-------- Beginnig of the letter -------------

<Date>
<Your full name>
<Your address>
<Your National Insurance Number (NIN)>

Dear Sirs,
I am writing to request a repayment of an overpayment of Income Tax for the tax year <tax year you are claiming the refund (e.g.: 2009/10>. As noted in the enclosed forms, I left the UK on <date you left the UK> and think I have overpaid Income Tax. According to my calculations, I have paid £ <amount in pounds according to your calculations> in excess.
Please find enclosed a copy of my P45 along with the P85 which should provide a complete work history for your records.

If you have any further questions please do not hesitate to contact me on <e-mail address> or <phone number>.

Yours sincerely,
<Your full name>
<Your signature>

-------- End of the letter -------------

Some things to consider:

• Make a copy of all the information you will send to the Tax Office in the UK.
• Remember that the letter should be addressed to your appropriate Tax Office, not a random one. If you send the letter to the wrong office, they will reject it. They will not forward the letter to your appropriate tax office.
• Send the letter by certified post to have proof that the letter has been received.
• While not mandatory, it is recommended to include your own calculated refund amount in the letter.

You can find further information about the entire process of making the UK Income Tax refund claim in the following entry: Tax Refund when you leave the UK: PAYE, P45, P85.

In a previous post I had explained the steps to follow in order to prepare a successful tax refund claim, specifically for Income Tax or PAYE (Pay As You Earn), once you stop working in the United Kingdom: Tax Refund when you leave the UK: PAYE, P45, P85.

Well, I must say that my claim was successful and the money was already paid into my British bank account and last week I received a letter from the HM Revenue & Customs with the tax refund calculation details, along with a practical guide called "Understanding your Tax Calculation". The refund amount I had previously calculated was correct and the money was paid into my bank account with no problems, within a reasonable period of time. The whole process took me about a month, so the main purpose of this post is to encourage claiming the tax refund to all those who have given up, thinking that it will be a long and bureaucratic process, and probably will not get what they want.

Below is a chronological summary of the steps I took to get my money back:

• September 14th: I sent all the required documentation (P45 Parts 2 and 3, P85) to the tax office in the UK by certified post along with a handwritten letter indicating my own calculation.
• September 21st: The letter arrived to the appropriate Tax Office in the UK.
• October 16th: The claimed amount was deposited into my British bank account whose details I had provided in the form P85.
• October 29th: I received a letter by post from the appropriate UK Tax Office stating that my claim was accepted and the money will be paid into my UK bank account provided in the form P85. The letter had been sent on October 8. You can see the first page of this notification on the picture included in this post.

As you can see, the entire process since I sent the letter until I received the formal answer from the UK Tax Office, took about 45 days. 30 out of those 45 days were notifications travel time. The overall time elapsed from the day the UK Tax Office received my letter (September 21^st) until they sent me the formal notification (8^th October) was only 18 days.

As a final comment, if you don’t own a bank account in the United Kingdom, they can send you a check along with the formal notification (you also can provide a friend’s bank account in the form 85). The UK Tax Office doesn’t make payments into foreign bank accounts.

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The classic show at Roundhay Park

A special show will be held in Roundhay Park, where the local rugby league team "The Rhynos" with "Ronnie the Rhino" will be there to celebrate the record of winning the British Rugby League championship for third consecutive year. The event at Roundhay Park is organized by Leeds City Council, and is the largest event in the city, attracting around 70,000 people of all ages. The evening will start with a Glen Pinder musical show, from Magic 828. The bonfire will be lit at 7.30pm and the fireworks display will start at 8pm.

Other places across Leeds

Other places where there will be bonfires next Thursday 5th November are: Springhead Park in Rothwell, East End Park, Middleton Park, Woodhouse Moor in Hyde Park and Bramley Park, with bonfires being lit at 7pm and fireworks displays starting at 7.30pm. The following is a list of the major bonfires and fireworks displays that will be held next Thursday, 5 November across Leeds. Best of all, admission to all displays are absolutely free.

