Renting in Birmingham, areas to avoid?

smyth · 12 Oct 2011 at 23:17

Hey everyone,

I've got a new job that requires me to relocate to Birmingham at the end of the month. Are there any areas I should avoid when looking for a place to rent?

I'm after somewhere that is commutable to New Street in under 45 mins walking/bus (the place I work doesn't have any parking :rolleyes:

)

Cheers!

mysticsniper · 12 Oct 2011 at 23:23

Aviod Handsworth

Start looking to move in the Hall Green & Edgbaston area's

Raymond Lin · 12 Oct 2011 at 23:30

smyth said:
Hey everyone,

I've got a new job that requires me to relocate to Birmingham at the end of the month. Are there any areas I should avoid when looking for a place to rent?

I'm after somewhere that is commutable to New Street in under 45 mins via public transport (the place I work doesn't have any parking )

Cheers!

45 minutes means you can live as far as Worcester ! which is much nicer.

ojrules · 12 Oct 2011 at 23:32

The metro-train to New Street is frequent and fast on the line that runs through Erdington. It takes about 25-30 minutes to commute from Sutton Coldfield/Four Oaks and that's quite far out from the centre.- I would look for anywhere close to any of the stations on that line.

As Raymond said 45 mins is a long way on the train so you could live in a huge radius, personally I would avoid the areas immediately adjacent to the centre, including Erdington, but it all depends on your budget.

edit- i was getting erdington and edgbaston confused before....

smyth · 12 Oct 2011 at 23:33

Raymond Lin said:
45 minutes means you can live as far as Worcester ! which is much nicer.

Oops, I should probably say bus routes instead, isn't rail travel pretty steep now a days?

smyth · 12 Oct 2011 at 23:41

ojrules said:
The metro-train to New Street is frequent and fast on the line that runs through Edgbaston. It takes about 25-30 minutes to commute from Sutton Coldfield/Four Oaks and that's quite far out from the centre.- I would look for anywhere close to any of the stations on that line.

As Raymond said 45 mins is a long way on the train so you could live in a huge radius, personally I would avoid the areas immediately adjacent to the centre, including Edgbaston, but it all depends on your budget.

Budget is probably £550-600 inc bills, looking for a house/flat share.

How much is are season tickets (month/yearly) for the metro-train?

dowie · 12 Oct 2011 at 23:49

Personally I'd advise living outside - some nice areas a little bit south near Solihull - quite an easy commute.

I'm not that familiar with residential areas around brum - lots of generally shoddy areas unfortunately. Edgebaston is OK I think and a few Junior Doctors I know live in Selly Oak aside from that I'd say avoid and live in a nice area outside of Brum - i.e. places like Sutton Coldfield to the north (technical still part of brum though) or Solihull to the south (not a part of brum!)

UK-AL05 · 13 Oct 2011 at 00:14

Edgebaston, close to the university tends to be pretty nice. Expensive I guess though.

ElliottJames · 13 Oct 2011 at 00:37

Avoid handsworth alum rock kimgstanding, handsworth and alum rock is pretty much Somali land, live in wylde green/sutton

ck88 · 13 Oct 2011 at 00:43

avoid handsworth, newtown, nechelles, alum rock, stechford, winson green, shard end, kitts green, erdington, aston, saltley, yardley, bordersley green. < pretty much all **** holes.

Sutton, Solihull, Edgbaston are quite decent. I'd follow others advice and live outside Birmingham to be honest.

ElliottJames · 13 Oct 2011 at 01:03

ck88 said:
avoid handsworth, newtown, nechelles, alum rock, stechford, winson green, shard end, kitts green, erdington, aston, saltley, yardley, bordersley green. < pretty much all **** holes.

Sutton, Solihull, Edgbaston are quite decent. I'd follow others advice and live outside Birmingham to be honest.

I know few people living in erdington and they live in big 6 bedroom houses.

NeverWinter · 13 Oct 2011 at 01:09

ck88 said:
avoid handsworth, newtown, nechelles, alum rock, stechford, winson green, shard end, kitts green, erdington, aston, saltley, yardley, bordersley green. < pretty much all **** holes.

Decent list here. You after anything in particular in an area other than a <45min commute?

Lethagized · 13 Oct 2011 at 01:18

Handsworth, Smethick, Nechells, sparkhill, Alum rock and lady wood spring to mind. Solihull is prob the best place to move. Some real nice areas around there.

NeverWinter · 13 Oct 2011 at 01:29

I'm not a huge fan of Solihull... Sure it's nice but the people just grate me, each to their own.

[TW]Fox · 13 Oct 2011 at 01:52

Raymond Lin said:
45 minutes means you can live as far as Worcester ! which is much nicer.

Worcester was the first place I thought of when reading the OP as well. It's nice there.

Dr House · 13 Oct 2011 at 07:11

We rented a flat in the radisson blu for 6 months, the whole area was such a dump we decided to move out to Solihull in the end which was very nice.

Participant · 13 Oct 2011 at 08:49

Solihull is indeed nice, if you don't mind fighting through millions of Range Rovers on the school run in the rush hour. But then you could level that at any affluent suburb I suppose.

Definitely avoid Alum Rock!

Locky · 13 Oct 2011 at 08:52

Solihull and Shirley are nice areas, Im currently building the porsche garage there.

Adrianr · 13 Oct 2011 at 08:55

kiteloopy said:
didnt take long for GD to deliver. bravo.

First thing everyone not from Birmingham thought upon reading the thread title

lakitu · 13 Oct 2011 at 09:12

Not sure of places to avoid so much but I moved to Birmingham 3 years ago and lived in Moseley and Bournville. Both very nice indeed, can't complain. I also like Solihull although haven't lived there.