Moving from Bristol to London

[kimonawasko]

Hi everyone

I am after some advice,

My husband, baby and I are moving from Bristol to London. Neither of us are very sure what suburbs or areas to look at for our move. We are thinking areas such as Harrow, Watford, Croydon, Mitchem or Gillingham seem nice? Any suggestions of child friendly and safe areas would be very much appreciated.

Hi OP. Born and bred Londoner here! Firstly, most important question - what is your budget???

The areas you suggest (except for Croydon and Harrow) are more on the outskirts of London really (but obviously cheaper for that reason).

All depends on what you can afford.

Hi pinningwobble

We are looking for a 2 or 3 bedroom place, absolute max budget £1,200/month. Ideally we'd like to find a place £800 - £1,000/month with parking and a small garden.

Any suggestions?

I don't want to crush you here but I think you will really struggle on that budget. I know people who rent for 850 a month in very, very cheap areas of London (Perivale and East Ham, neither of which are very nice) but those are both one bedroom flats with no garden. DP and I rent in North London quite centrally and pay 2000 pcm for a two bedded with a garden. We will be moving to a cheaper area soon to save money for deposit but will still be budgeting 1400 minimum.

Have you looked on right move? I just had a quick scan and while you can get 2 bedrooms for 1200 a month, they are all in pretty nasty areas (plumstead, Dagenham). There are a couple in Croydon but not in nice parts.

Even for 1200 which is your max budget you'll be looking at a 2 bedroom flat in a not very nice area. You will definitely not get a house with a garden and parking unless you can pay significantly more.

Sorry to be blunt but that's unfortunately the reality in London.

Having said that your wages would increase here, do you both work?

Thanks for the advice, yes we will both be working. I will be part time though. Looks like we will definitely need to consider raising out rental budget to the 1600/month mark.

Any suggestions on which suburbs to look at on the outskirts of London?

Tricky to say really as I don't know many of them that well and also anywhere within decent commuting distance to London that's also quite nice (think Watford, St. Albans, chislehurst) is also going to be fairly expensive and you'd then be paying more in travel too.

If it were me - and this is just me - I would be inclined to raise your rental budget to 1400-1600 and get a two bed flat somewhere a bit nicer in London like Forest Hill/Honour Oak which is very green and family friendly and still relatively affordable for London.

DH and I are currently trying to ttc number 1 and when we buy we'll be buying a two bed flat (with garden if we're lucky!). DH earns 80k and I earn 30 but thats all our budget will stretch to in London.

It all depends on what you are looking to get out of the move and what your priorities are. For me personally, I'd rather live in a nicer part of London that was actually in London as opposed to the outskirts, and have a smaller place. But others would obviously live further out or in less nice areas in order to get a bigger place.

Do try chislehurst though, it's very nice and I've seen rental properties for less than 1600.