't afford.


Sounds about right. Make sure you take water and electricity into consideration as it's quite high in Cyprus now and keeps going up.



> Any other tips I would really appreciate as well. As I said above my parents use to have a place in Oriklini but if anyone else knows any other areas that you think would be of interest to us I'd be grateful, would consider up to a 45 minute drive to Nicosia.


Up to 45 minutes is all the way to Limassol! You can probably find a nice cheap rental towards the Limassol/Larnaka district as well but Oroklini is probably your best bet if you want to be surrounded by expats, which most expats from the UK tend to do.


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## kimonas (Jul 19, 2008)

Hi Burnie,

I've already given quite a bit of advice regarding schooling (mostly within the schooling thread) - your children are young enough to benefit from the state system (but do consider long term options, that is how would they fit back into the UK system as primarily Greek speakers if you were forced to move back eg., if your job is recession sensitive and you lose it, or long term prospects if all goes well and you end up staying in Cyprus - what options would your children have with a school leaving certificate as their only qualification?)

Where is the job based in Nicosia? If it is central or beyond the relief roads, traffic could mean you spending quite a long time in city centre jams (although the new highway might bring some resolution to the commute issue). You'll probably need two cars, one for work and one for the school run. 

Health care is of vital importance - double check that your employer will be making the relevant social insurance contributions - there have been several cases recently where uncrupulous employers have failed to do this leaving employees high and dry when it came to the crunch. 

It seems as if you're already doing it but it's worth repeating even at the risk of sounding patronising (but especially important for young families moving out): research, research, research...


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## yiannis75 (Oct 9, 2011)

Burnie



> Also, is there a local team to Larnaca? I need to feed my football addiction by going to watch it live occasionally!


There are several local teams. Aek, Alki and Ermis as well as Anorthosis and Salamina who are originally from Famagusta, but since the invasion of 1974 now play their home games in Larnaca. Anorthosis regularly challenge for the league and have even featured in the champs league group stages!



> I've seen you can just about get Sky with a 25m dish but what if I can't fit one at the propery I rent, what other options are there?


In Oroklini my father has a 4.2m installation it is huge and cost over €7000. He still doesn't get all the channels and he gets weak signals for BBC and ITV, very annoying when trying to watch match of the day. You can pretty much forget things like Football First too!


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## zin (Oct 28, 2010)

yiannis75 said:


> In Oroklini my father has a 4.2m installation it is huge and cost over €7000. He still doesn't get all the channels and he gets weak signals for BBC and ITV, very annoying when trying to watch match of the day. You can pretty much forget things like Football First too!


BBC World News I believe has a good signal and when you press the red button you get the option to select BBC1 that way. Tell your father to check that method out.


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## yiannis75 (Oct 9, 2011)

zin said:


> BBC World News I believe has a good signal and when you press the red button you get the option to select BBC1 that way. Tell your father to check that method out.


Hi Zin

Thanks for that, he is aware but he still gets intermittent service I think it's slightly better than through the epg but it still breaks up. I'm just wondering how long this will all last. It seems we are constantly having to find workarounds.

I live in Limassol and I have a slingbox HD. I'm very happy with it, my father would have one too but he is still getting his head around it and a bit reluctant to give up on his expensive set up just yet. I had issues with putting a big dish on the roof of my block so this was the best option for me!


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## zin (Oct 28, 2010)

To be honest I'm surprised. The BBC World News trick I've seen done with a 2.5m dish and its fine and they say a 3m dish should be enough for Sky therefore 4.2m should be more than sufficient. Seems to me there's something wrong with the setup somewhere.


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## yiannis75 (Oct 9, 2011)

zin said:


> To be honest I'm surprised. The BBC World News trick I've seen done with a 2.5m dish and its fine and they say a 3m dish should be enough for Sky therefore 4.2m should be more than sufficient. Seems to me there's something wrong with the setup somewhere.


Could be possible I will tell him to get it checked out. We have had some issues with spiders before in the LNB so perfectly plausible. 