• Roundhay Park, 7:30pm
• Woodhouse Moor / Hyde Park Park, 7pm 
• Springhead Park, Rothwell, 7pm
• East End Park, 7pm
• Bramley Park, 7pm
• Middleton Park,  7pm
  

• McDonalds medium meal deal (burger + medium fries + medium drink): ₤ 3.60
• Pint of beer in a traditional British pub: ₤ 2 (₤ 1 on Monday / ₤ 3 in after-office pubs)
• Lunch / Dinner Menu in a traditional British pub (Main dish and beverage): ₤ 5
• Dinner for 2 at a standard restaurant with a bottle of wine: ₤ 35
• Donner Kebab with chips: ₤ 3
• 2 liters of milk: ₤ 1
• Small latte ( "tall" in British English) in coffee chains (Starbucks, Cafe Nero, Costa): ₤ 2
• Bus ticket in Leeds: ₤ 1.60 single trip / ₤ 3.20 free day ticket (non-peak)
• Underground (tube) single trip ticket in London: ₤ 4.00 (any area)
• London underground (tube) day pass, zones 1 to 2: ₤ 7.20 (peak hour) / ₤ 5.60 (non-peak hours)
• London underground (tube) day pass, zones 1 to 3: ₤ 8.60 (peak hour) / ₤ 6.30 (non-peak hours)
• London underground (tube) day pass, zones 1 to 4: ₤ 10.00 (peak hour) / ₤ 6.30 (non-peak hours)
• London underground (tube) day pass, zones 1 to 5: ₤ 12.60 (peak hour) / ₤ 7.50 (non-peak hours)
• London underground (tube) day pass, zones 1 to 6: ₤ 14.80 (peak hour) / ₤ 7.50 (non-peak hours)
• London underground (tube) day pass, zones 1 to 9: ₤ 16.20 (peak hour) / ₤ 9.00 (non-peak hours)
• Sunday newspapers (Times, Observer, Independent): ₤ 1.80 / ₤ 2
• Cinema’s ticket: ₤ 11.90 (Saturday, London) / ₤ 6.80 (Saturday, Leeds)
• Cigarettes pack: from ₤ 5 (20 cigarettes)
• 4 500ml beer pack 500ml (stores): ₤ 4

The prices of the products and services in the list above are generally the same throughout the UK, regardless of where you buy them, although there may be slight differences. We didn’t include products which prices vary considerably depending on the store where you buy (e.g.: clothes). We will write about clothing stores in another post.

Take a look at this post from time to time as we'll update it with current prices and other products / services that may arise from your comments about the cost of living in England. Find below other posts we wrote about cost of living in the UK with prices in other areas that might be of your interest:

• Food and general household products: The most current and accurate information in your area can be found at the official web pages of the most popular supermarkets in London and rest of the UK. Take a look to a previous post regarding supermarkets in the UK by clicking here.
• Apartment rentals in the UK: If you are looking for an idea about rental prices in London and the rest of England (e.g. Leeds) we wrote a post regarding rentals in the UK here.
• Utilities in the United Kingdom: Whenever you consider apartment rental costs, you should also consider the utilities. We wrote a post regarding utilities in the UK here.

Basic Services

It would be very difficult to live without them during your time in England:

• Water: The main provider is generally a local company where you live. The cost is usually an annual fixed amount, and like most other utilities in the UK, you have the option to pay the full amount in one single payment or split it through installments. If you choose to pay the full annual amount on one single payment, you generally receive a 10% discount. In my case, in Leeds, the monthly cost was 20 pounds, so consider that your amount will be around that amount. And as I previously said, the cost is usually fixed so you will avoid surprises at the end of the month.
• Electricity: There are a lot of players on the electricity so you will have several providers to choose from with different offers. For example, two of the biggest companies are Scottish Power and npower. The monthly cost will obviously depend on your consumption. But be prepared to pay no less than 60 pounds a month. Your energy consumption will depend on whether you live in a full electricity apartment or you have gas also. If you have gas, this cost will be split between gas and electricity bills. Before renting, you should also ask the landlord if the apartment has Economy 7 energy system, very common in the UK. Economy 7 energy system consists in a device installed in your flat that stores energy at night, period of the day when electricity costs are cheaper and then, the stored energy is used during the rest of the day. This system will considerably reduce your monthly bills. As a tip, don’t make the common mistake of turning off the heating system when leaving your apartment, since it is better to have it permanently running at an average level rather that turn it off and let your apartment cool down completely. When you turn it on again, the heater will spend the same power you saved, probably more. As an alternative, you can arrange a monthly average payment with your energy supplier to keep monthly bills at a fixed cost and avoid surprises. But bills are amended quarterly to reflect your actual consumption, so if you spend more than the fixed cost you arrange, your installments will be adjusted after 3 month to reflect that. On the other side, the provider will reduce the installments cost if you spend less.
• Gas: In my apartment I didn’t have gas and you will probably be in the same situation, since gas is becoming less common in the UK. In case you have gas, the providers usually are the electricity ones, and they offer comprehensive plans for both utilities in one bill. You should probably pay for gas plus electricity an average price of 80 pounds per month.
• Council Tax: It’s an annual tax you pay for services provided by the city council in your area: garbage collection, street lights, cleaning, etc. The price you pay depends on the area where you live. There are several categories (A, B, C, D, etc.) so you should ask your owner which category you are in. In my case, in Hyde Park area in Leeds (university area) I used to pay around 800 pounds annually. In London, according with some Londiners I have talked to, you will have to pay at least 1000 pounds annually. You don’t need to pay this amount in one single payment and you can pay in monthly installments. But if you pay the full amount in one single payment, you will get a discount. You can also obtain a 25% discount if you are the only resident in your department or if all residents are students.

