21, renting alone for the first time advice?

[crazylady7]

Hello!

I am 21 and looking to move out of my childhood home. I do not have a very nice family home situation and i really feel like i am ready to start renting my own place now. I were wondering if anybody had any advice for a 21 year old private renting for the first time? I am looking for somewhere around £700 a month, i have seen plenty of places on rightmove. After tax, car bills and phone bill ( all i really pay out for living at parents ) i have £1750 left to spare. Were wondering if you think me renting alone is doable, spending £700 of that then on rent, and then all other bills that come with running your own place? Any advice? I dont want to be naive in thinking i would be fine moving out when really it isnt doable with the money i earn.. ? I dont really spend money out often either, i just spend time with friends at home, i dont really spend unnecessary money on myself. Thanks so much.

Do you have any savings?

Maybe you should put away what you would spend on rent and bill's for a few months to see how you get on finance wise?

Do an income and expenditure breakdown. The money saving expert website has a brilliant list you can use to help you remember every expense you have or will have when renting.

When you accept a property- do the signing of the contract and picking up of keys at the property. Actually inside it and after you’ve gone round every room and checked that the property has been properly cleaned and any agreed repairs have been done. The agent or landlord should have completed a “check in inventory”. Before you sign the contract, take a copy of the inventory and go round the house/flat and check every single item they have listed. Take your own photos of everything. Once you are happy you can then sign. You are in a good position to do this because if things aren’t right you can walk away from the house and stay with your family until something else comes up.

Well, you're going to be paying for some or all of the following depending on where you live, so price them up - it might affect how much you're willing to budget for rent. I would personally aim for below £700, but depends where you live again.
Electric
Gas/oil heating
Council tax
Water charges
Broadband/phone/TV
TV licence
Contents insurance
Groceries (and not just food, cleaning bits, toilet roll, all sorts)

@grimbles Yeah i have a rent deposit and months rent saved away ready to go somewhere, thats a good idea. I know i could afford the rent and everything but its just getting the full gist of what you really pay out for living fully on your own. Seeing as i never have i dont want to be naive to how much people pay out for to live alone

@IWorkAtTheCheesecakeFactory thanks for the advice with that, would never have thought to do things like that

@Amrythings thanks for the list!! Just seen that online. Wish i could have lower rent but unfortunately living and working in London doesnt help with that at all

I would say definitely doable. DS rented on his own after leaving university, said he'd had enough of sharing and wanted his own space. He was paying about £700 a month then for a 1 bed modernish flat. He didn't have a car then but had fares to work. Like you he isn't a big spender so managed fine. He took an unfurnished property but with white goods, fitted wardrobe, carpet and curtains and bought bed, sofa, tv etc. We chipped in.
My best advice is to photograph everything when you take the flat on and make sure you point out any existing damage/things that need attention if it isn't in the inventory. This should help ensure you get your deposit back at the end.
Good luck in your new home wherever it may be.

thanks for the advice with that, would never have thought to do things like that

I didn't either Until I was caught out really badly by an awful landlord/agent combination. I’ve learned my lesson now! Not all landlords/ agents are bad- I’ve had some great ones but some will try and do the bare minimum if they can get away with it.

Are you wanting to rent in London? If so, £700 isn't going to go far at all. Have you thought of a shared house?

When you do get a place- try and save some money every month into an emergency account. It could be something like electrical failure and all your frozen food gets ruined. Or washing machine breaks! Also useful to have deposit and first months rent in savings for next property as you never know when LL might give you notice.

You're spare money is more than our families take-home wages!!! You'll be fine.

Your *

Hiya London renter here - £700 will not get you a place of your own BUT for 700+ you could get a decent house share (depending on area) and if you’re really lucky bills might be included so budgeting will be even easier, but at the very least bills will be split between the other housemates. Defs worth considering as it’s also a great way to meet people and find that support network it sounds like you’re missing out on at home?

It’s always daunting leaving home.

You will have to pay for;

Rent
Food shopping & household stuff like washing powder etc
Council Tax (you should be able to find out online how much that is for the area you are looking at)
Water rates
Gas
Electric
Internet
Mobile phone
I wouldn’t bother with a TV licence, I’d get Netflix subscription instead
Fuel/mot/tax

You might need to pay for a parking permit if your property doesn’t have parking which can be ££

I’d always recommend trying to save a little each month for a rainy day, even if it’s just £20 you pop in a savings account each month. It does add up and it’s a small safety net

Have you thought about furniture? Sofa, bed, TV , wardrobe?

Some properties will come with white goods such as fridge, washing machine but if your new home doesn’t, you will need to buy them too.

If you need Towels, bedding, plates, glasses or saucepans Wilko are very reasonably priced.

Can you cook? If not you need to learn. Batch cooking and freezing is the best option when living as a single person. Things like jacket potatoes, stir frys, omelettes are good options too.

Yes it should be just about doable on your wage and sounds like you’d be happy away from your family home.

You'll be fine. I live alone (not London but SE) and my bills are much lower than I expected. Less than £300 a month on top of rent, including Netflix, phone contract etc. Then it's just food and travel, a bit of fun money and I save the rest.

What are you going to do for furniture and other bits for the house? I had to buy everything from scratch but luckily had enough saved for this.

I don't mean house I mean flat

That sounds pretty doable. I think car costs are the thing most likely to trip you up, both on regular costs and one-offs. Being in London if your car becomes unaffordable using public transport instead shoud be an option.

When I left home it was heating costs tripped me up. I was very cosy and toasty, though those first three winter months in my high ceilinged Glasgow flat.

I don’t know what is available in your area but here we have lots of second hand furniture places (also gumtree and Facebook market place as well as eBay) you can find some really great pieces of furniture for a few pounds. Brilliant to get you started until you have had a few months to see how your finances are working out.

Bills come to more than you think - about the same as rent in my experience. Food, clothes etc are extra. It's doable on that income but not comfortable, do you need to run a car?

It always ends up being more expensive than you thought it would be. Eg: my first place was a pokey wee one bedroom and coated £470 per month. But with all the bills and a food shop my expenditure was more like £900.

Second: if you have a flat inspection due, some times they just walk in! Eg: once I had forgot and wasn't decent and hadn't even got to the door before this man was unlocking it and walking in!
They will also sometimes contact viewings for new tennants over the month before you leave so be sure to hide your valuables.

Read reviews for estate agents before you pick any place. Ask them things about privacy and their response rate to repairs ect... but be aware they can bullshit so defo read online reviews.

Even an awesome flat with cheap rent isn't worth it if your estate agents get poor reviews online.

*conduct

I would agree with PP who have mentioned renting a room in someone's flat or house as a first step out of home as you will have a lot of things all set up for you such as internet. It would be a lot cheaper and you might then be able to save a deposit to buy somewhere that way. A good house or flat share can be quite sociable as well, which you might enjoy. The site Spare Room will give you some ideas of cost. If you really want your own place, then obviously you have the money for it, you will be fine.

Oh and (especially if you don't drive) make sure there is a cheap or selection of cheap food shops nearby.

If there is only an expensive one, your bills will be much higher.

The more choice the better as you can get fed up with the produce from just one store pretty fast.

Oh my thank you for the amazing advice!!!! This has been very helpful. Will definitely be buying second hand furniture for the time being.

For those asking, i will stay just outside of London, thats how i am finding £700 rent prices.

Really do not want to house share at all. Not for me that! But i mean if i were desperate and couldnt afford my own place i would. But if i dont have too, id much rather not x