I visited Russia in 2015 while on board a ship, in the Eastern Region near Vladivostok. We called there solely for the purpose of getting cheap fuel for our ship (same as all ships), there was really no container cargo traffic to make it worth the stop in the main city port, so instead we called either at the satellite port of Slavyanka (South West of Vladivostok) or at Nakhodka (South East of Vladivostok).
Unfortunately . Both cities left terrible impressions! Maybe I had high expectations and had a dreamy version of Vladivostok , which I imagined as a beacon of civilization in the Far East of Siberia, or maybe I had my bar already set very high after calling with our ship at Pusan (South Korea) and Yokohama, Japan…
Am vizitat Rusia în 2015 în timp ce eram la bordul unei nave, în Regiunea de Est pe coasta Pacificului, lângă Vladivostok. Navigam acolo doar cu scopul de a lua combustibil ieftin pentru nava noastră (pentru asta veneau toate navele de acolo). Nu exista trafic adevarat de containere pentru a merita oprirea în portul principal al orașului, așa că în schimb mergeam fie la portul satelit din Slavyanka (la sud-vest de Vladivostok) sau la Nakhodka (la sud-est de Vladivostok).
Din pacate . Ambele orașe au lăsat impresii groaznice! Poate că aveam așteptări mari și aveam in cap o versiune de vis a orasului Vladivostok, pe care mi-l imaginam ca un far al civilizației Europene în Orientul Îndepărtat al Siberiei, sau poate că aveam ștacheta deja foarte sus după ce fusesem recent cu nava la Pusan (Coreea de Sud) și Yokohama in Japonia…
Aici in partea asta din Rusia te simți cu adevărat ca într-o țară din lumea a treia, o zonă cu foarte puțină infrastructură (doar drumurile principale erau asfaltate). Ne-am dus la un supermarket local să luăm provizii. Mi-a amintit de vechile magazine mixte din satul bunicii mele din România, stiti voi genul ala de magazin din sat care vinde de toate de la lenjerie intimă, găini vii pana la pâine si guma Turbo.
Four years have passed since we left France and immigrated to England, UK. I wrote about life in Hull once before HERE , it was my first impressions after the first month of living in Hull . At that time I was not planning to stay in the city of Hull , but the pandemic and Brexit greatly reduced the opportunities for work and relocation. Now at the time of writing this article, I left Hull for some time, but I can’t say that I intentionally wanted to leave. If I would’ve gotten the job I wanted there, I’d would’ve probably settled there permanently. I didn’t leave because I had a bad life there, so to speak, but you can do better than Hull. I think this is probably the short story of the city.
Don’t get me wrong, the city of Kingston upon Hull, known simply as Hull after the river Hull that runs through it’s by no means the worst place in England, but it’s quite… limited both in size and in mentality. After all, the population voted 67.6% for Brexit, and shortly after the implementation of the referendum result, one of the two ferry lines to Europe from the port (Hull – Zeebrugge) was permanently closed and the other laid off without notice 800 British employees via video conference to replace them on the same day with Asians and agency workers so….
Au trecut patru ani de cand am plecat din Franta si am imigrat in Anglia UK. Despre viata in Hull am mai scris odata AICI, erau primele impresii dupa prima luna de viata in Hull. Nu planuiam pe vremea aceea sa raman in orasul Hull, dar pandemia si Brexitul au redus mult oportunitatile de munca si relocare. Acum la momentul scrierii acestui articol, am plecat de ceva timp din Hull dar nu pot sa zic ca tineam neaparat sa plec daca reuseam sa prind locul de munca dorit acolo. Nu am plecat ca o duceam rau sa zic asa, dar se poate si mai bine. Cred ca asta e definitia scurta a orasului.
Sa nu ma intelegeti gresit, orasul Kingston upon Hull cunoscut simplu doar ca Hull dupa râul Hull care il strabate, nu e nici de departe cel mai rau loc din Anglia, dar este destul de … limitat si ca marime si ca mentalitate. Au votat totusi in proportie de 67.6% pentru Brexit, si la scurt timp dupa implementarea rezultatului de la referendum, una din cele doua linii de ferry spre Europa din port (Hull – Zeebrugge) s-a inchis permanent si cealalta a concediat fara nici un preaviz 800 de angajati Britanici prin video comferinta ca sa ii inlocuiasca in aceasi zi cu Asiatici asa ca….
