‘I’m fleeing to the Algarve for the winter to avoid Britain’s sky-high energy bills’ | More people are taking advantage of remote working by relocating somewhere warmer and cheaper

14 comments

  1. Sophia Husbands has never particularly liked Britain’s cold and grey winter weather. However, she began seriously considering leaving the country for sunnier climes after gloomy forecasts that energy bills would soon more than double.

    Ms Husbands, 43, went to Tenerife last winter after realising that she did not need to be in Britain to work. As an IT trainer and the founder of Sophia World, a wellness brand, she can do her work online – and anywhere in the world. Now, as the cost of living soars, she can save money by living abroad, too.

    She is now among a growing number of Britons fleeing the country after realising they can achieve a much better quality of life for less money during the winter.

    Energy bills are expected to skyrocket to as much as £5,386 for the typical home from January, according to analysts Cornwall Insight. While the cost of energy is rising in most countries, a warmer climate means there’s no need to turn on the heating, which in Britain is the biggest factor pushing up energy costs for households.

    Last winter, Ms Husbands spent €650 (£550) a month on accommodation in Tenerife. She stayed in a one-bedroom flat within a complex that had two swimming pools and the price included energy bills. She was there for three months, the maximum allowed in the EU during a six-month period.

    This was far less than the £725 she is now paying to rent a studio in Windsor. She has her own kitchenette and bathroom, and also has access to a larger shared kitchen and laundry facilities. She has a month-to-month tenancy that gives her the flexibility to leave again in the coming winter.

    She is still deciding where she wants to go, with the Algarve in Portugal and Vietnam among her options. She could pay as little as £450 to rent her own Airbnb flat in the Algarve, which includes the cost of energy bills. She would be saving £275 a month and would be able to walk to the beach. The weather in the winter is about 10 degrees warmer than in Britain.

    Ms Husbands said: “I don’t think I like living in the UK anymore. It’s a combination of stuff. It’s obviously the weather – I like being in the sunshine – that’s one. Another factor now is the cost of living.”

    Meanwhile Tímea Pintye, 32, set up her own business so that she could work anywhere in the winter. She owns a digital marketing agency and meets her clients face to face when she’s in London during the summer, but moves the meetings online when she’s travelling.

    She pays £800 a month to rent a room in a shared house in Clapham. When she was in the Canary Islands last winter, it cost her £700 a month to live by herself in an Airbnb. Ms Pintye said flat owners offer hefty discounts to those who want to stay for a month or longer. She spent some time in Mexico and Argentina and has visited various countries over the past several years.

    She hasn’t decided where to go yet, but is considering South Africa. In doing so, she’ll be escaping a steep rent increase to £1,100 a month.

    “I don’t have to feel bad about spending money on a winter getaway anymore because I’ll actually be saving money by being away,” she said.

    Her friend owns the house she lives in and lets her leave her belongings in the basement while he rents her room out for a few months.

    “You wake up to the sunshine on your face,” she said. “I think that’s the most beautiful feeling in the world. You’re in a new place with a new culture and so much to learn, so much to see. Everything’s on your doorstep, everything’s cheap.”

    As a property owner, Sonny Suberu had the added challenge of what to do with his flat when he first decided to leave London for the winter. He went to Egypt and Kenya last year based on the recommendations of friends and family. This autumn he may go back to Kenya or try Brazil.

    He has been renting out his flat for £1,500 a month and his tenant pays the energy bills. He has been staying in his mum’s home in London and using his savings to help her out with her bills during the year.

    Mr Suberu, an IT consultant and author, said he was paying $200 (£85) a month for a room in a two-bedroom flat on the beach in a small town in Kenya. When he stayed in Nairobi, which is more expensive, accommodation was costing him around $550 (£467) for a single room in a shared flat on Airbnb.

    “I would absolutely recommend it, to be honest, because your standard of living is higher,” he said.

  2. It’s interesting how different newspapers share different kinds of perspectives from readers struggling from energy prices.

    A little while back I posted an article from inews about a single mum who was planning to stay in the library with her son to avoid heating bills.

    Here we’ve got more well-off Telegraph leaders planning to move to warmer climes instead.

  3. I’m beginning to debate whether a six month off season cruise would be cheaper than staying in the UK during the cold months, paid for by “working from home” in my cabin.

  4. adopting the voice of David Attenborough

    .”…and here we see the miraculous spectacle of nature as the british evolve wings and migrate to sunny climes for the winter months.”

  6. Back in the real world I can see no reason not to bugger off and leave my business, eighty two year old mother and ninety one year old father-in-law to fend for themselves through the winter.

  7. She might like to look up freelancer visa laws for her intended destination. The rules differ from country to country even within the EU. Germany, in particular is very strict about the topic.

    You can’t just go be a digital nomad because you want to be.

  8. Hmm….this isn’t actually that stupid.

    Clear working overseas with the office, buy appropriate insurance, put the house on minimal, have a mate pop round to check on the plants (or pay someone), and shack up with relatives. As an EU citizen, length of stay doesn’t concern me.

    It will work for a very few is the only problem.

    Also, if one can afford a second home in the Algarve, then one probably isn’t overly affected by the rise in prices.

    I’d consider it myself but not sure on the legalities with regards to the dogs being in the EU for many months, and having to shake up with the parent/parents-in-law for months? Might be better to freeze to death!

  9. The Telegraph running stories like this makes we want to vomit especially as they were an anti-EU brexit cheerleaders.

    Hope Spanish border officials put her name on a database and treat her the way British officials treat non Brits (a work colleague was once taken to one side and question about what he was doing in the UK despite having lived and worked in the UK for several years).

  12. Probably worth noting that Portugal offers a scheme for 10 years tax free on foreign income (IE: remote working) under the NHR scheme.

    I think that might be the reason that they choose the Algarve…

    Would consider this myself, but with a young child it’s much more of an upheaval. I suspect it would still be cheaper even when paying for a private international school also.

    https://getgoldenvisa.com/non-habitual-resident-portugal

  13. The first Roman calender was apparently 10 months of 30/31 days making a year of 304 days and and ‘unorganised expanse of about 50 winter days’. It’s definitely something worth looking at bringing back.

    But I don’t think we could manage to just shut everything down for 50 days… There’s just too much to do.

    Honestly, are we going back to ancient times? Worrying about surviving the winter and next years harvest.

Leave a Reply