Hi travellers, I wonder if some help on a matter of "residence" has been raised before.
I am about to pull up stumps and drive off into the distance. I will then have no "residence" and not sure how I will need to deal with that, having regard to those organisations that will no doubt require me to prove a principal place of residence e.g. driving licence, taxation department, banks etc.
It is my intention to live in my van, travelling as I feel the urge, but unable to define a "residential address". I will retain a P O Box number.
Advice from others who have experienced such a situation would be greatly appreciated.
Cheers, Ian
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Anything is possibe ...... ya just need to find a way to do it
Hi Ian, my wife and I do a lot of farmsitting in qld and nsw and shortly travelling thru to wa via vic then sa - just to give you an idea. We have our brother in law's address in Penrith NSW for anything important and as such leave his address as contact point. As for licences and regos, I recently had my caravan passed by Qld and also my tug. I then sent the details via email (scan/copy/paste to file) to RTA. Since then I traded my tug in on a qld registered vehicle. It's cheaper for me to register in NSW as I only pay for the green slip for registering the motor vehicle (pensioner rates). The new tug will be reregistered on Dec 19 when in Sydney. I spoke to RTA in Newcastle and they said I can do this all over Oz. hope this helps, cheers Terry
Hi Bozo. I've been doing just that for a few years now. My van is home and where I'm parked is where I live. I used my daughter's box number for about 3 years and she'd forward my mail to me in the prepaid bags I sent her. I now have an address in the van park I'm living in now. Car and van - registered in WA with SA address. Drivers Licence - SA now. I receive communication and bills online via internet, and pay my bills that way too. Living as an "itinerant" is acceptable these days, and as long as your vehicles are registered somewhere (pick a cheap state) all is right with officialdom. If you choose, you don't have to vote in state elections, but you do have to vote in Federal elections, as an absentee if necessary. The Census will accept and count you wherever you are. You get your vehicle serviced wherever you are at the time, buy and fit tyres wherever you are at the time. Do your banking online, or use the nearest branch if necessary, if you can afford the admission fee at the door. Feel free to ask anything. We all have to learn some time. Safe and happy travels.
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20ft Roma caravan - Mercedes Benz Sprinter - SA-based at the moment. Transport has no borders.
Management makes the decisions, but is not affected by the decisions it makes.
Thank you TC and CG, a great help. Wot do you use for your drivers licence address if you are constantly on the move, as I plan to be. They told me I "must have" a residential address. Regards Ian
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Anything is possibe ...... ya just need to find a way to do it
Do you have a family member who will let them use their address bozo. Not sure how the others get on as there are quite a few who are on the road full time.
Like other full-timers here, bozo, we use family members - a son in Adelaide (John's licence), a close friend in Adelaide (the Mazda), another in Perth (my licence), and a second cousin in Queensland (the van). We used a forwarding service for a while but it was too expensive, and we now get very little 'snail mail' anyway.
Banking, of course, like most other services is online.
Voting we've taken care of by registering officially as 'itinerant voters'. In fact, the only two government departments so far who cope readily with itinerants like us are the Electoral Commission and (surprise!) Centrelink, who have now endorsed our pension cards 'Travelling Australia'.
So take to the road without any worries, bozo - it's a great life! Travel safe -
Andrea & John
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Free-ranging, in a Southern Cross 5th wheeler, in between property-minding (to save money!).
I love this site ..... :) Many thanks for your informed responses. I am most interested in Andrea's success with Centrelink, cos I love the idea of just answering "no fixed abode" when asked for my address. I am due to take delivery of my New Age van (12' Bilby on an off road chassis) in the next week or so. I am getting VERY excited, notwithstanding the Newbie nerves. I plan to head as far into North Queensland as the wet season will allow, and spend my time meeting other travellers....... and trying for the elusive barramundi....yippeeeeee ! Thanks all :)
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Anything is possibe ...... ya just need to find a way to do it
Use the caravan park you're parked in at the time as a residential address. Moving on won't change anything. The postal address should be the same. Over the years I lived and worked on prawn trawlers across the north coast. I had SA licence with Weipa address. I've had a WA licence with SA address, an SA licence with Qld address. All this administrative hoo hah is just democracy gone mad. The bottom line is to be contactable and to ensure your vehicles are registered somewhere, and your licence is current for the class you require. I left WA in 2007, and my vehicle and van are still registered in WA with an SA address. All the best for your travels, and you'll find other travellers everywhere you go on the way to North Queensland. As the as says, "They're everywhere! They're everywhere!"