Optional services

You can live without them if you want to save around 50 pounds a month, but is almost sure you will want to count with them:

• Phone: British people are addicted to cell/mobile phones, so it’s more important that you count with a mobile rather than a standard line telephone. For those people that live or have lived in the US, be aware that in the UK, cell phones are called mobiles. The only reason to have a residential phone line is for Internet access. Broadband Internet access via cable modem is not very common in the UK, and ADSL is the more common type of access, for which you need to have a phone line, or BT line, as they call it. BT It’s worth mentioning that BT is the traditional phone company in the UK and actually was the only one for long time. For that reason, phone lines are often better known as BT lines. But now you can choose among other providers, so when you read you need BT line, not necessarily means that needs to be provided by BT. Prices? There are many plans but the cost of a basic contract with BT costs about 11 pounds a month and includes free calls to UK’s landlines on weekends and every day after 6p.m.
• Internet: There are several providers: Virgin, Sky, BT, O2, Vodafone, etc. Virgin and Sky are the only ones that currently offer cable modem services. But not all areas are covered. Generally you can find out if your area is covered inserting your post code in the provider web page. There are plenty of offers but let’s say that for 15 pounds a month you will have a good connection and if you contract with Virgin or Sky you could get an offer that includes free cable TV channels for a given period of time. Then you will have to pay for it separately.
• Television: By default, you will have access to the public channels (BBCs and ITVs), plus additional local channels. If you want more private channels you will have to contract a TV cable provider like Virgin or Sky (the most popular). But that's not all, in England you will have to pay a TV license. That means that the public channels are not completely free, since you they are maintained with this tax. You will have to pay around 10 pounds a month if you have color TV (a little bit less if you have a black and white one, but ... who has a black and white TV in these days?). No matter if watch TV or not, the mere fact of having a TV in your apartment makes you liable to license TV tax, even if you use it only to watch DVDs movies. So if you do not intend to use a TV at all, ask your landlord to remove it from your apartment. Believe it or not, TV license payment is very well monitored by the authorities and if you don’t pay, they will knock to your door soon with evidence that you have TV and you are not paying. England is probably one of the toughest countries in pursuit of taxes and penalties for people not paying.

As a conclusion of this long entry, the best source of information about prices and offers for a particular utility can be found in any price comparison site, very common in the UK, such as moneysupermarket.com. It’s a very useful site where you can select the utility you want to compare prices and submitting your zip code, it will return several prices, offers and providers in your area, even different offers from a single provider. You can also contract some offers directly online using this web page.

Leave us a comment if you would like more information about a particular utility.

Good luck with your cost of living estimation.

If you are looking for a place to rent in London you should know you are facing one of the most expensive places in the world. However, due to the pound devaluation during the past year, prices have become more affordable. In London, unless you are going to earn a more than 35000 pounds a year, forget about living alone in a modern one bedroom apartment located in zones 1 to 3. Don’t worry about carrying your furniture with you, since 90% of the apartments to rent are furnished and that doesn’t mean that you will have to pay a higher rent price. Renting a studio in London in zone 3 will not come down from 900 pounds per month. Don’t make the classical mistake many people make: be tempted to move miles away from London to save 100 pounds a month. Every day those people watch how their 100-pounds savings are highly outweighed by their spending on public transport, which is extremely expensive in London, even with the pound devaluation. Price is not the only drawback in the UK with properties. You will also have to deal with ancient properties, with little maintenance. You can pay 1000 pounds a month for rubbish flat in zone 3, with ceiling and wood floor almost broken. It isn’t worth to write about modern property prices, it will be enough to say that anyone who can afford those properties will not have any problem with money and probably won’t be reading these lines about cost of living in the UK (that’s not a problem for them).

