Budgeting for 1 bedroom flat in London, need help

krooton

krooton

krooton

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Leafy outskirts of London
I've only ever lived in house/flat shares for the 6 years I've been in London, and I will be getting a 1 bedroom place with my fiance in a few months.

I'm trying to get an idea of average bill costs for a 1 bedroom (not studio) apartment in London, so if anyone could please help, giving their area and council tax, along with average costs, it would be greatly appreciated :)

Area:
Rent: Can only be determined once we know the other costs.
Council tax:
Phone/Internet: £24
Gas:
Electricity:
Water:

Cheers! :D
 
Area: Stratford, E15
Rent: Mortgage is around £890, rents in my block for similar flats are about £170-£200 pw.
Council tax: £86 a month for Newham tax band A
Phone/Internet: I pay £10.50 for BT phone + £25 for internet
Gas: I don't have gas. :eek:
Electricity: £26 a month with British Gas
Water: Included in my service charge (~£100 a month)

Don't forget TV license too (£11.29pm)!
 
Where do you want to live?

Piece of advice - a 1 bed flat is going to be expensive depending on where you're looking. Also, try to get as many utilities included in the rent as possible.

Currently I live in Muswell Hill in a studio and I pay the following:


Area: Muswell Hill, N10
Rent: £715 per month
Council tax: included in rent
Phone/Internet: No phone line. £23 a month cable internet
Gas: No gas
Electricity: Roughly £30 a month in Summer, £60-£90 a month in Winter.
Water: Included in rent

No TV license because I don't watch TV.
 
We currently houseshare in Tooting, and Wnadsworth has the cheapest council tax in London, but we'd ideally like a nice area, tooting, tooting bec, balham, clapham, wimbledon +south, canada water.

Never lived in north london, so no idea what areas are nice, haha
 
Some parts of Wandworth are nice, some are awful. If you can, look to live in Wandsworth Common and avoid Wandsworth Road all you can. It's horrible.

Likewise try to live in Tooting Bec, not Tooting Broadway. Balham is horrible too.

You could try Putney which is very nice but maybe a little too expensive.
 
I'm in a 1 bedroom flat in Putney.

Area: Putney (Wandsworth Council)
Rent: £1000
Council tax: I don't know exactly. It was about £420 from June till the end of the financial year.
Phone/Internet: £10.50 for BT plus £18 for Be
Gas: No gas stove, hot water + GCH included in rent
Electricity: £60.60 for the last 3 months
Water: Included in rent

Available from the 18th of June btw :) I'm moving to a sharehouse in Earlsfield while my missus is in Finland studying.
 
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drizzy said:
I'm in a 1 bedroom flat in Putney.

Area: Putney (Wandsworth Council)
Rent: £1000
Council tax: I don't know exactly. It was about £420 from June till the end of the financial year.
Phone/Internet: £10.50 for BT plus £18 for Be
Gas: No gas stove, hot water + GCH included in rent
Electricity: £60.60 for the last 3 months
Water: Included in rent

Available from the 18th of June btw :) I'm moving to a sharehouse in Earlsfield while my missus is in Finland studying.
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Ooooh, might be interested, could I have the postcode please? :)
 
£1000 a month for a 1 bed flat? Even including the included utilites... ouch :o
 
Basically, from what friends who've recently done it have told me sharing a one bed place with a girlfriend is probably about the same.

Rent is about the same - i.e. if you were paying 125 a week for your own room in a flat share expect to pay 250 for one bed flat of similar quality. Portion of the council tax/water/broadband other fixed rates is more expensive as you're only splitting the bill in half rather than between 4 or so. Gas is about the same (only two to split the bill but smaller place to heat) electricity is slightly more.

Big reduction however is food costs - if you normally shop/cook for yourself you'll find it is a bit cheaper when doing it between two people.
 
Costs for my 1 bed place are as follows:

Area: Twickenham (TW1)
Rent: £825pcm
Council tax: £105pcm (band C, Richmond has one of the highest council tax rates in the country)
Phone/Internet: £40pcm
Gas: £15pcm
Electricity: £25pcm
Water: £16pcm

This is for an average sized 1 bed place with car park that's <5 mins walk from the train station.
 
Might be easier/cheaper to not just get a 1 bedroom, for £1k a month youan definitely get a 2 bedroom atleast too.
 
syke said:
Might be easier/cheaper to not just get a 1 bedroom, for £1k a month youan definitely get a 2 bedroom atleast too.
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Our debts mean that £800 rent (not including council tax and bills) is about our maximum, unless we can get the others included.

We were going to get a 2 bedroom with a mate, but have decided against it, even though it would have been MUCH cheaper.
 
Depends entirely where you live. I live in Wapping (E1) and you'd be looking at about £300 pw minimum. If you work in the city and it's important for you to be in walking distance then it may be worth it to you... If you're on the other side of London then it would probably be a huge waste of money!

You'd be better off finding an area you want and getting average prices for it (www.foxtons.co.uk, www.rightmove.co.uk, www.primelocation.co.uk).
 
If you're moving in with your fiance surely you'd half the rent no?

My 2 bed place that I'm going to be renting will be for £460 a month (in Crystal Palace) is enormous, has a garden. Bromley council so quite low council tax, and a relatively decent council.

Hunt around - don't fix yourself on one part of London.
 
Freefaller said:
If you're moving in with your fiance surely you'd half the rent no?

My 2 bed place that I'm going to be renting will be for £460 a month (in Crystal Palace) is enormous, has a garden. Bromley council so quite low council tax, and a relatively decent council.

Hunt around - don't fix yourself on one part of London.
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We're pooling our income, and pooling our debts too, so our limits are as calculated.

As for location, I work in Acton, and she works in Kensington, so West london is imperative :(
 
krooton said:
We're pooling our income, and pooling our debts too, so our limits are as calculated.

As for location, I work in Acton, and she works in Kensington, so West london is imperative :(
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Depending on your budget then you may want to look at Acton, there's some pretty reasonable places there. If you've got a bit more money, then maybe West Hamstead area?

Do you absolutely have to live in London? If you work in Acton thats easilly commutable from places like high wycombe which will be half the price of most London places. Kensigntons a bit more of a trip but still not too bad.
 
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