Ca Român nativ, am locuit în România, apoi m-am mutat în Franța și acum suntem în Anglia, Marea Britanie in Hull, așa că cred că pot compara cum e viata în România fata de Europa de Vest.
Ei bine… avand in vedere ca salariile locale sunt de 3-4 ori mai mici in comparatie cu Occidentul, majoritatea Romanilor ar spune ca viata in Romania este SCUMPĂ ! Avem o vorbă în România: „ Avem prețuri ca in Vest, dar salarii din Est ”. Puteți vedea cu ușurință de ce spunem asta:
Mașinile costă la fel, de fapt in majoritatea cazurilor sunt considerabil mai ieftine în Anglia UK fata de România, iată un exemplu dedesubt, aceeași mașină, același an, același kilometraj, costă cu 2500 EUR mai multîn România , în ciuda faptului că salariile sunt de 3 până la 4 ori mai mici acolo;
As a native Romanian, I’ve lived in Romania, then moved to France and now we’re in England, UK so I think I can compare how is living in Romania to living in West Europe.
Well… considering that the local salaries are 3 to 4 times lower compared to the West, most Romanians would say living in Romania is EXPENSIVE! We have a saying in Romania: “We have Western prices but Eastern salaries”. You can easily see why we say this:
Cars cost the same, in fact most are actually considerably cheaper in the UK compared to Romania , here’s an example, same car, same year, same mileage , costs 2500 EUR more in Romania , despite the fact that salaries are 3 to 4 times smaller there;
Din pacate numarul celor care isi iau teapa in Anglia este in continuare foarte mare. Acesti tepari profita de naivitatea si disperarea Romanilor plecati in UK, si de multe ori te lasa nu doar fara bani, dar si cu informatiile personale furate si vandute mai departe altora. Aceste informatii pot fi folosite pentru a infiinta firme si lua imprumuturi consistente pe numele tau. Din pacate multi s-au trezit cu inspectorii fiscului si politia la usa, fiind investigati pentru firme si afaceri care nici nu stiau ca le au. Haideti sa vedem cele mai dese tepe in Anglia si cum sa ne ferim de ele:
“Ofer rezidenta PRE SETTLED fara dovezi”
teapa cu rezidenta in UK Pre settled
Probabil cea mai des intalnita teapa de cand cu Brexit-ul. Am postat de nenumarate ori in trecut si pe multe grupuri: Daca nu ai fost in Anglia inainte de 31 Decembrie 2020 sau nu ai rude de gradul 1 deja stabilite in UK, nu mai poti lua rezidenta in Anglia si UK! Fara rezidenta nu poti inchiria, nu poti locui si nu poti munci in Anglia UK! E foarte simplu, Brexit-ul a inlaturat acest drept tuturor Europenilor, nu doar Romanilor. Am explicat foarte clar in articolul despre IMIGRARE ANGLIA 2021 DUPA BREXIT, cine mai poate veni acum in Anglia si care sunt caile legale de a veni acum cu viza de lucru.
“I’m looking for a house to rent”, “I’m looking for a flat to rent” – these are by far the most common posts on Romanian fb groups in England / UK. I’ve always wondered why these people never check the local real estate agencies and instead they go straight to various shady middle men who give them overpriced houses, without a contract and without any legal rights. The answer is not always simple. Many simply do not speak English and hesitate to contact the agencies, many don’t intend to stay that long in the UK and just want something quick for seasonal work. Many don’t have or think they don’t have necessary documents to legally rent a house in UK, and many simply don’t know how to rent a house through an agency because they’ve never done it. For the latter, I will show you step by step below how to look for a house to rent in England, UK and how to make sure you get it.
Don’t worry about the documents, most of the time you already have the necessary documents and you didn’t even know you had them. Unless you’ve just landed in England and you don’t have any document, (that’s practically impossible after Brexit now) you’ll surely have a payslip, a driver’s license, a letter from the doctor or the council, an utility bill or a bank statement with your name and an British address. Any of these are proof of residence in England and can be given at the agency. Considering that we moved 3 times in this country , I think I have some experience in this field. Here is the complete procedure how to look for a house to rent in England and make sure you get it:
Go to the main real estate websites and start looking for houses to rent in the city you want to move to. Respectively www.rightmove.co.uk , www.onthemarket.com and www.zoopla.co.uk . Here you have houses for To Rent and For Sale. I personally prefer rightmove because it has a simpler interface and many details about the house.