If you are going to relocate to a city in England other than London, costs can be reduced significantly. In my case, I lived in Leeds in a two-room apartment, 20 minute walk from downtown (3 minutes walk to Universtity of Leeds) for only 525 pounds per month. The flat rental costs in northern England are considerably lower than in the south, especially in London. So, students considering universities outside London may consider this factor when choosing the University with best value for money for them. In northern UK, outside England, Scotland could be a beautiful choice and interesting experience, but you will have to support the cold weather.

Personally I think the success of Leeds as a university town is the value for money it offers to the students. You can make the experience of studying one or two years in the UK at half price of what it would do it in London. In addition, Leeds is a city prepared to have fun and enjoy the university life at its peak, without messing with the stress of costs and lifestyle of a big city like London. In addition, in smaller cities you can experience the real English culture, unlike London where the mixture of cultures has led to the loss of the British identity. It's a matter of looking at people on London streets, or children at schools to realize that 60% or more of the Londiners are not natives. Back to the rental costs matter, you can get a studio in Leeds city centre for 400 pounds. These rates are similar in Manchester and can be even cheaper in Sheffield. Manchester is one hour west far from Leeds by train and Sheffield¸ 50 minutes south.

If you have a tight budget, a very popular choice among students and young professionals is to rent a property with 5 or 6 rooms and share rental costs. If you do the abovce, you can get a private bedroom and share kitchen, bathroom and living room with your roommates for no more than 300 to 400 pounds per month per person. There are letting agencies devoted to this type of rents.

The best way to research prices in different areas is visiting specialized web pages like Rightmove and findaproperty. But be aware that you have to consider the rental price along with other costs that are part of the cost of living in the UK, such as council tax, water, electricity, gas, telephone, broadband internet access and TV license. Yes, you have read correctly, in the UK if you want to have a TV on your flat you have to PAY a tax (few things are free in this country). We will analyze these costs on the next post regarding utilities in the UK. We hope that these articles help you to calculate your particular cost of living in the United Kingdom (UK) as close as possible.

The British celebrate the Bonfire Night every November 5th and arises because an attempt to murder King James I in 1605. It was a group of Catholics who did not agree with the King’s thoughts and decided to show their anger and resentment locating some gunpowder barrels very carefully in the Parliament’s warehouse. The idea was to blow up the British Parliament with the King inside, but someone who knew the plan raised the alert. Therefore, Guy Fawkes and his gunpowder barrels were captured. Right after, the British authorities decided to punish and torture him until his death.

For this reason, every year on November 5^th all the UK celebrates the capture and death of Guy Fawkes and of course, the salvation of King James I. In all the UK's major parks, Guy Fawkes dolls are prepared and then burned on big bonfires. Every park has its fireworks display show that usually lasts about 20 minutes. It’s worth to watch one of them since they are really awesome.

During our experience in the city of Leeds, we noted that the locals really enjoyed that day, considering it very important, although is not a vacation day. In Leeds, the Guy Fawkes dolls and bonfires are prepared very early in the main parks (Roundhay Park and Hyde Park, among others) and some street vendors take advantage of this opportunity to earn some extra pounds selling food, drinks and fireworks. The most successful are undoubtedly beer stands as we all know, the British are particularly fans of this drink, no matter the weekday, weather or time of the day.

During the last celebration of the Bonfire Night on 5th November, some people in Leeds also took the opportunity to set up big amusement parks that all people could enjoy once the fireworks displays finished in the parks... but the oddest thing was that the next day, the amusement parks had completely disappeared and set up in other parts of the city, or simply returned to their warehouses.

It is clear that students are those who most enjoy this celebration, but also is a nice experience for any foreigner living in the United Kingdom and eager to know a little bit more about the interesting British culture. In Leeds, the biggest fireworks display show happens in Roundhay Park. We strongly recommend you to look for the biggest fireworks display show in your city.