Job relocation to London. Compensation?

I live in Aberdeen which is quite expensive due to the 'oil bubble economy'. However in order to live in London I'd need at least twice my current wage and even then I wouldn't have the same quality of life.

I wouldn't be able to afford to buy a two bedroom flat down there as I've managed here for my studies. Nor would I be able to find a place with a short walking time to work. On top of all that, having been to London for conferences before I am not a fan of the city either. So I'd be asking for a 300 % wage to even consider it!
 
Another option for the OP is to get his company to pay relocation costs and increase his pay. Then jump to a better paying competitor a year later. Although there are more people down here competing for jobs there are also more jobs and with hhigher salaries.
 
Amazing to think that in 2004-2007 as a student I rented for between £350-£450 per month a double room in Camberwell and Brixton. Not on an estate either - nice big Victorian town house style with gardens.

As with anything, the more money you have the better. I think that whilst you can live in London very cheaply, to enjoy London, and not feel like you're just surviving I would probably say that you'd want £36K per year if you're sharing a flat or house, going up to £60K if you want your own place somewhere reasonably central. I personally would probably want to house or flat share and enjoy the extra disposable income versus my own place anyway.

The issue with going out much further is that whilst you can rent or even buy an apartment for the equivalent of £1k/month, you then end up spending more time and money commuting. I talk about 'enjoying' London and really you want to be located somewhere where you can be central in 30 minutes or less, so that usually means Zone 2. This gives you access to so many more "random" encounters, events and fun nights out that living further out you might have to plan ahead for, or think about heading home earlier than you want to avoid a 3 nightbus journey home.
 
DJMK4 said:
Yet Cardiff was rated the best city in the UK this year ;)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-29174074


I agree London has a lot to offer, but so does most other cities, most of the stuff you listed, can be found in other cities, its just that London probably has more of it. If you want the "more of it" I would rather live outside, and just visit :p

I dont think I could be hassled to pay the premium of living in London, when I could just as easily live outside and commute in for work, or to visit.
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Those ratings are always a bit suspect. London was rated best in the world recently too. It depends what you want. I wasn't that fussed about London when I first moved there. After a few years it got in me. Now I won't be leaving.
 
Lots of places in zone 3-4 are rentable for under £900 for nice sized converted house. Yes you have to commute a bit longer but to get to work for 830 leaving home at 730-745 isn't really early anyway.

But yes in fact I take it back you need to earn at least £150k plus 45% bonus to scrape the bottom of the barrel. I must be loaded then! :eek:

London is exciting and full of life but also a bore to live in. Just ask for a London salary and stay in the countryside!
 
delta0 said:
Those ratings are always a bit suspect. London was rated best in the world recently too. It depends what you want. I wasn't that fussed about London when I first moved there. After a few years it got in me. Now I won't be leaving.
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Put me up in a nice part of london, quiet, surrounded by gardens I may agree, I hate living in loud places, I dont mind being in loud places, just living in loud places.

You can get 3-4 maybe 5 if you want bedroom houses with huge gardens here for a fraction of the cost of what you pay in London, albiet the salaries wont be as good as London, but then cost is higher in London, and frankly London would stress me out a little :p
 
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Freefaller said:
Crystal Palace, Dulwich and Putney. You are being realistic if you want to live very well.

If you want to live in London you can do so for a lot less. Don't get me wrong I wouldn't want to go back to earning £30k and live in London, but it is more than easy to do. Still was able to go to the butchers, and go on holiday, and stay at the gym, you just have to be a bit more careful with your budgeting and sacrifice a few things. You learn to be more savvy, get deals, speak to people and get discounts. Easily done. But I'm a confident person that doesn't mind asking for discounts or being "cheeky".

I did however suggest he should ask for relocation costs in my previous post.

But sweeping statements like you need to earn £60k to live in London is pretty daft.

Sure you won't live in a massive place, you won't necessarily be able to fly first class, or dine in Michelin starred restaurants once a month as some of us enjoy, or own a car - but a lot of these things are just luxuries.

Having a roof over your head, paying bills, and buying food, and having some disposable income is completely achievable on more modest incomes.

