Is this do-able for London?

[WitheringTights000]

Hi all,

Just looking for some advice regarding living in London!

I live in the UK (not mainland UK) in quite a small and boring city.

I'm 30, single and want to move somewhere fun and lively! Everyone here is married and having kids....nothing wrong with that of course but I'm not at that stage!

My salary in London would be 45k. I would not be able to share a flat/house as have a bladder condition so it would not work for me. I would need to live alone.

Is it do-able on that salary? I hear conflicting reports. I would probably be able to bring some savings of just under/around 10k.... but im guessing that won't last long in London.

If London isn't do-able does anyone know of any lively/fun cities in the UK I could live in, also where I could get about by foot and not need a car!

Thank you in advance

Maybe your annual salary needs to be 32 times the monthly rent? If so, you could rent for up to £1400/month on roughly 45K. Or it’s a typo, not sure.

I’m 52 and have lived all over after leaving my small town.

In your shoes I would definitely shoot for London if I was happy with what I could afford accomodation wise in a central enough area to make it worth being in London, please don’t let anyone (property agents) convince you getting a place further out to save money is a good idea.

If London doesn’t look like it will work I’m putting a vote in for Manchester. I personally wouldn’t recommend Leeds or Bristol, both were pretty hard, insular places in my experience, and I say that as someone from a village not far from Leeds.

I know you have a health condition that you say precludes it, but if at all possible (ensuite rooms are more common now than when I was renting) sharing can be a great way of meeting people in a new city in your 30’s. If that’s really impossible I apologise, but I met loads of friends and my husband of 22 years through living in a large shared house in York so…🫣

I haven’t suggested York as a place because much as I loved it, it is very small with loads of students, not much work, and (I believe) a severe shortage of rental accommodation atm.

I wish you all the luck in the world OP!

Flat share with ensuite?

I wouldn't recommend London. On your budget you'd be living so far out from the centre that you'd barely get any of the benefits of living in a buzzing city - it'd barely be better than where you are now, 2 hours from Dublin!

I live in Bristol (initially Easton then St Pauls) and it's brilliant. Really is. Such a massive live music scene and pretty much anything you're into, all within an easy walk/bus/UBER away. But expensive! In your situation, with no particular ties to any one place, I'd be tempted to go North. I have friends living in Manchester, Leeds, Leicester, Sheffield and all of them love where they live! Good luck OP!

OP I'm a Londoner who is so over London

But I disagree that you need to live central to get the benefit. Zone 3/4 borders is the closest I've ever been able to afford and you can still do nightclubbing, theatres etc. it's a very wealthy minority living centrally.

buses are virtually unusable now though so you need to be close to a train or tube station.

Good advice. Not everyone needs to live bang in the middle to have fun. Can live somewhere with good transport links, 30min on the train to the centre. Leaves you money to have fun after rent and bills. £45k is very doable if you are willing to live within zone 6, outside the popular area and close to a station.

@louderthan- thank you very much for the compliment. I do like to think I am fun...but I am also a wee bit shy so prefer smaller groups to bigger...maybe I'm not a big enough personality for London!

@OooScotland @walkinthewoodstoday - thank you for your posts and for well wishes.... I would consider flatshare with en-suite....I just don't know if I can be bothered with sharing a kitchen etc at my age.

@Whichwhatnow - yes my family love Bristol. I guess it's something to think about!

@EmmaAgain22 - are you planning on leaving London? Would you agree with some posters that it can be lonely?

I think part of the problem also is that I'm scared to move. It takes balls and I don't know if I have those balls lol...fear of the unknown etc

What would your salary be in other cities? If you can earn £35/40k in Leeds, Manchester or Liverpool you could have more disposable income than you would on £45k in London, especially if you could live without a car.

OP the rental market in london right now is nuts, lots of posters will come and tell you it's doable with their experiences from years ago not current time.

A room not en-suite is about £1k-£1.3k in london right now.

flats are easily £1.8k excluding bills.

consider Manchester

Newcastle is literally the friendliest place ever, there are no outsiders! There are so many Northern Irish there too.

