The Travel Diva

English countryside

In short the Belgian government will only consider giving you up to one third of your annual take-home pay (after they’ve taken off 52% tax) towards a mortgage loan. That’s right – one third! Which should just about cover an out-house. Then on top of that they add between 15- to 25% tax to the asking price. Then there’s stamp duty and solicitor’s fees... No matter how closely you cross your legs, you’re gonna get screwed – and you know how tight I am with money.

This past weekend I took a drive down to France and crossed over to the UK via the Channel Tunnel and headed to a very pretty area in Kent (the garden of England) to do some house-shopping. Soon I started losing the will to live after meeting numerous limp-wristed estate agents who all insisted on showing me totally unsuitable properties, even though they knew what I was looking for - perhaps they though I was some pleb and hoped to palm off a dud house. Then I met Emily from Your-Move: a tall, buxom lass with spirit and charisma who clearly enjoyed her job. Within half an hour she’d arranged to take me around to a view a few properties that were right on spec.

It was the third property I fell in love with - a substantial home in a small Kent parish which epitomised everything an English village should be, complete with an ancient smoke filled pub, a post office, a fish and chips shop, a village square, thatched cottages, an ancient church dating back to the 11th century, and a village vicar. I’d found exactly what I was hoping for and put in an offer which was subsequently accepted. So, once all the paperwork is out of the way, in about six to eight weeks I’ll be relocating to England.

I’ll need to keep an apartment in Belgium as I foresee returning on business regularly. But for now, I’ve had enough of the bureaucratic bull-shite. However, this does not preclude me telling you about customer serive in the UK.

Labels: Channel Tunnel, England, Kent, Your-Move

posted by Cindy-Lou Dale @ Friday, August 03, 2007