Am i being unrealistic? (Renting)

SideWinder

SideWinder

SideWinder

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Myself and my girlfriend are contemplating about what to do after University. We both want to stay in London, we both want to get jobs in London and at the moment we're deciding whether to live together or not - big step. :)

Anyways, looking at a few websites, it seems that for what we want, it'll be £350 a week / 2 = £175 a week x 4 = £700 a month per person. Obviously there is council tax, internet/tv, electric/gas/water and other daily outgoings. But the way I am seeing it...if we are both on at least £17k a year (after tax), we will be earning £1416 a month. Half of that going on rent and a bit more for bills, leaving around £500 or so each - roughly.

Neither of us drive and don't intend to own a car as it is far too expensive in London.

Am i being unrealistic? Obviously £350 a week is a ballpark figure and we're still pondering. It would be better to live with others and we certainly haven't ruled it out but just wondering is someone has tried living on such a budget before?
 
£350 a week? :o
Me and my other half couldn't afford anything over £400 a month between us! We are on low paying jobs tho.

I don't know about the prices in London area but I would always say it's better to get a smaller (and maybe less 'good' place) than get stuck with too much in bills to pay. Atleast to begin with as you never know how things turn out and if it's the first place you are going to rent :)
 
So pretax you both need to be earning around £24k each or thereabouts to come out with around £1450/mth assuming you also have a student loan (as that will come out of your pay cheques, regardless).

Are you pretty confident that both of you will land £24k salaries straight out of uni? I work in London and many of my colleagues live there, some of them council tax is around £3k/year. Once you add all of your bills up, living in London is a lot more than £350/week. Sure, London is great but if I were you I'd either consider moving out of town (though if working in the city you'll be needing money for travel [£3k/year) or finding a house share until you figure out your expenses accurately.
 
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Kol said:
So pretax you both need to be earning around £24k each or thereabouts to come out with around £1450/mth assuming you also have a student loan (as that will come out of your pay cheques, regardless).

Are you pretty confident that both of you will land £24k salaries straight out of uni? I work in London and many of my colleagues live there, some of them council tax is around £3k/year. Once you add all of your bills up, living in London is a lot more than £350/week. Sure, London is great but if I were you I'd either consider moving out of town (though if working in the city you'll be needing money for travel [£3k/year) or finding a house share until you figure out your expenses accurately.
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Exactly. Don't be overconfident, it will sting you. Maybe get a 'ok' place until you both got safe jobs and stand on solid grounds generally in your lives.
 
Sirrel Squirrel said:
Aye, nice 2 bed flats further out are less than £700 a month.
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What can be defined as 'nice' ? Some of the flats I looked at were awful no matter how far I went out. So just stayed where I lived already and even here it's more than that :/
 
I see you are in Putney so I assume you wish to stay west.

Putney, as you are no doubt aware is really pricey.

You want to be looking out further west past Hammersmith. Acton is an ok place to live and a lot cheaper, but still an easy ride on the tube into town.
 
A student loan will take about £80 a month off you on that type of wage to be honest. You might need to look at things a little cheaper TBH. Plus I guess your assuming you both will find jobs?
 
Rent usually takes up the most part of your outgoins in London.
If you live really far out, the money saved will be negated by tube costs, unless you live somewhere accesible by train, like most of south london..

I'd advise renting a 2 bed flat and letting the other bedroom.
 
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As others have said, you will need to be on at least £24,000 to get the kind of income you're expecting - more if you want to contribute to your pension. Remember, at £24,000 you will be paying around £75 per month towards your student loan, and ~£175 in national insurance.

For a house that is being rented out at around £1500 per month, you're looking at around £350 - £400 per month of council tax. You also need to account for gas, water and electricity (which combined probably won't come to nearly as much as the council tax, say £100 per month total), as well as the various other bits and pieces like food and travel.

Anyway, it looks to me that things are going to be tight. It's a while since I lived in London, but I remember tube travel being very expensive. How will you and your missus be getting around?

For me, I'd want both of us to be on around £30k before I would consider living in the kind of place you're looking at.
 
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You can definitely find cheaper, even in zone 2, if you're willing to move out of west London. You get what you pay for though. That budget does sound very tight though.
 
Week -> Month isn't weekly * 4. It's weekly * 52 / 12. Which takes your rent from 1.4k a month to 1.5k.

I am looking to move to Camden/Islington am expecting the monthly expenses for just 1 person to be 1.3k rent and 1k for other other bills and expenses (not counting 'going out' money).
 
get a third person,

i lived in camden on my terrible 18k (pre tax) salary and i was fine for a year. So no, i don't think you're being unreasonable.
 
Have you worked out what bills will be? you may well be surprised just how high they are.
Also how about travelling, a season tube/bus ticket is not cheap.
It looks a lot to live comfortably. Do a spreadsheet and write down everything you and your GF spends for the next month.

Other option is to get a short term let on a shared house with you sharing one bedroom. Be cheaper and you can settle into London for a few months. Then if you decide you can afford it, get a flat after that.
 
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