Out of the question for a number of reasons unfortunately:

• No landlord I've ever rented from has allowed subletting
• Most sharehold apartments also don't allow Airbnbing
• Airbnbing in London is only legal up to 90 days a year which is enforced on both Airbnb and Booking.com|Booking.com (there are sketchy ways around it)
What you could do is buy a freehold house and let that one out but that's a big investment. Even then most mortgage providers won't give you a good mortgage deal unless they specifically disallow Airbnbing.

In the case of my central London apartment, both the freeholder and the mortgage provider disallow Airbnbing. So even though I'm gone for most of the year nowadays, I keep the apartment empty because there's nothing else I can do (the shortest proper rental term is 12-18 months)

Interesting, thanks for the insights zrkkhkjnb . I guess I'll have to look at some of these alternatives or other places, but I guess this is probably the norm for most European capital cities.

interesting pgqlydqtb so also short-term rentals of ~6 months are not allowed? I was also considering at some point to buy a flat in London and rent it out half of the year, but haven't properly dug into it yet.

lwyufrichkahwfg depends on your bank, your leaseholder, and your letting agent. To let my flat out, both my bank (via "consent to let") and my leaseholder want 12+ months. The letting agents I've spoken to also advise against 6 month lets. It's possible and allowed but everyone has to be in agreement and you have to plan the whole investment as such, not try to tack it on like I did at the end 😂

God, okay that's good advice 😅 I'm hoping to get to the perusing-to-buy stage next year, so I'll keep that in mind!

Mind you that's for proper "assured shorthold tenancy (AST)" which are 6+ months mininum. "Short term letting" like Airbnb/Booking is much more frowned upon.

Renting via an AST comes with a lot of rights for the tenant, and prohibits what you can do as a landlord to evict them if they e.g. stop paying. Have heard some horror stories of people refusing to pay rent past 2nd month and then it taking 1.5 years for the landlord to reclaim the property.

Stories like that + the fact that I'd be taxed 40% on the rental income made me decide against it for now, I'm just letting the flat burn a hole in my pocket because that seems like less hassle.

Meeting point for Wed goo.gl/maps/9qEXuRTyf33wiTXc6br /><@UAHE4KKP0> when do you think you’ll arrive there?

🛬 djebwq just arrived in 💂 London, #united-kingdom

ymxdfy how about meeting up Sat 3:30 PM here goo.gl/maps/U1dTVj6CULkxHgNN6?br />Maybe my girlfriend will join us
Funny enough, your slack status says you’re in a city near which I was born 🙂

qblsthjwobuhkrn sounds good to me, I might invite a few friends too

I would be keen for Saturday.

nxupbj do you know how to create a meetup?

didn't try before but let me check

nomadlist bot just sent me a message on slack
after 3 people will confirm they are coming the meetup will appear on upcoming meetups list

You can’t get an Excelsior Pass if you’re not NYC-resident

Thanks! Much appreciated. Not sure why it was deleted, apologies if I broke a rule by cross-posting ❤️

Soooo looks like the meetup on Saturday confirmed on meetups page. FYI ladies and gentleman!

🛬 mgvjsa just arrived in 💂 London, #united-kingdom

Ooh, what meetup page? 🤔

🛬 anzfiqdn just arrived in 💂 London, #united-kingdom

Are we meeting at a particular spot or just anywhere in the yard? 😊

I am coming with a friend and will be late 5 mins

Will arrive in 25 minutes

Yep 👍

wpfyrvqdmycp

weykfzwtvkmprqe I am near the spot but can't see you haha

zrxhrl

What do you mean by “a nightmare to travel”? Considering Brazil next

Remember to check the grass before you sit 😜

Hi folks! I'm a Londoner preparing to start my digital nomad journey in a just few months and I have a few questions for those of you who were based in the UK before:

• I'm a British citizen and I'll remain a UK resident for tax purposes (although my only address will be a mail forwarding service). From what I read, I shouldn't have any problems trying to use the NHS in my future visits to the UK. In practice, did any of you in a similar situation had any issues trying to use the NHS when you were back home?
• Apart from the obvious stuff you have to do before becoming a digital nomad (e.g., taking up travel insurance), is there anything less obvious you wish you had done before leaving the UK?

This message was deleted.

"Properly settled basis" doesn't necessarily mean you spend most of your time there though. IIRC having strong ties to the UK (e.g. primary bank account, paying your taxes there etc.) would qualify you for that. At least I'm in that situation and hoping I can use the NHS 😅 of course, NHS is very unlikely to check any of that in practice and in the worst case you can just become an ordinary resident again to be covered immediately

Thank you both! I need to check the tax residency tests again, but last time I checked I got the impression my ties to the UK (e.g., being the company director of a UK limited company) would make be a tax resident.

I'm pretty sure that being a company director does not constitute significant ties. My advice from both legal and accountant have confirmed that I don't have to drop any of my UK companies. Let me know if you find out otherwise, please 👍 I'm intending to keep my companies, personally. ( I'm also leaving at around the same time, btw ).

"You’re automatically non-resident if [...] you spent fewer than 16 days in the UK". So if you really don't spend time in the country in a whole year, it seems like you can actually get out of paying taxes. But any longer than that and it seems to get pretty tricky if you're not resident somewhere else

Also Most of the bigger companies I've been a director on have had overseas directors as well, both companies (in the past) and people (recently).

Thanks! I think you're right, having just read about the SRTs on gov-uk. I'm going to send an email to my accountant to confirm.

