Moving Overseas - Maybe

We've lived away three times for health reasons. Though not in Cyprus, always positive having new experiences and good health care.

We've owned holiday homes abroad, renting first. Perhaps rent first?

We lived in France for several years and enjoyed it but kept our UK property. We returned after Brexit: too many redictable and unpredictable problems including the 90/180 day rule. Nowadays some 60% think Brexit was a mistake.

We did just that! Retired to Cyprus 2016 and had a wonderful 5 years there until DH had a severe stroke and we returned to live with family. A word of advice is to maybe rent a property there for a year to then reassess your situation. English is widely spoken. Private health insurance is good but State healthcare is basic but available. Are you going to South or North?

@MrsMeldrew, yes Brexit did throw a few googlies at ex-pats but I believe, certainly in Cyprus, that if you buy a property of a certain value or over, then you are automatically granted residency. However, this is another thing we have to double check on - this has come from our ex-pat friends already in Cyprus.

Thank you again everyone for all your very useful comments and advice which I am reading out to my husband and its prompting further conversations between us. A lot will depend on what happens when when we are out there in a few months time when we will get to speak to Solicitors/Lawyers/Local Councillors etc, so I am sure these conversations will throw up their own thinking points.

I realise that everything may seem exciting and wonderful at the moment, but I believe we are now of an age not to look at things through rose tinted glasses as we all know that those glasses can get very dirty from time to time

Thank you again everyone. I will update as and when

We are also discussing do a year's rental if we can get a good long term rental price, but again, that's another thing we will have to look into when out there

Witzend

From experience of friends, do keep some sort of bolthole in the U.K., in case.

One pair of friends who didn’t, who’d left the U.K. ‘for good’, found on their return maybe 12 years later (ill health and missing family) that property prices had soared so much, they were barely able to buy anything in their chosen area with what their foreign property sold for. And it took forever to sell, even for what they’d paid for it many years previously.

I know of one other similar case.

Good idea.

I know of a couple who went to live in Spain, downsizing there (even though their bungalow here wasn't large) and investing the balance of their savings into a disastrous investment. They wanted to return when one fell ill but couldn't.

Our relatives very sensibly kept a flat in this country to which they return regularly.

From experience of friends, do keep some sort of bolthole in the U.K., in case.

One pair of friends who didn’t, who’d left the U.K. ‘for good’, found on their return maybe 12 years later (ill health and missing family) that property prices had soared so much, they were barely able to buy anything in their chosen area with what their foreign property sold for. And it took forever to sell, even for what they’d paid for it many years previously.

I know of one other similar case.

TopSec personally in your situation I would rent for a while just to get the feel of the Cyprus off season (which I actually love)

We have had to use the healthcare system in the North (Turkish) and on the Greek side, cannot fault it.

Most people speak English, road signs in the South are in Greek and English.

The military bases do not bother me one jot. (AC has been stationed there for two 2 year tours ) have never noticed military aircraft flying overhead.

In fact if our services were needed so much (childcare of six grandchildren) we would spend more time there.

We too rented for four years in Françe and nearly made the leap, a combination of Brexit/Covid/ family and a very scary medical incident meant we didn’t.
We did have the most wonderful time though.

Voice of doom here .... !

I am 76 and my health has rapidly deteriorated over the last 2 years. It has been a shock. My late OH got Parkinsons at age 60 and needed lots of care as he deteriorated.

So .... I think you should look into the care services as well as health as these are likely to become relevant to one or other of you as time passes. If either of you needed care would you return to Britain? Looking at houses, consider access, stairs, downstairs loo etc. - do a bit of future-proofing.

I know that you are going into this all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed but my experience is that life can drop manure on you from a great height unexpectedly ! Hopefully this will not be your lot - but worth being prepared!

Good luck with your plans.

Topsec that's the attitude, though I would agree with others to maybe rent for a while and keep something back in the UK.
We sold up here lock, stock and barrel when we were in our early 40s because we wanted to pour every penny into businesses over in France. It was a risk reckless even but it paid off, and we had the best years of our lives learning so much about ourselves. We were fully in the system. We returned later on. However, and this is what I'm coming to, I wouldn't do it now at our age 20 years on without being sure I could return easily to the UK. Of course it will depend on finances and the pesky regulations. 🤞

As Cyprus is in the EU you will be subject to the 90/180 day rule. I understand you can obtain a residence permit.

I know that in France you need to purchase a property and the bureacracy to obtain residence is long and complicated.

Hopefully the residence permit is easier to obtain in Cyprus than France.

Go and live your lives. It will be a lovely place for your godchildren to have a holiday. Life is short.