How long will this last do you think? Probably until the next re-shuffle of channels I imagine! 

Thanks for the info!


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## zin (Oct 28, 2010)

He should be getting BBC and ITV directly with a 4.2m dish, in fact if I paid 7000 euros I'd expect a butler with that to change the channels for me.


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## yiannis75 (Oct 9, 2011)

zin said:


> He should be getting BBC and ITV directly with a 4.2m dish, in fact if I paid 7000 euros I'd expect a butler with that to change the channels for me.


We don't get ITV through the epg. I think ITV london is on Astra 1d satellite which I don't think you can pick up without going to other channels.

But we have never had perfect viewing on these channels, we have tried various Sky boxes some better than others, have had several engineers come out with their spectrum analysers etc but whatever they do I still do not get uninterrupted viewing. We have even tried a dreambox and that was the worst of the lot.

In Limassol I had a 2.4m dish and never received BBC or ITV in any way, shape or form. Then with a 3m dish it was much better but in the end it took a 3.8m dish to receive it consistently. That doesn't mean it didn't ever break up but I would say probably 98% of the time it was good. I have been told the further towards Paralimni you go the bigger the dish you need and the smaller dish is required the further towards Paphos you go.


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## yiannis75 (Oct 9, 2011)

winasdqwe said:


> Should give some help and advice


Have just been reading up on some satellite forums and apparently since a new satellite was launched called Badr which I think is a Pakistani satellite it has caused interference with certain channels and BBC is one of those. 

Also read something about a new Astra N satellite which has a narrower beam over the UK and will probably be bad news for dish installations as those channels moving to the new Astra N sat will probably be very hard to receive here in Cyprus.


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## Veronica (Apr 5, 2008)

We have a VU+ Solo box which works from our satellite and internet.
We have had no problems with it except when there is rain coming which is the same as we always had with our sky boxes.
We have two of these boxes and for about 300euros per box yearly subscription we get the full sky package as well as all of the normal ITV BBC and freeview channels.


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## yiannis75 (Oct 9, 2011)

Veronica said:


> We have a VU+ Solo box which works from our satellite and internet.
> We have had no problems with it except when there is rain coming which is the same as we always had with our sky boxes.
> We have two of these boxes and for about 300euros per box yearly subscription we get the full sky package as well as all of the normal ITV BBC and freeview channels.


That's like a dreambox is it? It basically hacks the encryption of SKY and someone is rebroadcasting the channels from a server. Technically its illegal and if the servers are found your subscription will be gone as will your money. I have also heard of several users being raided by the police! 

A subscription for the full sky package without HD is over £500/year so it has to be something like this. My father has a similar box known as the technomate/dreambox, but for him in Oroklini its awful. Much worse than his old, but excellent Pace 2600 box which is very good at pulling in a fringe signal, he is reverting back to this. Paphos is much better for picking up fringe signal don't know why, but generally people used to be able to pull in all channels with a 2.7m dish!

Lots of solutions out there, you just have to go with what works best for you! However with the new satellites like Astra 1N with many more to come its up in the air what channels we will be able to receive in Cyprus very soon. 

Might be time to start watching Cypriot TV


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## fluff202 (Oct 5, 2011)

Hi , We are in Limassol , with a 3.2 dish , we get BBC till about 8.30 pm here , comes back about 10pm , also channel 4 is the same , Simon the sky man put a patch on the dish (rubber mat ) which means we get BBC for longer periods , but we can watch it live from our computer hooked up to theTV ! As long as you have on speed or expat shield downloaded , you can get iplayer and itvplayer . Hope this helps .


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## burnie (Sep 12, 2011)

Wow, so many responses! Very helpful.

I half expected to be laughed at for worrying about something like TV channels but it seems it is an important subject for a lot of you which is good.

To give you all an update, I'm meeting with my future employers in January and my wife will be coming out with me. We'll take that chance to have a good look around.

Have done loads of research and will continue to do so.

Thanks again for all of your resonses


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