Negotiating the Red Tape Jungle

It’s been nearly two months since we arrived in the UK and we are still in temporary accommodations.  It’s decent enough, but I’ll be glad when we get into a place of our own.  The problem with starting over is that you have no record of any type.  I suppose there are situations where this could be helpful. The reality is that lacking the necessary documentation can cause a dangerously circular situation:  in order to get a bank account you must provide proof of address; however, not having a bank account makes it virtually impossible to find a place to live without a great deal of money upfront.  We can prove who we are, but since we are renting a holiday cottage we don’t pay utility bills or council tax – the documents needed for address authentication.  I understand that proof of address is needed for anti-money laundering compliance, but it didn’t change the fact that we didn’t have anything to show.  Fortunately for us, the large corporation that brought us here in the first place has agreements with several nationwide banks and they were able to take care of opening our account at the corporate level.  This, as you can imagine, takes time – in our case about two weeks. 

The bank account issue reared its ugly head again when we went looking for a car and set out to buy car insurance.  We had the funds in our US account to pay for coverage; however, the system at the insurance brokers wouldn’t allow us to use our US bankcard.  (I suspect this has to do with preventing money laundering as well.)  As our UK account hadn’t been finalized our only payment option was to set up a high-interest monthly installment account.  We were able to pay the balance in full as soon as we received the cards for the UK account the following week, but it was still an unexpected hassle.  We also couldn’t take our 10+ years of no-claims discounts with us.  We’re insured as if this were our first car.  We had a letter from our agent in the US, but it didn’t matter.  No record in the UK, no deal.  The up side is that the insurance certificate was sent to the holiday cottage, meaning we have proof of address if we need it again.

Now that the bank account issue was settled we assumed that we wouldn’t run into any further problems.  We found a house we loved and submitted an application to lease it.  I thought it would be similar to renting in Columbus where we did the entire thing over the Internet.  We filled out the application and paid the fee online.  A couple days later the management company sent us the lease, we signed it and mailed it back with a check.  Process complete.  Here the process is a bit more involved.  Employer, personal, and most importantly, bank references are required and thoroughly checked.  Our references are all solid, so we shouldn’t have a problem, right?  Well, our account hasn’t been open long enough for the bank to give us a reference.  In order for the bank to verify that we regularly have enough money in our account to pay the rent, the account had to have been open and active for at least two years.  Since the traditional bank reference wasn't available the agency agreed to take six months of statements instead.  Our account hadn’t been open for six weeks let alone six months!  We thought we were going to lose the house.  Luckily our relocation company was able to step in and help because the next option was to pay six months rent up front!  That would have wiped us out.

Of course, these requirements may differ depending on what area of the country you’re in, which agency you are dealing with, and the individual landlord.  The bank requirements to open an account, however, are generally non-negotiable.  So what to do?  I found this great article on Moneyfacts.co.uk with some useful suggestions on how to open an account in the UK if you find yourself in the same situation as us.  I just wish I had found it six months ago.

The agent for the house told us that they would be putting the final touches on the lease and would have it to us this week so we could look it over.  I assumed that once we receive it that would be it – we’d sign it, send it back, and move in on the agreed date.  Nope.  In the UK you sign the lease contract and get the keys on the same day that you move in.  The same day.  I guess when all is said and done it isn't that much of a hardship, but it is one more thing for me to to worry about on the day.  In any case, we are scheduled to do all this next week.  Fingers crossed that nothing changes between now and then. 

We are fortunate that my husband's company took care of so much of the red-tape for us.  I don't remember any of this the last time we lived here, but that was a long time ago and in a much different world.  I wonder how others do it?

Bureaucracy aside, life here is actually rather nice.  Our new home is in a lovely market town on the south coast.  Stay tuned!