ATTENTION ! If you don’t know English, you can use the website’s automatic translation function. Google Chrome has a translation function. Right-click anywhere on the site and select: “Translate to English” or “translation”
casa de inchiriat in Anglia UK
You should now have a list of all the rental properties in your city like the one below, based on the search criteria below: namely houses to rent in the city of Hull and 10 miles around, priced between £100 and £500 with a maximum of 2 bedrooms. Here is the page in case you didn’t succeed.
house for rent in England
We note that the prices are in monthly format ( pcm = per calendar month ) and also per week below ( pw = per week ). The ads can be sorted by price from the top, and filtered if you want to see, for example, only the houses that have a parking space or you don’t want to see the houses that are shared. For example, the first 2 ads in the picture above are with bedrooms in shared houses. This means you rent only one bedroom and share a bathroom, kitchen, living room). If you click on “map”, the houses will appear on the map to give you an visual idea where to look. Click on the picture of the house that interests you and you will have a screen similar to the one below:
rental house in UK
Above we see an example of a house for rent in Hull, UK which:
It is rented for 425 pounds per calendar month (not to be confused with 4 weeks),
The house is on Estcourt Street, post code HU9 2RR;
A security deposit of 490 pounds is required,
The local tax ( council tax ) is in band “A”, that is, it is the cheapest (increases in price in alphabetical order A,B,C,D),
It is rented on a long-term basis,
It’s a ” Terraced ” type house – that is, attached to other houses,
It does not have its own parking space, there is only On street parking available;
Comes Unfurnished;
If you click on the picture, you will be able to see the rest of the house pictures. On the right we see that it is from the Riverside agency, and we also have a phone number. If you like that house, call the agency (or ask someone who speaks English to call). They might ask you the address of the house you live in now (street, zip code) and mutually decide when to see the house listed in the add.
It’s possible they might ask you on the phone if you have proof of income, proof that you have settled status (ie the right to live and rent a house in this country) and/or if you have a guarantor. I would recommend that you to answer these questions as honestly as possible because you will be asked to provide proof later on.
2. Go on the set date to see the house. Usually each candidate has about 10 minutes available for the visit, and there are usually a lot of interested parties coming to see the house, so don’t be late!
A very important adive to increase your chances of getting the house: Dress nice for the visit! Imagine that you’re going to an interview, not to a viewing. The agent gives the landlord (the owner) the applications for the house, and his word matters a lot. One guy dressed in a work suit will probably have more chances to take the house than one who came in an Adidas tracksuit with a gold chain around his neck.
If you don’t speak English, get someone to translate for you. Talk nicely to the agent, chat for a while, don’t smoke in front of the house, try not to speak you’re own native language when you’re in front of him or her (not because you’re foreigners, but because it’s not polite to speak a language he doesn’t know understand). Don’t yell , don’t try to negotiate the price , this ain’t a bazaar here where you barter, and try not to look desperate.
I recommend you look and ask about the following things in the house:
If you have a pet, does the owner accept this? (this should be discussed on the phone before you see the house)
Is the heating on gas? Is the stove on gas? Avoid houses heated by electricity, it is very expensive! The same story with those with the electric stove;
How long is the rental contract? It is usually done over 6 or 12 months. During this time, the landlord is not allowed to change your rent, but later he can increase it. It is preferable that you sign for as long as possible so that the rent cannot increase. On the other hand, if the house turns out to be bad, you are bound by the contract, so this is a double-edged sword;
Does it have thermal insulation? If it has wooden framed windows, it will be difficult to keep the heat inside and as a result you will pay a lot for heating;
Is the hot water coming from a boiler tank or straight from the combi gas boiler? If it’s from a tank, remember that only one person can take a bath, then you have to wait until the tank is filled with hot water. If you have a small child in the house this matters a lot;
Are the utilities (gas and electricity) on the pre-paid card or subscription? It is usually more expensive on the card;
Does it have a smart meter? This electronic meter will reduce your bills quite a bit and save you from submitting readings.
Does the house come with a refrigerator or a washing machine? If so, it’s less expense for you
How soon can you move into the house? If you are lucky, the house is empty and you can move in immediately. If you are unlucky, the previous tenants or owners are still waiting to move out and it may take a month or more until the house is vacated…
cat costa o casa in Anglia
If you liked the house you just saw, tell the agent there and then that you want it and ask what you need to do to make sure you get it. If you have the financial possibility to pay 2-3 months in advance, mention this. This is how we got our first house in Hull. With a little luck, you will go directly to the agency and sign the documents. If not, the agent will give you an application to fill in by hand or by email.
