Does anyone know if there is a company who offers this service...
We have our "home' address in the UK registered with my elderly parents. we get 3, maybe 4 letters a year - premium bonds (in my dreams), a document or two about updated regulations/law regarding our rental property, and the same from insurance.
I've tried but can't get the letters re-routed. They have to go to a UK address. I don't want my parents to be the post box any more... they find it a hassle, plus they tend to loose things!
It's not a job for friends either really.
Is there a service I could set up from here that would accept my post and reliably send it on to France?
x teresa
hello John,
thanks for your input... i'm not emigrating though and it's not a new life. i've lived and worked here in france for nearly 6 years now - i was just trying to tie up some paperwork that's been an annoyance for a while.
x teresa
You need to appreciate that many things in your new life will be different and that that is not the same as their being wrong. The U.K. Driving licence has your address on it but it is also an EU licence and most other countries do not show the holder’s address. The DVLA do not allow foreign addresses on their licences so yours will continue to show your previous address until they run out or you exchange them for French ones. Re the tax, the tax offices need a paper trail, it would be easy for anyone to tell their agents that they are no longer UK tax payers whether they emigrating or not! Good luck with getting everything sorted, it looks as though you’re almost there.
hello All,
thanks for all the comments - i think I'm still looking for a 'forwarding service' for expats that doesn't seem to exist! (business opportunity?)
i've actually managed to change (nearly) everything now. i'm with lloyds bank and my account shows only my french address, and i get all my letters here (and our lloyds credit card) i've changed the premium bonds, the insurance and the life insurance - all no problem.
the only thing is the Driving Licenses - which I can't change (how can that be??? - our two licences give the address where we DON"T LIVE - we all know that. i think it's bizarre)
... and the listed correspondence address for our rental property in the UK... I've now changed to france - but I need to fill in an NRL1 form - instructing the agents not to deduct tax as I'm fiscally resident outside of the UK. (again why I can't just instruct the agents myself is beyond me - but there's a huge department at HMRC and a whopping big filing cabinet full of all this paperwork and some of UK taxpayers money paying for this - not me obviously as i DON'T LIVE THERE...)
anyhoo - what started as a question has led to lots of filing, and a little tiny bit of knowledge - not too shabby
x teresa
Ah, you can't carry out transactions via on line banking with the Halifax if you are not a UK resident (but you can view your account on-line); all my transactions are physical, using my debit card. I also have a saving account with them; both accounts where opened many years ago, and they have my French address as my only address.
Shirley, the Halifax is a bank (it used to be a building society until the 90s I think), owned by Lloyds..
I should imagine that opening a UK bank account would be difficult for anyone who isn't a UK resident, that's why we kept our accounts open when we moved here 14 years ago, but of course, our main banking is via a French bank..labanquepostale..
you are with a Building Society then, not a clearing bank, perhaps that’s why their rules are as they Are. I remember reading somewhere quite recently that UK Gov has told the banks to allow those of us UK Citizens, living abroad, to open an account with them. Look at the major banks in UK online and try phoning them, on a number that should be listed on their site.
Alternatively is Halifax one of those B Socs that has either merged with or been acquired by a UK bank Group. That avenue may be worth a follow up.
I Don’t see any reason why you shouldn’t still have your account with Halifax if you were resident in UK when you first opened it. I presume you did notify them you were moving abroad before you did!
The terms and conditions (I'm with Halifax too) state 'must be resident in UK' - and so I assume this is why they wouldn't allow me to use my French address. Technically, I guess I shouldn't really have the account.
I have bank accounts with Lloyds and the Halifax (with small amounts in them, just in case we ever return to the UK). Before registering for on line statements they always sent statements etc to my French address (and the accounts are declared for French tax :-( ). Most banks recognise that many of their customers live abroad. Check with your bank..
All my post was redirected when we moved here 14 years ago (wow, much cheaper in those days apparently) and our new address given to everyone necessary.
Like you, Teresa, I have been forced to use a relative. I think it depends on what kind of post it is. Some insurances and all UK bank accounts demand a UK address and will not (in my experience) permit a non-UK address to be registered. I have not yet found an affordable alternative to the relative for these few items.
Teresa I agree with David G, that what I did when we moved from UK to here in 2008. no problems.
Alternatively, contact the firms by phone 1st, give your investor, ins, investor or premium bond holder numbers to see if they will accept tel change of address details. They will or won’t and if won’t, will tell you to confirm in writing.
Not connected to this discussion but relevant re Post, is info on the royal Mail/Post Office website link given by Sandy, scrolling down page saw an item about postal voting. with a PDF 40 pages long about how to set up etc etc
however no mention of Postal Voting relative to sending out receiving Postal Voting Forms to/from Abroad!
With no mention of the ‘From EU or overseas’ postal vote returned or actually received in the ‘normal’ course of European Mail, by the relevant Returning Officers, it all makes me very concerned, especially as some have said they did not receive their Forms from their old councils for the G E in May!
I would have thought it quite simple. As far as Premium bonds simply apply to to the HO and give your new address. Dittto insurance and any thing also you're responsible for. So forth for any investments which would go to the regisrtar of your shares ;
thanks Sandy - that's interesting...
however at £239.99 a year per name (!) it's a little pricey for my needs...
I was thinking of paying around £50 plus the stamps and envelopes !!!
x teresa
When we moved we got a Royal Mail Redirection Service for a year to post all correspondence to us in France. As I remember the form allows for you to name the individuals to whom the post can be redirected, thus your parents will continue to get their post in the normal way. https://www.royalmail.com/personal/receiving-mail/redirection