I lived in a shared house with a large room with en-suite for far less than you earn - Shepherds Bush. I got a bar job a couple of nights a week too. Still here twenty years later - but not in the shared house

You might be able to rent a studio flat for £1000 pcm in some areas of London. My son just told me tonight about a work colleague who has bought a flat (which needs a ton of work) for £200k in Sydenham. I was amazed to hear that, assume it's ex local authority or above a shop or something.

But the VAST majority of Londoners live in zone 2 and beyond. Only the very wealthy or some lucky council tenants live in zone 1. Nearly everyone (including me) who loves living in London have a bit of a journey to get into the centre where everything is happening.

House shares have become really difficult to get in London recently. And landlords looking to monetize every square foot of space are turning all the rooms into bedrooms. Apparently 90% of shared houses in London don't have a living room now. So everyone is confined to their bedroom or the kitchen. Which sounds miserable.

Maybe there are 2-bed flats that have a main bathroom and another loo (cloakroom.)

If your bladder issue means you need the loo a lot, can you look for properties with more than one loo?

How might your condition affect sharing? Are you worried you couldn't access a loo fast enough? Or do you need time to do whatever needs doing in a loo?
I'm just wondering if you are possibly making more of it than the reality would be.

DCs have shared in London - converted Victorian house- and there was a main bathroom and a small loo (2nd one) as well.

Are you having treatment for your health?

London can be a very lonely city. It depends on what work you do. If you feel sure you can get work, I'm assuming you might be in the public sector- nursing, HCP, teacher? You need to think about if your work will give you some social contacts, otherwise it will be quite isolating and hard to make friends if you live alone.

The sort of set up that might suit you is being a lodger with a single owner/ occupant where there are two bathrooms or 2 loos.

what kind of work do you do?

Often, work colleagues are a good source of possible housing options if you could find very temp accommodation initially (airbnb) outside of London perhaps.

It's very hard to advise you without knowing what your actual needs are and your occupation.

Other cities

Sheffield
Leeds
Durham (lots of students)
Newcastle

@CeeceeBloomingdale - I loved my time there! But everyone I knew who I went over with moved on! It's super safe also to walk around I found at night...but yes I would worry that no one would be interested in making friends.

@BethDuttonsTwin - I worry I'm a little old for house shares! I'm 30. I don't know if I would have the patience of waiting on a kitchen to be available etc...it's not something I am used to

@User434357 - thank you for your post. I have to pee all the time...I am up during the night etc! So would just need by own bathroom. No I'm deffo not making more of it...put it like this...in my current job everyone else has to go in two days a week...they are super strict on it! I did a health assessment through my company though and they decided I should be permanent WFH, so that gives you an idea of severity.

Yes I have had treatment ( from a very good Harley Street consultant actually) but sadly the treatment has failed.

In what way is it lonely? I assumed it would be super sociable/easy to meet people!

I work in the private sector. In HR for a big bank.

I lived in university halls of residence that were like that. Looked like a new build housing estate but all the houses were just six ensuite bedrooms and one kitchen. No ‘household’ socialising but a party nearly every night. It was horrible.

Maybe look at something like this where there are shared spaces

www.thecollective.com/locations/old-oak

www.gravitycoliving.com/

www.londonxlondon.com/coliving-in-london/

the other thing to consider is if you’re 30 and in a “career” type job then London is the place to be to increase your income. So while it might be a small stretch to begin with, you can make it easier in time. If the bladder condition simply requires you to have easy access to your own bathroom, what about a flat share with a room with an ensuite? Probably cheaper than living alone. Can be in Dalston or Elephant and Castle, lots of new build flats with ensuites there.

just saw you work in HR for a big bank, that 45k is likely to increase pretty swiftly in your career, especially in London!

Have you considered being a property guardian?
www.vps-guardians.co.uk/property/1-bedroom-flats-in-acton-3-minute-walk-town-centre-fantastic-condition-550-pcm-bills/ £550/month for a flat in Acton.
If you don't have much stuff with you, it can be a good option. They want property guardian to earn a job over a certain threshold. Some are empty commercial building and schools.

@Blueberrywitch - yes I am going to check out those areas, thank you! I don't think I have really heard of them before (excuse my small town ignorance lol)

And yea HR for an investment bank....I'm only two years in as before the pandemic it was very difficult for me to work due to my health and remote working not being a thing in my sector. I have been looking at roles in a Fintech company that I am interested in, I could do it from London remotely!