On the application you will be asked if:
Do you have references (ie recommendations) from previous addresses? If you stayed in a share house, give the number of the agent there, if you took a room from a middle man or you have a bad recommendation from the past… honestly, it’s better to give the number of a colleague or an English manager to recommend you… (pass this as a work reference or personal reference)
Do you have pets? most landlords (owners) do not accept large animals (dogs, cats), but for the small ones that stay in the cage they are not counted (parrots, hamsters, etc.); You can declare that you don’t have a cat, and you keep it hidden in the house, you wouldn’t be the first to do that, but you’re taking a risk in case you have an inspection…
Are you a smoker? You can declare that you are not, if you only smoke outside. Do not smoke in the house, because the smell easily gets impregnated in the walls and furniture and it’s easily felt by a non smoker. You risk losing both the house and the deposit. In addition, you will probably have a nasty reference from the agency/owner when you are looking for the next house…
Do you have an employment contract? If you don’t have a permanent employment contract, it’s not the end of the road. Even if you work on a zero hours contract, it’s still an employment contract. You can say that you have a stable income and have pay slips and/or bank statements to prove it. That’s why it’s important to keep all the payslips you have from work, regardless of how many hours you’ve worked, and to ask the bank where you are to send you a monthly Bank statement by mail;
You also have a section for comments. Here you can specify different details, such as if you have the possibility to pay several months in advance to be sure that you get the house, or for example that you are going to start a new job in the city and you are serious about the house.
Once you’ve sent the application, everything is in the hands of the agency and the landlord. The landlord looks over the applications and the agent’s recommendations, and chooses who he will give the house to. If you are selected, you will receive a phone call from the agency and you will be called on the set date to sign the Lease contract (that is, rent). You will be required to pay the deposit and the first month’s rent. You take the keys and it’s your house. Simple right?
I realize that in real life it’s not that simple, but believe me that that rental contract will ensure you full rights in England. Even if it’s just a rented house, this is your legal residence in the UK. Landlords are very careful about who they let into their properties, precisely because once the tenant has established his legal residence at that address, it will be very difficult to remove him from the house because he has rights (even if he stops paying the rent!). Obviously, when you’re living in a house without a contract, the type you get from shady Facebook middlemen, you will have absolutely no rights, and they can evict you at any time without the right of appeal.
If you liked the article or have additional questions, I hope I can help you and I’m waiting for you in the comments section or leave a message on the GarciaCalavera.com fb page. If you like the page, you can like and share the article to help others in this situation.
“Caut casa de inchiriat”, “caut flat de inchiriat” – acestea sunt de departe mesajele cele mai des intalnite pe grupurile de Romani din Anglia / UK. Intotdeauna m-am intrebat de ce acesti oameni nu se uita niciodata la agentii pentru casa, in loc sa apeleze la diferiti combinatori si samsari care le dau case la suprapret, fara contract si fara nici un drept legal. Raspunsul nu e intotdeauna simplu. Multi pur si simplu nu stiu Engleza si ezita sa apeleze la agentii, multi nu au de gand sa stea mult in UK si vor ceva repede sezonier, multi nu au sau au impresia ca nu au actele necesare sa inchirieze legal o casa, si multi pur si simplu nu stiu cum se face sa inchirieze o casa prin agentie. Pentru cei din urma va voi arata dedesubt pas cu pas cum sa cauti o casa de inchiriat in UK si cum sa o si iei.
Nu va faceti griji in privinta actelor, de cele mai multe ori aveti deja actele necesare si nici nu stiati ca le aveti. Daca nu cumva abia ai aterizat in Anglia si nu ai nici un act, (practic e aproape imposibil dupa Brexit) sigur vei avea un fluturas de salariu, un carnet de conducere, o scrisoare de la doctor sau de la consiliu, o factura sau un extras bancar cu numele tau si o adresa de Anglia UK. Oricare dintre acestea sunt dovezi de rezidenta in Anglia si pot fi date la agentie. Tinand cont ca ne-am mutat de 3 ori in tara asta, cred ca am ceva experienta in domeniul. Iata procedura completa cum sa cauti casa in Anglia si sa o si iei:
-What made you leave the UK and return to your country?
I didn’t like the attitude of the people, the discrimination, the standard of living. To be able to live decently in the UK… you don’t really have a personal life anymore.
