So you´ve made the big decision and decided to leave the UK behind and go and live in a villa in Lanzarote. But how do you go about it and what things do you need to do?
The important thing first of all of course is to buy your villa in Lanzarote and sell your UK home! Once you´ve done that, you´re ready to start your preparations for the big day. You have 2 choices concerning your house furniture, either sell it and buy new in Lanzarote, or ship it over along with your personal belongings. The option you choose will really depend on whether you want to keep your furniture or not. Personally, in most cases I think it´s better to sell off your furniture in the UK and buy new in Lanzarote. Lanzarote villas are not the same as UK houses and I´ve seen people shipping over their furniture which just doesn´t look right in their new Spanish villa. However, if you decide to ship over, use a company like T.C. Freight who will load it into a container and ship it to Lanzarote.
If you decide to sell your furniture, advertise it in the local paper, let your friends know what´s for sale, and for what remains, have a “garage sale” along with any other furniture and belongings you don´t want to take with you. It´s amazing what people will buy and just how much money you can raise from these sales! You will get antique dealers coming along looking for anything which might be of some value, and you might be surprised to find some old tea set in the attic is worth a bit of money. At the end of your sale day, someone will usually come along and buy what´s left, but if not, chuck it in the skip with all the other junk you´ve collected over the years.
You can either take all your personal belongings with you on the plane or send them by airfreight in advance. The latter option is by far the best – you can get them uplifted from your home a few days before you leave and they will be delivered to your new villa in Lanzarote a few days after you arrive. Packed into boxes, it´ll cost less than you think, and almost certainly less than you´ll have to pay for excess luggage.
An important thing you need to do is to inform everyone who needs to know, of your new contact details in Lanzarote or that you no longer require their service. These will include banks, building societies, TV licencing, vehicle licencing if you have a car to sell, share companies, trusts, pension companies etc. etc. Go through all your paperwork and documents and also try to think of all mail which you receive from time to time which is important to you. You may be able to get mail forwarded to you in Lanzarote or perhaps to family or friends in the UK who can send on anything important.
If you have any pets that you are going to take with you to Lanzarote, see your vet well before your moving day. They will be able to advise you on the required documentation and any injections that may be required. If you are flying to Lanzarote, your pet can go with you on the plane. Use a company like www.animalairlines.co.uk to do all the work for you. Remember though, it isn´t cheap!
That´s you ready then to start your new life in a Lanzarote villa. Good luck!