London Based Mumsnetters - Can he live on £2100?

[BruthasTortoise]

I was hoping for some advice please. My son has been offered an amazing paid internship in London with a leading media company. It's the sort of opportunity he would never get here in Northern Ireland and we really want him to take it. Is it possible for him to live and work in London on a salary of £21000? That would be loads for a starter / internship salary at home but I've heard horror stories about London prices and I dont really know where to start. He's not fussy about where he lives (although i would obviously like him somewhere safe) but would need to travel into the city centre for work. We could afford to sub him 150-200 most months. Could anyone recommend areas to start looking for accommodation and any other tips please? Thanks so much!

Typo in the title its definitely £21,000!

My first job in London I was on 19K, went up to 24K after a year and felt rich!
So it's doable. I paid about £600 to rent a room so had about £700 left per month. But travel was £180ish. So not loads of money left over but certainly doable if you don't have lots of other things to pay.

Where abouts in London is the job?

Yes it’s doable but he would be living in cheaper areas in a house share.

He would be based in Hammersmith I think. The details are a bit vague at the minute as hes only just had the offer.

Frankier88 he had no other expenses just his living costs when he's there. I'm assuming he wouldn't need to take his car and would just rely on public transport? Thanks!

Yes, completely fine. A house share. That’s the starting salary for a graduate in the company I work for- also media.

Will that be about £1.5k per month after tax?

That will be tight but providing he can rent a room for about £700 it will be doable.

Definitely no need for a car

Yes he’ll be fine! A room with bills included in a house share will cost half that, if he lives around Hammersmith he can walk in (I work in the area and there’s a big range that would be walkable) if he’s sensible about food costs and not eating out constantly he’ll have plenty

Yes and definitely no need for a car

No need for a car and as others have said it will be a house share - is it for a year or a shorter period (as harder to get accom for just 2-3 months but certainly not impossible!)

m.spareroom.co.uk/flatshare/london/hammersmith

By living within walking distance to work he'll save a fortune on travel costs and time compared to a lot of Londoners. There should be cheaper rooms available around Hammersmith, Shepherd Bush etc.

Spareroom is good for finding rooms/house shares.

Thanks for all your help! He's living out for university but still local (because everywhere in NI is local!) so this would be a massive move. The internship is for a full year starting in April

Also DotDotDot is worth a look. If he's happy to be a property guardian and to do some charity volunteer work, it offers cheap accommodation and an interesting experience.

He’ll easily find a room on SpareRoom. Hammersmith/Shepherds Bush area. Or nicer in Barnes or Putney and he can walk over the bridge or get a tube. West London is pretty well connected, and there’s always loads of rooms. Plenty of people in London living on this sort of income at his stage of life

Or he could look for sharing with the owner. More flexible but fewer rights. For example, I have a lodger at the moment, a 22-year-old. They pay 350 a month, with all bills included. Zone 2, double room.

Yes he just needs to look at time out for free and cheap things to do. Join a local parkrun etc etc

Lots of flat shares in Hammersmith and surrounding areas. My son pays £650 in Chiswick (very nice area) for an attic room with en suite in a house share. Your son needs to look on Spareroom. He will easily find something.

Yeah those of us that moved to London as graduates without help from mum and dad- we’ve all done it - that first skint year. Salaries go up quickly in media roles, if you’re good at your job and look for progression.
I went to London on £16k starting salary 10 years ago- it was tight, but fine.

I work in a media agency in London and our starting salary is 19k and the grads seem to manage it .

You can get the bus into Hammersmith from loads of places-it’s a real transport hub. I lived in Barnes/Mortlake area for years-really pretty and much quieter and slightly cheaper to rent as no tube. Was 10 minutes on the bus to Hammersmith and buses ran aaaaalll the time day and night.

He will be fine. A decent house share should be no more than £600. He can live a bit further out (Acton for example would be ok) and cycle in to save travel costs. The only increased cost in London is housing really.