Council tax

Laura and Callum Anderson say the better weather and cheaper cost of living made it a no-brainer

A family swapped “miserable” Scotland for the Mediterranean – where their energy bill costs just £85 and they have no pressure to “keep up with the Joneses”.

Laura and Callum Anderson, both 42, moved out to Malta with their youngest daughter when their heating bill shot up to £1,100 a month. They swapped their £1,600 a month four-bed farmhouse in Fife for a three-bed penthouse for £2,500 per month and moved out in October 2026. And despite the jump on rent, they are saving £1,251 a month – as bills and petrol is cheaper and there is no council tax.

Laura, a business owner, living in Naxxar, Malta, said: “If we weren’t living in Malta we would have had to move out of our house.

“It was £690 per month just for oil, with electricity on top of that, wood on top of that, it was £1,100 just to heat the house and put the lights on. Electricity is £85 per month here. We basically wanted to move to Malta to enjoy life.”

Laura and Callum had previously lived in Malta between 2010 and 2013 after they were able to get a full relocation package through Callum’s work as a recruitment consultant – but moved back to Fife to set up their own business.

And after returning to renew their vows in 2024, they decided to move back out permanently. Laura said: “We came here in 2024, and we renewed our wedding vows.

“At that point we were like, ‘Why are we staying in Scotland, what is the point?’ I love Scotland and I’m very much an outdoorsy person and like walks with the dogs and being at the beach even in Scotland, but it was just miserable.

“Last winter in Scotland was especially bad. It didn’t stop raining for six months. It sounds like an exaggeration, but it must have rained for 26 days every single month.”

Laura’s health was also a motivation to move. She was diagnosed with Premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD) – a severe form of premenstrual syndrome that causes intense emotional and physical symptoms – such as depression, anxiety, irritability, and fatigue – in November 2023 and had to pay for private care as she struggled to get help on the NHS.

She struggled with her mental health and said the “doom and gloom” of Scotland was not helping, and so they made the “positive step” and made the move.

“I was paying a fortune in tax and in private medical insurance,” she says. “It makes me feel resentful at my own country and I don’t want to feel like that because I love Scotland.

“Because of my PMDD, I struggle a bit with my mental health and being in Scotland in the doom and gloom was not great for my mental health so we decided to make a positive step by moving.

“We were spending too much time indoors with the fire on. We ended up getting dragged into watching the news with the doom and gloom about how taxes have gone up and people can’t afford to feed themselves. It’s very negative.”

They flew out in October 2026 on digital nomad visas with youngest Mia, 17 – with Lucy, 20, flying out to visit whilst she remains in the UK to attend university. Laura and Callum still run their business selling saunas remotely, and have a team based in Scotland covering the day-to-day operations.

Their daughter, Mia, plans to become a strength and conditioning coach, and Laura says Malta is a “hub” where people travel to train up. They flew out without a permanent home sorted, choosing to stay in an Airbnb so they could view properties in person.

Now settled in a three-bed penthouse, Laura says the “pressure to keep up with the Joneses” is not as big a thing out in Malta. She said: “Our car in Scotland was included on our insurance and it was £650 per month.

“We lived on a farm and I had to drive 20 minutes just to get to the shop. Fuel was £130 per week. Here, fuel is £33 every two weeks. It was £180 per month for Sky broadband and Wi-Fi. Here, Wi-Fi is £25.”

Paying £750 for their visas, they are “really happy” they made the move. “Apart from missing our eldest daughter, we’re not missing anything,” she said.

“We’ve deliberately chosen to live in an area with access to good walks for the dogs. Walking is one of the things that really helps my head so it’s important I go out on those long walks.

“I love Scotland and I’m more than happy to go back and visit but it was stifling and there’s a lot of positivity here.”

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Price breakdown per month

Fife

Rent: £1,600

Electricity: £1,100

Council tax: £150

Car: £650

Fuel: £520

Broadband and Wi-Fi: £180

Private healthcare: £240

Total: £4,440

Malta

Rent: £2,500

Electricity: £85

Car and insurance: £375

Private medical insurance: £138

Fuel: £66

Wi-Fi: £25

Total: £3,189

Saira Hayati and her daughter wanted a ‘better lifestyle’

A British mum moved abroad to afford a better lifestyle and said she saves £2,141 a month as well as enjoying weekly £20 massages, polo lessons, a cleaner and a pool.

Saira Hayati, 50, from Gravesend, Kent, relocated in 2024 after years of navigating financial uncertainty and learning to prepare for economic downturns. The mum-of-five said her monthly household budget in the UK was around £3,612 to £3,929 and stretched to the rare massage, a gym membership and access to a lake in the summer.