You've skewed your perceptions owing to what you're earning and the lifestyle you are now living. I could easily say you need more than £50k to live well in London as well, but the fact of the matter is you don't.

ANYWAY all this is irrelevant to the OP, as has been suggested he should see what the equivalent role is being paid and ask for a commensurate salary not only for the move but to add a bit of London weighting so as to not adversely affect the move (it costs money to move after all!).
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Much more representative of my experience of living in London albeit that was upto 2006.

Rent (covered most utils except electricity), council tax and monthly travel came to just under £1000 - the latest bills I could find from a quick dig came to £920 (and 14 pence). That was for a fair size 2 bedroom flat in one of the nicer parts of Bromley and could get into the city most days in about 20minutes direct on the train.

Did mean a little bit of walking some times and paying for the odd out of zone travel (rather than paying monthly for the whole zone) to keep costs down a bit.

I still managed to live pretty comfortably - could afford to drop into say Rhodes 24 or the like once a month if I'd wanted to and at one point blew 5 figures on a speaker setup, etc. and was earning under 60 grand (well under).

Did help a bit that my sister worked in the promotion business and I could get into most of the major clubs and a lot of other night out stuff on concession/VIP rates - doing that kind of thing regularly out of your own pocket will chew a big hole in a sub 60 grand salary if that is your life style.

EDIT: Obviously would cost a bit more now.
 
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As FF said, parts of Zone 3/4 is decent and very affordable (even to buy). I live in Zone 3 (rent in this area is low) and I can get into central within 1 hour.
 
triggerthat said:
As FF said, parts of Zone 3/4 is decent and very affordable (even to buy). I live in Zone 3 (rent in this area is low) and I can get into central within 1 hour.
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Was living on the edge of 4/5 though with a little walking only needed to pay for Z1-4 or with a little more walking Z1-3 and commute into the city was comfortably within an hour - infact on a clear run and even most days unless it was especially busy it was only 20 minutes on the train.

If was being relocated back there I'd guess transport costs in the region of ~£200 a month and extra towards rent and so on at again around about £200 a month would be what I'd be looking for as a minimum.
 
You know you can live in a town/ village outside London and commute into central London in an hour right? :p

I currently live in zone 6 and have an hour commute, it's not the best at all! Do you guys love South of the river? It seems to take significantly longer to get anywhere (and especially North of the river) down there. Even the mainline trains run slow. :confused:.
 
soundb0y said:
I've just moved to zone 2 for a few months and it still takes me an hour to get to work. I hate it :(
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If you are renting, this is not Londons fault, it's yours for not doing a 2 min check on tfl journey planner before taking the flat.

I'm guessing you live in a random part of South east, miles away from the awesome South London transport network?

the general rule is if your door to door commute is less than an hour you're in the norm. Luckily there are tablets these days which makes it less boring, but unfortunately doesn't make it any less uncomfortable.
 
Freefaller said:
I very much live in the real world I suggest you reel your attitude in very swiftly poppet.
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Excuse me?

Don't patronise me son.

You clearly made a rather silly statement and a few other people commented on the fact it's not true.

Just some general advice - if you don't actually know much about the subject matter it's best to keep your mouth shout.

Step away from the keyboard.
 
Amp34 said:
You know you can live in a town/ village outside London and commute into central London in an hour right? :p

I currently live in zone 6 and have an hour commute, it's not the best at all! Do you guys love South of the river? It seems to take significantly longer to get anywhere (and especially North of the river) down there. Even the mainline trains run slow. :confused:.
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South/South East was very hit and miss from my experience - where I was was awesome but not much over a mile east of me there was a whole corridor without proper direct links to the city and you'd have to beat about the bush and add about 50 minutes to your journey time.
 
I think some people are getting hung up on how much it costs to live comfortably in London. That doesn't help the OP at all. Sure, it might be do-able on his current salary, but why should he take a drop in living standards/his ability to save. He should evaluate how much it would take to maintain his current lifestyle and go in with that as a minimum figure.

If I had to guess, like everyone else is doing, (and assuming his current salary is 45k), I'd put 60 as the minimum and go in with something specific-sounding like 66k. If you avoid rounding to the nearest 5k it implies you've done the maths and tried to come up with a specific number so the negotiations start off a little narrower.
 
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