@RosieandherMaw how strange, and such a coincidence. I will look at that report with interest. Thank you. Again, its all giving me some comfort, so maybe that 5% I am still looking for is going down

@escaped, that's exactly why we are thinking of doing it now. We have a lovely house here in the UK but we have said so many times "we should have moved 10 years ago". We don't want to be saying "we should have gone to Cyprus when we had the change" in a few years time.

Thank you all you lovely gransnetters. All such good advice and lovely to hear of some experiences you may have had.

We have been looking into this for a few years now, so have looked into the health care - it is insurance based but we pay for private in this country and the price in Cyprus for the same level is much less. You do however have to pay for a visit to the Dr and prescriptions but medicines are much cheaper (or at least that's been our experience on the few occasions we have needed to purchase any). The Drs fee is not a huge amount and I do believe you can take an insurance for this also. Neither of us have any ongoing illnesses, I go to the gym 4 days per week and my husband is a cyclist, so we are bother very fit and healthy - we have to hope that continues

Our only child died in 2009 so that is not an issue for us, but as I said, we do have 6 god children who we would miss greatly.

We don't speak Cypriot / Greek / Turkish but to be honest we have never felt the need to in Cyprus. However, I/we will take lessons as I think its only respectful to be able to speak a little when living in a different country. We took lessons when we lived in Germany for 3 years.

We are spending sometime in June looking at properties (combining this with a holiday), but we do intend to spend sometime in the winter , so nothing will probably happen until early next year.

@Mumski I am so sorry that you never made your dream come true when you lost your husband. It does make the decision making on my part a little easier when I think along those lines.

We love Cyprus and have spent a lot of time here, hence the reason for choosing Cyprus. Going to any other country would be like going in blind i.e. France which I have no real knowledge at all, although I know many English families to go to live there. Also, we also have many ex-pat friends who have settled in Cyprus so that is a huge bonus when moving to a different country and have all offered to help with the huge social/cultural hurdles which we may (will) face

Thank you all again for your lovely posts. I will update this as and when things change, but you have all been a great help.

I think you should do it, or as you say, you might always have regrets 5 years down the line when it's too late.
I'm interested to hear that Cyprus is popular. I always considered Spain to be top of the list for retirees.

If you’re ready for another big adventure in life, do it!
But rent first - for at least a year.

Give yourself time to see if you really miss much. It’s possible that you might want to go back to the UK, but how awful if you know you can’t.

So, rent.

You are not alone!
This, from this morning’s DT
It’s mid-February and I’m basking in the hot sun by a sparkling pool. Opposite me, the long sandy beach is dotted with people sunbathing or swimming. I could be in the Caribbean, but I’m not – I’m in Cyprus, a four-hour flight from the UK. The island has the warmest winter weather in the Med, and more sunshine than Tunisia, according to the Met Office. “It’s been –1C with clouds like concrete for the past week,” a friend in the UK moaned over the phone.
In the Post Office’s recent Winter Travel Survey, 61 per cent of Britons said they hated the colder months, with complaints ranging from whopping heating bills to mental health issues caused by a lack of sunshine. Furthermore, 75 per cent said they’d be tempted to spend the season in warmer climes. Cyprus, where English is widely spoken, cars drive on the left and fish-and-chip shops are ubiquitous, was rated the third most sought-after destination ( just behind Tenerife and Crete )
Coincidence or what?
The headline was something like “ UK retirees taking over Cyprus.”

If I were physically fit and had no ties here in the UK I would go. But my mobility is in decline and I have DC and GC so it is not a move I would ever consider given my own circumstances.
Renting for a year sounds like an excellent idea for you OP. We are only here once, this isn't a rehearsal.

Have you researched the Health care service there? Is it insurance based, or?

I think I would rent first,too. Countries rise and fall and it sounds like things are not too good over in the UK just now but in 5 years’ time, who knows ? When we left the UK we knew we couldn’t afford to return but we were very young and really had nothing there to return to. We never regretted it for a moment but again, we were young and our family grew from two of us to a large extended family with kids and grandchildren and great grandchildren so it was different. I’d be a bit worried about health services,too,not knowing the area.

Yes definitely rent there and let your house at home. We went to the Netherlands for 2 years and stayed 18. We bought a house over there eventually but kept our house in London. We were so pleased we had a place to come back to.

One of the reasons why it's a good idea to rent first Claremont

France is a short drive away, short train ride, quick flight- so easy to visit family and be visited, even for short periods of time. Not so Cyprus.

I agree with Claremont try renting for a year and see how you feel then. We moved to France when we retired and have been very happy despite missing family etc. There is always a compromise to be made.

Don't burn all your bridges. Rent for one year to get a true feel for the area, in all seasons. Low season can be very quiet and possibly lonely.

Personally, I would not choose Cyprus- far too close to real possible trouble over next few years, and foreign army bases there make it a possible target.