What's reasonable for a first rental property in Central London?

joxang

joxang

joxang

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Going to be starting work next year, and my girlfriend and I are planning on getting a property within walking distance (say...20min) of Liverpool Street Station. That's a necessity because of where we'll be working.

Been looking at property prices which vary hugely from £300pw (not very nice places!) to much much more (need two bedroom as we'll be on erratic night shifts).

I have no idea about these things, having lived in student accommodation for the past 6 years, but what would people be prepared to pay for a rental place after just coming out of uni. I've got massive student loans to pay off and also am saving up for a house deposit, and I guess I'll have to take into account tax and various bills. Any other advice for property searching etc would be apprecaited too :).

Yours sincerely, a bit lost and clueless :(.
 
Your best bet would be to look at Stoke Newington or further north such as manor house and get public transport (a lot of buses are 24hrs in london). Problem with stoke newington is that it has no tube, but it is a nice area.

You will get an OKish place for £1000-1200 month around those areas.
 
Tyrone77 said:
Your best bet would be to look at Stoke Newington or further north such as manor house and get public transport (a lot of buses are 24hrs in london). Problem with stoke newington is that it has no tube, but it is a nice area.

You will get an OKish place for £1000-1200 month around those areas.
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24hrs buses sound good too. I have a mate who lives on SN Church Street, the area's seriously gone upwards in the past 10 years!!
 
£300 pw for 2 bed is going to be hard.

I pay £250 pw for a room, in a two bed flat, and that is in Shepards Bush so not exactly the best part of town.

I would say, £400-£500 would get you a reasonable place. if you are not fussed about living totally in London check for places on the overground lines to Kings cross and other major train stations. They often have trains that run later than the tube and commute times shorter than a full tube commute.

Places just outside of London are dramatically cheaper
 
To be completely honest, if you have just left uni there is no way you are going to be able to afford a 2 bedroom place just 20mins walk from Liverpool St Station.

Either you are going to need to share for a while or look even further north from Manor house, such as Turnpike lane...? Or East London...?

When I got a grad job in london I couldn't realistically afford more than £450month on rent at 28K.
 
Do up a budget and work out how much you are able to afford to spend each month on rent, that considers your income, savings you want, entertainment etc etc. Also make sure to check how much bills will be on top of your rent if they aren't included etc.
 
Rental prices have gone up by as much as 20% since last year. You'll be looking at £400pw min for somewhere half decent. The difference in price between a 1 bed and 2 bed isnt actually that much (10-20pw more).

I am paying £350 pw for a 1 bed flat in barnsbury (10min walk from kings x & Angel) which is actually really nice and im blatantly getting a bargain.
 
Im Paying £300 a week plus bills to live in a 2 bed (1 double 1 single) with seperate living room and kitchen in Archway, which is ~40 mins door to door using the tube into the main office in Borough.

We looked at places in Bemondsey that were two bedroom and £300 a week, there was one or two nice places but 90% of them sucked balls.
 
That's going to be really tough. Having spent most of the last couple of years living within a 20 minute walk from Liverpool St, I can easily say I've not found anything at £300pw for a 2 bed place in the area (anything worth living in).

your best bet is to go East or South. Anything North within a 20 minute walk is basically Angel/Islington, and you'd really struggle on that budget. Alternatively, if you go North East towards Hackney - Haggerston, Dalston, etc. - you may find something. Some people find the area a little rough, but personally I think it's fine.

East you've got Whitechapel, Bethnal Green, Stepney, Bow, Limehouse, etc. I personally think these areas are totally fine too, but others may disagree.

South to Bermondsey, and that's scraping a 20 mins walk to Liverpool St. Further south into Clapham is fine by tube, but as per your brief it's nowhere near Liverpool St by foot.

I'd recommend signing up to a load of the local estate agents and getting put on their weekly update emails. Good Luck! :)
 
I agree with toshj - if you want to find something close in your budget then look east. All of the places he mentions are worth a look.

Some of them might not be within walking distances but night buses are very frequent.
 
RickST said:
£300 pw for 2 bed is going to be hard.

I pay £250 pw for a room, in a two bed flat, and that is in Shepards Bush so not exactly the best part of town.

I would say, £400-£500 would get you a reasonable place. if you are not fussed about living totally in London check for places on the overground lines to Kings cross and other major train stations. They often have trains that run later than the tube and commute times shorter than a full tube commute.

Places just outside of London are dramatically cheaper
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That's a lot of money for a room in the bush, where abouts are you living? I'm just by Shepherd's Bush Market station and I'm paying £600 a month for a room, sharing with my girlfriend which brings it to a reasonablr £300 a month.
 
Given the prices in London and the budget you seem to be having I'd first suggest forgetting about the 2bed.

Having erratic shifts will not excuse the extra spending, you'll manage with 1bed surely.

For your budget and something decent within the distance you want you should be looking for studios/1-beds. Until you get a raise/promotion when you can start looking for something better.
 
Thanks for the advices. Will try budgeting in more detail.

Freefaller said:
Why not live further out and commute? It's going to be horrendously expensive for a 2 bed place 20min walk from liverpool st.
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Cos we'll be commuting from Liverpool Street for a half the year. 30minutes by train to various places in Essex. Fun times :D.
 
kgi said:
Given the prices in London and the budget you seem to be having I'd first suggest forgetting about the 2bed.

Having erratic shifts will not excuse the extra spending, you'll manage with 1bed surely.
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Has to be two rooms unfortunately. It's not fun being constantly woken up while you're on nights.

Being looking at Stoke Newington and there's some nice options there, though can't see any night buses. Forgot to say that we'll be on £24k a year each, so I guess we should be able to afford £400pw between us?

Good info anyway, thanks GD.
 
redeye_uk said:
Then why not live in Essex and commute into London for the other half a year? Work out cheaper
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I was going to suggest similar.

Move to Watford and travel into london.

Would easily find a nice place for a grand or slightly less.
 
redeye_uk said:
Then why not live in Essex and commute into London for the other half a year? Work out cheaper
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Because we'll be working in different times at Harlow, Chelmsford, Romford and Central + East Ldn. Liverpool St Station seems to be quite the focal point for those places ;).

Plus, no car.
 
Well if I had a combined income of 48k I wouldnt be spending £400pw on rent. Thats the best part of 23k a year and thats before any other bills have been paid.

Have a look at Holloway or Highbury, might be able to get something for £300pw near tube/overground
 
joxang said:
Has to be two rooms unfortunately. It's not fun being constantly woken up while you're on nights.

Being looking at Stoke Newington and there's some nice options there, though can't see any night buses. Forgot to say that we'll be on £24k a year each, so I guess we should be able to afford £400pw between us?

Good info anyway, thanks GD.
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I used to rent for £410 per week around the area, and can firmly say that not only will a combined earning of £48k per year leave you struggling to pay for everythng, but I'd also suggest that your social/non-working life will suffer as a result of forking out so much.

How about finding a one bedroom place with a large-ish living room - then whack a comfortable sofa-bed in there.

Based on where you've got to go to work in Essex and Liverpool St. I'd probably suggest somewhere with a national rail line as well as a tube - Bethanl Green - a place like this
 
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