Considering moving to London - totally clueless

[spingiscomming]

I'm currently in Paris. Okay where I am - but looking for a change.

I'm 29 and single.

I haven't lived in the UK since childhood - and that was outside London.

I've been offered a job in London offices near Edgware road.

Salary of 70k brut - 49,136 net per year - 4,094 net per month.

I have quite a decent standard of living in Paris on a similar take home but my transport card is paid and I have a subsided canteen and a gym membership and a mutuelle (private health).
New job would pay my moving costs.

I've given a basic breakdown of what/how I spend per month.

Could I afford a similar standard of living in London - I'm open to living up to 35 minutes away from Edgware road by public transport - and know that I'll have to factor in higher transport costs.

I don't need a massive apartment - I'm currently in 50m2 - and could deal with 40m2 - I do not want to flat/houseshare.

• Pretty central but quite small 1 bed flat with tiny bathroom + bills + Netflix + phone etc per month -> 1900 pm
• Taxe habitation (council tax) 980 per year -> 82pm
• 6ish European weekends away per year -> 200 p/m
• A couple of weeks in the summer in rural France 600 ish euros with

transport -> 50 p/m

• Eat out a couple of times a week -> 200pm

-Theatre about once a month -> 30pm -Drinks out -> 200pm

• Food/Cleaning stuff/Toiletries shop -> 240pm
• Taxis/Uber -> 90pm
• Shoes/clothes/makeup -> 100pm
• Random (Canteen/Coffees/magazines/books) -> 200pm

-Cleaning lady once a week - 150pm I manage to save about 650 per month

Mumsnetters - What could my life look like in London ?

Thankyou for your insight!

With apologies for the multiple posts...

On the healthcare issue, you would need to establish ordinary residence before being entitled to everything NHS-y. But if you are a BritCit and drawing a UK taxable salary you should be ok.

I also have mixed astigmatism so I need my glasses - I’m not sure I need to see the ophtalmo every year though because my vision has been stable and I’ve been warring the same glasses for over 5 years now. But I’ll also check that out.

So so far on my checklist-

Healthcare
Pension
Transport
Rent

And if not living costs should be pretty similar - bar maybe eating out - that I can deal with and perhaps supermarket shops ?

@Youwantshoesinashoeshop
I am à British citizen so should be okay I think.

They want an answer by Tuesday - so I’m trying to work things out fast!

Fuck!
Good for you! Good luck.
29 single and £70k job is major.
Double what I earn!
Enjoy London!

A private psychiatrist will be a lot more than £60 per appointment, more like £200 or even more.

On the NHS side there has been a move towards discharging as many people as possible from the specialist mental health services back to primary care i.e. GP for long term care. Especially as you can clearly hold down a pretty high level job, they are unlikely to consider you would be well enough just be monitored by your GP. And unfortunately a lot of GPs are not great with mental health care although you may be lucky and find a good one (you will need to chose one within the catchment area of where you live though).

Just be aware that due to the higher cost, the NHS can be reluctant/unwilling to prescribe some medications and will insist on prescribing something cheaper instead. This may impact you (depending on what meds you take) and you may need to get private prescriptions.

I think it's already been mentioned that some private healthcare policies don't cover pre-existing conditions. Or they have a £ limit on the amount they will cover per year per condition. So you may need to factor in that your anti-depressants and psych appts may cost you more in London than you currently pay in Paris. However, you're earning more than enough to cover these additional costs and there's plenty of fat in your expenditure that you could trim if this ever becomes an issue.

London is a fabulous city but very different from Paris (where I've also lived). The sheer size of London means it can take longer to get anywhere so bear that in mind when you set time limits on commuting. 30 mins is considered a short commute by London standards.

Ah now... mental health.

Service very very underfunded in the UK. I speak from experience. I sound similar to you, high functioning but chronic condition managed totally by meds.

If you are stable and see a psych 2x per year that isnt going to cost much, even pay-as-you-go private. Most insurance will exclude mental health conditions in my experience.

GPs can prescribe ongoing mood stabilisers here and will do LFTs so all good on that score. If they will not prescribe (maybe initially?) for any reason then they will refer you to secondary care.

I have found London GPs about a million times better than Gps in other areas.

A word on perinatal mental health care if that eve might be an issue for you. ..

It is appalling. I'm not sure it is much better in any other EU countries excepting the nordics but it is worth bearing in mind.

I notice you were thinking about Zurich - that would be very much more expensive than Paris or London.

London has more "fast/cheap" food than France, good meals are more expensive.

London is also a lot more interesting than Zurich;)

Given Brexit etc and that you like visiting Zurich Berlin sounds a better bet!

Where are most of your friends?

£60 hour is for counselling, psychiatry will be much more.

V few brits see private gynaecologists, and that will cost £££.

I used to pay £200pm for my commute from zone 5 to zone 1 but that was 5 years ago. I think with that kind of money you could rent in zone 3/4 easily so that would mean less money spent on travel.

Totally doable on that salary. Know a couple of under 30s who work and live in London on more or less half of that. They both pay around 1k pm for 1 bed flats in very nice areas in zones 4- 6. You might want to be closer in but that will come at a cost, either financial or quality of area.

Sounds like a great opportunity.

Op check out rightmove and select rentals. You can search by map within the site so can limit search to areas north (easier commute to Edgware Road) than south and see where tube stations are etc.
Your figures look ok but cleaning bill per month is unusual and probably not necessary for a small flat ? I live very central where rent would be higher but zone 2 on tube should fit the bill. Your restaurant per month looks a bit low to me for London ?

Thankyou all - I’ll look into thing and reply later - just meeting friends.

Re cleaning bill 150 a month is 10 hours at 15 euros per hour for the cleaning lady + the équivalant of her NI that I claim back from my tax bill here - she does 2 hours a week plus ironing - because if not I’m a domestic disaster - I hate mess and dirt - and even though I’m not dirty - I am messy - and I think that even in a small apartment I would need that level of help to keep on top of things...

My cleaner charges £12/h in zone 5 (but does full days so rate might be higher if only for 3h)

I doubt you'll get private insurance covering a pre-existing medical condition. I know the one I have states that I am not covered for pre-existing stuff.

Council tax needn't be that high but varies from borough to borough. Generally, you'll get a 25% discount on single occupancy so I don't think it'll be more than Paris for a one-bed property.

Working near Edgware Rd, I'd think that could just rent within walking distance of work. For example, this flat is on for 14oo/month. Very central, close to Hyde Park etc

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-to-rent/property-63211284.html

If you walked to work, you wouldn't use public transport all the time. Instead of buying a season ticket, you could just tap your debit/credit card when getting on the bus/into tube station.

Look at flats in Southwark (around Great Suffolk Street - very central and good value for London) - enjoy!

Hi Op - just on the psychiatrist I think a lot of them are nearer to £350 - £400 for initial private appointments with £200 for follow ups.

If you're long term stable you're unlikely to need regular psych appts in Uk. Gp can prescribe.