Moving to London from within UK

CONSOLE_BUTCHER · 1 Feb 2020 at 07:52

Anyone here got any tips on how I could move to London from within the UK? Not looking for anything flash for a single person, just a decent space with basic stuff, somewhere in the city or on the outskirts and rent in gonna have to be the way to go but I only have £950 a month .

Getting registered as well as with a Gp is something I need above most things too.

Let it all flood in, thanks. (Y)

Flibster · 1 Feb 2020 at 12:51

£950 will get you a nice place 1/2 bed flat around Hitchin and Letchworth area. Hell, £800 should do it.
Train links to London are better they were a year ago when they buggered about with the trains. *gnashing of teeth* About 30 minutes to Kings Cross/St Pancreas
Both are nice places, Hitchin is busier and has more shops, Letchworth is quieter.

Avoid Stevenage.

Terminal_Boy · 1 Feb 2020 at 13:32

Avoiding Stevenage is sage advice. Hitchin has more life to it than Letchworth which always felt like a load of housing estates surrounding a few shops.

As Flibster posted, Hitchin is great if the trains are running well. If they’re not, you’re stuffed.

£950 PCM isn’t going to get you anything in a decent part of central London.

tom_nieto · 1 Feb 2020 at 20:32

Where are you working in London? If you're living in the commuter belt, you won't want to add a huge cross London tube journey to the daily grind if possible.

img · 2 Feb 2020 at 09:53

though it's 5.5k for a season ticket from hitchin and you need to have the killer instinct to get the only free seat.

LuckyBenski · 4 Feb 2020 at 00:52

I may be wrong about the outskirts but from what I can see you won't be living along for under £1000 anywhere inside zones 1-6.

Can you tell us more - do you have a job lined up, do you need to get to a particular area or built up towns etc?

BongoHunter · 4 Feb 2020 at 01:44

I think with that budget if you want to be in say zone 1-4 your best bet is a house or flat share if you want something nice and well located.

Even doing this short term can be useful to let you suss out an area or work journey. With London I've always felt west is best place to be, I'm not a big fan of busy city living but I found Chiswick to be good to live in, Richmond is also nice - though both are expensive they have pretty good transport links.

Rroff · 4 Feb 2020 at 01:57

Living in London is not cheap - gonna struggle at that kind of money to find somewhere that is close enough you aren't dealing with a tiring and costly commute. Some companies will pay towards your commute costs in London but that is pretty hit and miss if an employer does that.

My knowledge on the matter is over a decade old now but been there done that and as much as I love London after ~4 years I'd had enough and moved out again.

EDIT: Looking at my old area around Bromley - you are either looking at a house share (actually some fairly decent sized rooms) at around £600/m or starting at £1000/m really for a decent flat/apartment - there are some around 900 though. Bare in mind though the rent will almost certainly get pushed up ("in line with the area BS") in a year or two another £100-200/m unless you don't mind moving around a bit to keep costs down.

AndyCr15 · 4 Feb 2020 at 07:56

As said, much more info is needed. Do you need to be near a tube station? This has a massive effect on rent costs. If you can get a place away from a station and cycle or something like that, you could save yourself quite a lot in £££. Also, the obvious thing of nicer areas are going to cost a lot more than the not so nice areas. You often don't work out how nice and area is until you move in, so me careful with that one. If something is cheap, there's likely a reason.

mid_gen · 4 Feb 2020 at 08:07

Really, really depends on where your work is, London is big.

I wouldn't ever voluntarily submit to an overland train commute, apart from the eye-watering cost of season tickets, rammed trains, regular suicides etc, it's just a miserable way to exist. If you're going to do London, then live in London. I would go for a house/flat share in a decent area over a place to yourself in a rough area.

Vanilla · 5 Feb 2020 at 17:55

You can easily get a double room in a house/flat share for £950pm. Consider it for 6-12 months to see what you want to do.

Where will you be working?

- While you may get more for your money further out often the travel time is huge and it can be costly if you have to get overland.
- Some areas are really fun and depending on where your job is your commute may be rapid (don't underestimate this!). Brixton, Clapham, Camden - all fun.

Psycho Sonny · 5 Feb 2020 at 22:39

Tbh it sounds to me like he doesn't have a job. Or one that involves going to a regular place of work that isn't within the home.

lau604 · 6 Feb 2020 at 00:14

hmmm £950 a month is gonna be tough if you wanna live alone, even Dartford is around £1K+ a month

Rroff · 6 Feb 2020 at 00:25

mid_gen said:
Really, really depends on where your work is, London is big.

I wouldn't ever voluntarily submit to an overland train commute, apart from the eye-watering cost of season tickets, rammed trains, regular suicides etc, it's just a miserable way to exist. If you're going to do London, then live in London. I would go for a house/flat share in a decent area over a place to yourself in a rough area.

Ah the memories - I used to fortunately just miss the crowds overland - terminating Waterloo East - it was like a horde of zombies on London Bridge, etc. I'd be so glad I wasn't on the next train and/or going the other direction.

mid_gen · 6 Feb 2020 at 08:50

Rroff said:
Ah the memories - I used to fortunately just miss the crowds overland - terminating Waterloo East - it was like a horde of zombies on London Bridge, etc. I'd be so glad I wasn't on the next train and/or going the other direction.

I commuted in from Basingstoke for a while, and from Reading for a bit too. It's miserable. Everyone I know that has done it is a wreck of a human being, constantly tired and ****** off. Not worth it at all. If you really must work in London, then live in it. If you can't afford to live in it, then don't work in it.

Living in Barnes and commuting to the City had the inestimable pleasure of getting on at the start of the Hammersmith & City line so getting a seat every morning, and just donning headphones and closing eyes to ignore the madness until I hopped off at Aldgate East, was just about tolerable.

fastwunz · 6 Feb 2020 at 14:19

Epsom, Banstead etc - loads of places in budget - and jolly nice it is too. For now anyway.

nightrider1470 · 7 Feb 2020 at 20:41

London the worst place on earth to live... Not nice people at all... Move to the North

hornetstinger · 7 Feb 2020 at 20:58

Don't know how people on nmw live in London, I checked what I could buy for what I paid for my two bed semi detached housw.

A run down single garage.

LuckyBenski · 7 Feb 2020 at 21:02

hornetstinger said:
Don't know how people on nmw live in London, I checked what I could buy for what I paid for my two bed semi detached housw.

A run down single garage.

They do it by not buying houses. This forum is weird with the sheer number of people who think buying is the norm.

ShiWarrior · 7 Feb 2020 at 22:36

CONSOLE_BUTCHER said:
Anyone here got any tips on how I could move to London from within the UK?

hire a mover ?
or hire a large van and do it yourself?