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Hello,

Just sharing some information although i am not from Devon.Pl visit Rightmove.co.uk and you can specificaly search the area close to your school by putting in Postcode.

Utility bills like Gas/Electricity and water are separate and it depends on actual usage.You may find some information on the same page when you search rightmove site .

depending on the area and your selction rental prices may vary from 600 £ to no max limit.

Most of superstores like teco /Asda /morrisons are in whole of UK ,so cost of grocery etc will be same at average.

Trust ,this gives you some idea.
Feel free if you need any other info.

Rgds,
Bari

Hi,

I bet this is the most daunting task to sort things out in a place thousands of miles away.
Have you contacted your school regarding initial accommodation?

I think the agencies operate on a local basis in UK and aren't that good at replying overseas queries. I don't think getting an accommodation is much of a problem, if you are here already.
You can try gumtree.co.uk for rooms. But you probably have to call them to know more precisely.

Cost may vary widely depending on your expenses really. A rough estimate is given below (suggested by some universities)
Private sector (single room including bills estimate)   
£370-420
Mobile phone:
Contracts
Minimum top-up   
£25
£10
Food/housekeeping     £180
Local travel     £40
Insurance (personal)     £5
Books/stationery     £40
Clothing    £40
Socialising/leisure     £100
Miscellaneous (healthcare, etc)     £50
Total    £840-1,010

but there are bits that you can ignore or may not apply to you.
According to me:
house rent: 350-450
food: 100-150
local travel: 30-50
socialising: (up to you)pints in the pubs 2.5-4

I never had an insurance and I don't things its all that important but its up to you if  you want.

Hope this helps.

Jeet

Where in Canada are you from? My husband and I moved to Leeds from Ottawa in Jan. I am doing an M.Sc. here and he is teaching.

Ok, I'm not sure the housing differences between Leeds and Devon but as someone else mentioned rightmove.co.uk is great, I used them to find our flat. Going through a reputible site like that is important because as you've found, there are a lot of fake ads out there.

Banking here is a bit of a mess. Get into a back straight away and set up an account. It takes a week to get your debit card (they mail it to you) and they mail your PIN seperately (which you are assigned). I think you can change it once you get it if you like. You can get an account for free at most banks. We are with Lloyds, they seem pretty good so far. Started with HSBC thinking because they are international we could move things between here and my Canadian account but nope, all seperate!

Things in England cost the same as in Canada except they are in pounds so it is generally more expensive by maybe 30%. a nice thing is that the tax is already included in the price so no extras when you get to the cash, but they pay 17% tax and it is rising to 20% soon. Clothing and shoes are quite cheap here. What ends up being a little pricey is heating costs as many places seem to have electric heating and they pretty much have no insulation here. Just wait until it snows. 1 cm of the white stuff and the whole country grinds to a hault. Luckily it rarely snows.

Phones are cheap but you will not be able to get a good deal on a plan unless you have something with your address on it (e.g. a utility or council tax bill) so you may have to do pay as you go at first, which is fairly cheap anyhow so not really a big deal. It took us a month before they'd give me a good plan and nice free phone because I have no credit history here. Even though back home i own my house and have excellent credit.

What else, oh, if you want a tv you need to pay a yearly tv license which is around 140 pounds i believe. this it just to own a tv, is not for programming or anything but its required. we just ended up watching shows on our computer. as long as you don't watch live tv online its legal.
Also, budget for council tax. depending on how expensive your flat is you will be required to pay some amount of this tax, its pretty much like property taxes back home. so ask your landlord what it will approximately be, they should know this.

Don't stress too much about not having a place yet. Lots of places don't rent as far ahead as in Canada. and many places will advertize a weekly rate, the monthly rate will be a little more than 4x the weekly rate (because its based on 52 weeks a year).

Any other questions please feel free to email me: ruby_tuesday44@hotmail.com

Jaimee

Thanks everyone
I've applied fo and HSBC Passport account, which they allow me to do from Canada before I leave. That means I will receive a debit card and have a bank account before I'm there and then will be able to make a deposit, and so HSBC says they will issue a bank statement as soon as I make a deposit so that I have something with my name on it.
I will be purchasing a sim card for a mobile phone and bringing one along. I've decided to go over about 3 weeks early so that I can attempt to find a place to live. I have been checking out Right move and Prime Location... but I don't want to commit to anything without seeing it first!
I attempted to create a budget, but it's difficult without knowing if I'm budgeting too high (which it seems like). However, it's still a little reassuring to know that even once I've budgeted for food, entertainment, clothing, travel etc., I'll still be ok at the end of the month!
I am getting excited to head over, but also scared. I have not even heard from my new employer, although the recruiting agency I worked with said that this is not uncommon. Oh well.. 5 weeks and I will be over there and I guess things will be forced to fall into place!

hi andy
hope u might b nicely settled in london now... i m also new here... all info people gav u r really r genuine... i didnt think dis site can b dat helpful... njyy
if stil u need any help u can post it here...
maniv..

Thanks all! I am now in Devon, UK and have been here for just over a month. It has been great - the biggest hassle was finding a place to live as there is a lack of furnished accomodations in the south west! However, I lucked out and found a great place, and have found that my salary is more than adequate to cover expenses as well as travel, with savings left over