Good luck becoming a digital nomad!

assets.kpmg/content/dam/kpmg/pdf/2016/01/statutory-residence-test-flowchart.pdf|https://assets.kpmg/content/dam/kpmg/pdf/2016/01/statutory-residence-test-flowchart.pdf is invaluable for decoding the SRT

One issue with your UK company is that if you are the only director and you change your personal tax residence, the company can cease to be UK tax resident regardless of its place of incorporation. You need to be a bit careful about the places you spend time in, if they have tight CFC controls for example.

jfgxrgegbhuwnh nobody checks

Great. Thanks U0LUCHG7Q!

lfxnmaulvyvbcybu the trickiness you refer to is temporary disregarded income. For example say you have some UK source dividends from a UK company. You pass one of the automatic overseas tests and are not UK tax resident in a given year. In that year you receive a dividend from a UK source, and you're not tax resident anywhere else and so unprotected by any DTA. The UK considers this ‘temporary disregarded income’ — if you become tax resident in the UK again within 5y you’re taxable on all such sums taken within that period as if you had taken it all on the day of return, _with whatever tax rate prevails at that time._

Yikes, News to me! Thanks for sharing! 🙏

Another tip I recommend is if you're considering any change of bank / new credit card or any of that nonsense to do it now - they are quite strict on confirming your address when you apply but once you have it then you have it 🤷‍♀️

cfrfhoxrdobwrqx just saw these, great photos, sure I'll add them

Apply to what exactly?

Mostly banking products. For example 2 months after I gave up my permanent address in the UK I decided I wanted a new credit card because points and stuff - I had to wait a year until I had a new "real" address in the UK to apply for it 😅 they often want proof of address in multiple ways

fowuxggunzpjwn as others have mentioned the NHS isn't really an issue. I'm from the UK and have been mostly nomad since 2012 and never had any issues going to my NHS GP while back at home. it's actually quite difficult to lose your UK residency (they want you to continue paying taxes!)

I think there's a misconception here. It’s very easy to lose your tax residency - just spend less than 16 days in the UK. There’s none of this messing around with ‘you have a credit card in the UK so you must be tax resident’ that e.g. France/Germany/NL seem to indulge in.

That said, of course the UK no more than any other country is going to be bothered or look into it if you pay taxes there, without any particular reason to do so.

Where it gets interesting is if you hover on the edge of being tax resident elsewhere, and a given country asks the UK if you’re resident there. Meantime, you spent less than 16 days but signed off on an SATR claiming you were tax-resident. Also, the more cash is involved the more you want to pay close attention.

Realistically, one should probably only be concerned if spending a lot of time in a country that's more tax aggressive than the UK and making large distributions. Worth pointing out that the UK is not the only country with a very idiosyncratic concept of domestic tax residence. The idea you need to spend more than 183 days is the very definition of a false security.

Of course things like property (different reporting deadlines for residents vs non-residents) and opening ISAs can also muddy the picture.

I think vxyydrxpmtq meant it's hard to accidentally use your tax residency, whereas you seem to be saying it's not hard if you try. Seems like both statements can be true. That said, if you have lots of family and friends in the UK, I wouldn't exactly say it's "easy" to spend less than 16 days in the country

ohvyvmsbs you sound a lot more informed than I do about this! but last I checked it's not an automatic process even if you spend less than 16 days in the UK in a given year. you would still need to declare it.

bgmbqtqjrvuphrgp 16 days is merely the easiest way. There are others. You can spend more days and if you do so in a place which isn't considered your home, that could be enough. But point taken.

msabhgdopvvqyzir You are correct!

You can also make voluntary contributions even if you have no financial presence in the UK

Something I've been doing

I've neither a company in the UK nor residence in the UK, but I do have a £12 a month direct-debit that's making sure I'm fully paid up for pension

Thank you all for your tips! Much appreciated

🛬 hykkrbfc just arrived in 💂 London, #united-kingdom

Hi guys,

I have a question. My friend is from the UK but lives in Germany and got vaccinated recently with the Johnson and Johnson vaccine. I dont think that vaccine is available in the UK yet, hes going to be travelling back to the UK in the next couple of months but wasn't sure if his vaccination would be recognised or if it could be transferred to the NHS App.

Has anyone here from the UK got vaccinated in the EU and then returned to the UK and was your vaccine recognised? I looked online but couldn't find a clear answer

I don't know about getting it on the NHS app, but it is absolutely recognised here as a vaccine.

It's recognised ahloeymobxyciysc they'll need proof of full vaccination, also to complete a www.gov.uk/provide-journey-contact-details-before-travel-uk|passenger locator form> and they will need to have a www.gov.uk/find-travel-test-provider|48hr COVID test> booked and paid for prior to arrival (the booking reference is needed to complete the passenger locator form) www.gov.uk/guidance/travel-to-england-from-another-country-during-coronavirus-covid-19|More info here>. Just landed in the UK yesterday from Croatia, along with my English auntie coming from Spain (vaccinated in Spain) Hope this helps!

You can find the list of accepted vaccines here www.gov.uk/guidance/countries-with-approved-covid-19-vaccination-programmes-and-proof-of-vaccination|https://www.gov.uk/guidance/countries-with-approved-covid-19-vaccination-programmes-and-proof-of-vaccination Lists Janssen, which seems to be the name of the vaccine by the company called Johnson & Johnson. They also mention the EU digital covid certificate in the list of accepted countries

🛬 ncxyxxpou just arrived in 💂 London, #united-kingdom

thanks for the info everyone. I'll let my friend know what he needs to do 👍

🛬 vhixsjowpdie just arrived in 💂 London, #united-kingdom

🛬 ysffgrbjf just arrived in 💂 London, #united-kingdom