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If you have any intention of staying in the UK for longer than one year then you might as well get your British drivers license as soon as you can after you've arrived. Getting you British drivers license is a relatively simple process because the South African drivers license is acceptable for direct conversion to a Brtish drivers license. You will be allowed to drive using your South African drivers license for the first 12 months in the UK. After 12 months you will have to stop driving until you have converted your license. For some reason you have 5 years in which you can do this.
In the UK all motor vehicle and driver licensing is controlled by the DVLA - Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency. Go to their website, find the office nearest to you and take the following along;
- passport
- proof of address
- South African drivers license
- 1 x passport size photograph
- £50
Once there you can complete the necessary forms. Be aware however that you will have to forfeit your South African drivers license and you will have to leave your passport at the DVLA. They do return it, but suggest you allow them one month. I had mine back in under two weeks.
The card drivers license that you will be issued with is a handy thing to have. It has both your photo and address on it so can be used as proof of identity in most circumstances.
You will also be issued with a paper version. This is best kept in your personal files. It will be needed for changes of address. It is illegal not to register a change of address with the DVLA and as soon as you do you will be issued with a new card license with the new address. Don't worry this is a free service.
Housing and houses in the UK are completely different to those in South Africa.
I'll do my best to explain what is meant by the various types of houses or names given to houses in the UK.
House: just about always refers to a double storey house but could be anything from a free-standing house to what we would call a duplex in South Africa, to one of a row of houses joined together.
Detached: normally means a free-standing double storey house. It doesn't share walls with any other property.
Semi-detached: normally means two double-storey houses joined together. They normally look like one big house from the road. But looking more closely you will see two front doors. It's a symetrical building with one house on either side seperated by a central wall.
Bungalow: normally a single-storey house, the type we are most accustomed to in South Africa. These are few and far between in the UK
Terraced: a row of, what we South Africans would call duplexes joined together. These would be the most common type of house especially in and around city and town centres. All the houses in the row look similar and share a wall with the house on either side, except for the houses on each end of the row.
End-of-terrace: as for terraced, above, but the house at either end of the row. It only shares a wall with a house on one side.
Cottage: normally a small house on some one elses property.
Flats: these are the same as in South Africa
Have a look at Property Investment Project which also has some good descriptions and photos of the different types of houses in the UK.