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20ft Roma caravan - Mercedes Benz Sprinter - SA-based at the moment. Transport has no borders.
Management makes the decisions, but is not affected by the decisions it makes.
as a new person traveling I had the same worry. but found it hard when I went to get car rego ( as I was reg in NSW ) I was in WA at the time but had to fit alarm to my car/van decided to travel back to NSW to get the van rego done. as for leaving a address for centre link and other I just used a friends address and the were sweet with that. looking forward to getting back on the road as I found it very nice and meet some really nice people out there. remember to ask about places you are thinking of going so other can tell you about pit-fall and where not to go, there are some people out there that are not so kind. with all that said go out and enjoy this big country. so much to see so little time. should of had done this years ago.
Andrea wrote:..... In fact, the only two government departments so far who cope readily with itinerants like us are the Electoral Commission and (surprise!) Centrelink, who have now endorsed our pension cards 'Travelling Australia'.
.....
Andrea & John
I still have a couple of years to plan my great excape exploring Oz but have one question regarding Centrelink and the pension.
How do you go about claiming Rent Assistance if you have no fixed abode? Or don't you bother?
-- Edited by Vegemite on Saturday 20th of August 2011 03:53:18 PM
Vegemite, my understanding is when you stay at a caravan park for a while you can apply for rent asssitance through that c/p, and but I'm not sure you keep getting it till you move on to another place. In other words while you are travelling.
Vegemite, my understanding is when you stay at a caravan park for a while you can apply for rent asssitance through that c/p,...
Yes, I'm doing that now but as a permanent resident, not travelling. It would be painful to have to notify Centrelink every time you move to a new park and have to fill out a rent certificate each time and lodge it. Since park fees are going to be very similar no matter where I stay, my guess would be to only notify Centrelink when there is a big change in the weekly rental regardless of where I am staying.
I have discussed the matter of rental assistance with Centrelink and their answer was that you can submit documents detailing your rental expenditure to any Centrelink office within three weeks of the expenditure.
There are regulations as to the amount of assistance that is due according to the amount of rent paid during that week and it cuts off at a certain level.
So each week has to stand on it's own and any amount for the next week has to be applied to that week. If you start a booking at a caravan park for a week and start on Wednesday then you have to justify the criteria level for each week.
Not sure where the bottom line cut off is but I think it is around $58 below which there is no rental assistance. This makes free camping an activity that needs to be looked at in the light of that week's current expenditure if you want to optimise the rental assistance.
I have discussed the matter of rental assistance with Centrelink and their answer was that you can submit documents detailing your rental expenditure to any Centrelink office within three weeks of the expenditure.
They are very flexible along those lines. I had an increase in rent July 1st and they have given me until September 2nd to return the Rent Certificate. (These can be downloaded from Centrelink Online Services). I didn't tell them about the increase until August and they back dated the rent assistance.
The rates and upper and lower limits are available on Centrelink's web site. It's the frequency of updating the rental amount that concerns me. I anticipate I won't be in any one spot for more than a week at most.
Vegemite wrote:How do you go about claiming Rent Assistance if you have no fixed abode? Or don't you bother?
Vegemite, we do claim rent assistance when we stay at parks; the Centrelink rule is that you submit a new form within a fortnight each time you move. How strictly they want to apply that, and whether they'd query you if you only send an occasional one is a moot point. We've not claimed for a while as we've been property-sitting, with just a couple of brief stays in caravan parks.
And I have met one couple who claim rent assistance but only submit a form once or twice a year, even though they move from park to park. Not something I'd want to try -- it's easier just to fill in the form and mail it -- and I'd certainly keep all receipts as proof of what you've paid!
Andrea
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Free-ranging, in a Southern Cross 5th wheeler, in between property-minding (to save money!).
And I have met one couple who claim rent assistance but only submit a form once or twice a year, even though they move from park to park. ....
Andrea
That was pretty much what I had in mind though probably more frequently than that. I suspect Centrelink are more interested in the amounts paid regardless of whether you are staying at caravan park A or caravan park B. Particularly if they both charge the same site rate.
