London living on a budget?

[shepherdessbush]

Currently in London and I have fallen in love, particularly with West London. The period properties, the buzz, the markets etc etc. Been looking in estate agents windows and can't believe the price of what look like very ordinary flats/houses and keep wondering who can afford to live here. Can two teachers for example rent a 2 bed flat for £2000 a month and still have enough left over to live? Or is London only for those who are very rich or very poor?

London salaries, certainly starting salaries, don’t compensate for the additional property costs sufficiently. But there is generally greater earning potential in London.

Anyone starting out (or indeed, much longer - I’m 16 years into my career and on a decent wage!) needs to look outside of the glamorous / well known parts of London and look at the ‘unfashionable’ outer boroughs, a commutable distance to their place of work.

Double Rooms in decent shared houses with other young professionals are available from around £750 per month, perhaps closer to £900 for en suite. Studios from £1250 and 1 bed from around £1400. It IS still expensive compared to the rest of the country but more achievable than some other parts of London

Where a lot of people on the council waiting list struggle is that they only want a place in their own small part of London that they know. So of course places are going to become vacant very infrequently. I believe as well that while some HA’s work with the council and offer their properties through the council list, some others don’t. You need to register and join their list separately.

OP, 2 ordinary teachers with no external help can't afford nice areas in London zones 2-3, not even rent in my opinion. It is all about making choices. Surely you knew that you are going to have a small salary as a teacher unless you become a headmaster. You've probably chosen this career because of other advantages.
You can consider zone 5-9 or suburbs. Some of them quite nice.

@myworkingtitle

My cousin & her partner are both teachers, they rent a room in a shared house in Green Lanes (must be about zone 2). They won’t ever buy in London because they don’t have family money to make up the deposit.

Plenty of people who buy in London don’t have family money for a deposit. I didn’t get any help.

A room in a shared house in Green Lanes should be very affordable. Your cousin and partner should be able to save a decent amount there.

You get a lot of young professionals who complain they can’t afford to save yet they live in expensive apartments in fashionable areas and spend what little disposable income they have on eating out and holidays.

Most people living and working in London realise they can’t buy in nice areas in Z1 or Z2 and end up buying in much more affordable areas a little further out. Still decent areas but not as trendy.

Those who really want to buy property young do manage it. They rent in cheaper areas and save hard, then buy further out and are not picky about what they can afford, many going for ex-local authority. Obviously if they have children before they get to that stage they will always be fighting and uphill battle.

DH and I moved to London after finishing university in 2002, and shared a 2-bed flat in pre-gentrified Herne Hill with two friends for a year, then in Vauxhall, then in Lambeth, after which we’d scraped together a deposit for a tiny flat in a grungy bit of Finsbury Park.

Nice 2 bed period flat on Rightmove for £1,500 a month in Kensal Rise OP.

What lilibet said.

What's your income, I know teaches on 50-60k

@PatronSaint you are similar timing to me, I was 2001. Me and my friends were scattered across some pretty ropey areas for quite a few years!

Shepherds Bush is an expensive area though - it's not hugely nice in and of itself but has all the spillover from Notting Hill etc.

Plenty of teachers live in London, but if you want a 4 bed house you'll just need to be further out, there are nice places in the burbs too!

What tricky about London that for older people it was easier to get on the ladder & they also gained a lot of equity which helped them move up. Difficulty now even with a high salary is high rents & having to save a big deposit.

Op, yes I know lots of people who have children in shared houses. And families who live on narrow boats. People make do

I just did a flat search in London, for a 2 bed with upper budget of 1500. Saw quite a few places in South London zones 2-4, eventually rented in Zone 3. I think the key is knowing the area -- we previously lived in South London for a long time so we weren't just looking at the best known neighbourhoods.

People like to say you can't possibly live in London without having mega money but plenty of people do.

@shepherdessbush DH and I bought a 2 bed flat in London zone 3 last year. We are in our 20s so our combined income is 73k, which is probably not far off your combined income. No baby yet though, but i do have colleagues who own a house, have a baby (pay full childcare)) and earn around the same level (they usually live in a house in a place in zone 5/6 though- sutton or dartford).

Our mortgage is £1000, it would cost £1500 to rent the same apartment. I would say £2k is quite high for rent, i would not want to spend more than £1500. Generally most londoners on modest incomes live in zone 3-6; of course the further out you go, the more you pay for commuting so its important to do your calculations. Also i find that central london rents have stagnated and transport fares have gone up so it might be more affordable sometimes to rent a small place in zone 2 than a larger place in zone 5 but it depends on your priorities.

The key to cheap london living is access to cheap and good amenities. Most areas in zone 2 and 3 fall within this category, you need to be able to go to lidl/aldi by bus and only pay £1.50. You need to be able to get cinema tickets for £5. If you eat out, you need to generally eat at £10 and below places. You need to walk a lot. If you live in a place with only a tesco express and its hard/difficult to get anywhere else or you need a car, it would be harder to save money. the average british motorist spends £160 on his/her car every month excluding finance and depreciation costs, and possible ad hoc repair costs, so if you live in a place where each person needs a car, thats £320 on top of tube fares (which most londoners have to pay as they work in central areas where its not really feasible to drive in).

Property costs in London are very expensive but at the same time we have a wider range of shops for all sorts of budgets, so we save on that aspect. the museums are free.