She now estimates she spends £1,788 to £1,874 a month in Melaka, Malaysia, and gets more luxuries – including a weekly massage and a cleaner. Her plan was originally to retire, but she has found work doing social media and doesn’t stress about inconsistent earnings as she doesn’t “need” it.

Saira, a content creator and entrepreneur, said: “The problem is in England no matter how much you earn it’s not enough. I’m swimming, juicing, enjoying the sunshine. I feel healthier, happier, and more relaxed. My kids have said they noticed a difference.”

About more than money

The move has been more than just money saving for Saira, who is now embracing a new chapter with her youngest child while working to rebuild connections with her older children after spending most of her time focused on her career. Her other children are still living and working in England.

After a 22-year marriage ended, she found love again in Malaysia and remarried four months ago. The former director of a national mortgage brokerage says the lower cost of living has given her more freedom to enjoy everyday luxuries without the same financial pressure she experienced in England.

She said: “Over here for me to have a two-hour massage is £20. So I go for massages every week.”

Her Malaysian monthly budget includes £150 for a cleaner, £300 for her daughter’s online tuition and £87 for weekly massages. She pays £20 a month in local charges, compared with £280 in UK council tax, while her electricity costs around £100 a month – three times less than her gas and electricity in England.

Her water bill is just £5 a month, compared with £150 in the UK, while her mobile phone costs £10, rather than £50. Saira spends around £639 a month on eating out and takeaways in Malaysia, covering breakfast and dinner for three every day rather than food shops.

In England takeaways and eating out was a treat, at £100 to £200 per month. Buying her 3,700sqft five-bedroom, six-bathroom, home outright in Malaysia cost her £165,000 and Saira benefited from a better exchange rate in December 2023. In Kent, her monthly mortgage was £1,400 a month for a four-bedroom detached house.

How Saira’s outlook was shaped

Saira’s financial outlook was shaped by experiencing four major recessions and the impact of the 2008 crash on her property management business. At the time, she was working as a director of a property management agency and had a professional portfolio of 350 properties, alongside around ten properties in her personal portfolio. She spoke about the fear of falling into negative equity and having to “tighten the purse strings” on her family’s finances during the credit crunch, including pulling her children out of private school.

She said: “The cost of living is making people squeezed from every angle. The burden is heavier now than it was and people just aren’t in a position to do what they strive to.”

She said the pressure facing households in England had become increasingly difficult, regardless of how much people earned. Saira began selling properties from her personal portfolio before leaving the UK, eventually putting more than £100,000 into a Singapore vault with gold to give her family a financial safety net.

The fund means she no longer feels compelled to keep earning more money simply to feel secure. She said the £100,000 was enough to protect her family for years in an emergency living in Malaysia.

She said: “I’m comfortable in the sense that I don’t need any more emergency fund and I don’t need to earn any more than I need.”

For Saira, moving abroad was not just about cutting bills, but about finding somewhere she could enjoy a better quality of life and spend more time with her family without constantly worrying about money.

She said: “I’ve positioned myself somewhere that I know I can have a decent lifestyle that isn’t going to cost me a lot of money. That’s the kind of guidance I’m giving people having done it myself.”

Saira’s costs

Mortgage/rent

UK: £1,400

Malaysia: £0 – home owned outright

Council tax/local collection charge

UK: £280

Malaysia: £20

Service charge: grounds, pool and gym

UK: Not included

Malaysia: £30

Gas and electricity

UK: £300

Malaysia: £100 – electricity only

Water

UK: £150

Malaysia: £5

Internet

UK: £50

Malaysia: £50

Mobile phone

UK: £50

Malaysia: £10

Groceries

UK: £650 to £867

Malaysia: £80 – fruit, juicing supplies, and toiletries

Eating out/takeaways

UK: £100 to £200

Malaysia: £639 – breakfast and dinner for three daily

Fuel

UK: £217

Malaysia: £87 to £173

Car costs: insurance, tax, service, repairs

UK: £200

Malaysia: £110

Home insurance

UK: £75 – buildings and contents

Malaysia: £20 – buildings

Cleaner

UK: Not included

Malaysia: £150

Child tuition

UK: £0

Malaysia: £300

Gym

UK: £40

Malaysia: Included in service charge

Clothes, toiletries, haircuts and dental

UK: £100

Malaysia: Toiletries above; other costs not totalled

Weekly massages

UK: Not included

Malaysia: £87

Monthly totals

UK: £3,612 to £3,929

Malaysia: £1,788 to £1,874

Annual totals

UK: £43,344 to £47,148

Malaysia: £21,456 to £22,488