Anyone living in London?

[Waterdrinker]

I saw a job in London for 24,500 pounds.

I haven't applied for the job yet. But, if my salary is 24,500- i will get 1763 pounds. Is that ok to live in London? I am looking for a house very close to my workplace if offered the role.
I was wondering - if I don't apply for it, someone else will apply for this job and the organisation will definitely hire someone else. So, it must be possible to live on that wage, right? I don't really need to be out every weekend. I am someone who prefers staying indoors. So, even if my rent and bills come to 900 pounds a month, I will have over 800 pounds left. Is this not ok?
Currently, I live in the North of England.

If you are young single and it s the job you want and will lead to career progression and higher salary in 5 years time then go for it
But will be quite tight

A nice room in shared house may be more like 1200 depending where in London it is

That’s near minimum wage. You won’t be living on your own in a house or a flat at that wage and you won’t be in inner London. It will be a flat share in outer London.

Most people doing those jobs are either living with parents, being subsidised by a higher paid partner, in a big far-out flat share as above or in subsidised social housing.

Would that be a house share? Is there any scope for the salary to increase over time? It's doable, you'd have to budget madly but it's probably ok for a single person.
But it would be difficult. You'd need to be the kind of person who actives enjoys being frugal.

Where in London? Are you OK to scrape by?

If you house share you could probably manage.
Almost everyone in London uses public transport so you need to account for that too.

Hi. The job is in East London. I am single, no children.

Where are you going find rent and bills for £900 a month in London? Even a room in a shared house is likely to be more than that.

You won't rent a house or even s flat on this salary, possibly a room in a shared house.

This.

Whereabouts in East London do you plan to live?

You would probably need to house share with a lot of people to keep rent and bills to £900 or less.

Where is the workplace? East London is a big place and some bits are more expensive than others. When i moved to London 15years ago, I was paying £800 per month for bills + accommodation in a horrible houseshare, so I imagine £900 today will be very difficult. I would only take that job if I knew for sure that I would get promoted quickly. It will be very tight on that salary and once you settle into life, I think you'll get fed up of being so skint that you cant afford to enjoy London.

I was on 22000 eighteen years ago. Shared a house with 4 other people, walked everywhere, still absolutely on the bones of my arse. Can't imagine being able to manage on that now when the price of rent, transport, food and everything else has gone up so much.

I think with NI & Tax and possible pension contributions you are going to be nearer £1500. As posters have said houseshare or room with be nearer £1200. - even in east London (this is not really specific enough to be able to advise as Whitechapel is very different from Plaistow). Then there are travel costs.

However, I actually think if you want the job and the move and you think it may lead somewhere I would go for it and see what happens.

I think my starting salary was around that in 2003.
I lived rent free, but bills, food, monthly travel etc still took a huge chunk of that.
More recently, my subsided rent (through employer) was £1600 a month (but split between 2).

I think solo it would be very tight unless you had no travel costs and barely went out.

It depends how close you would live to your work. On the very outskirts of East London, you could easily house-share for £1000 a month but then you have to add on your season ticket for the trains.

It would be very very tight on that salary.

I’ve just done a search on spare room.co.uk for rooms in East London for a max of £900 per month including bills.
This is the kind of thing you’d be looking at for that & you’d also need to cover food, transport etc.

m.spareroom.co.uk/flatshare/?search_id=1389064568&mode=list

1763 pounds is AFTER tax. The job is in Ilford.

It’s not enough. My DS is starting as a grad on £30k and there’s not a hope he can move out of home

Are you currently working ?

You will struggle on that wage in London, as rent is very very high compared to where you are now.

I earned that in 1998.

Thank you dear. It is very kind of you. Xxx

No, I am not working now. Job hunting.

Yes after tax - https://www.thesalarycalculator.co.uk/salary.php

Okay, Ilford is a different matter and likely, as it's only just London, your estimates of housing costs may be right. The only thing then is travel into town will be more expensive.

As I said though - if you want it and get it you may be able to make it work.

What would your working hours look like? Would you be able to consider taking a second job for a couple of evenings a week? You're young and single with no ties, it's the time to have an adventure if you can make it work.

You’re welcome, but you’ll want to adjust the search to just show the Ilford area. It’s showing the whole of East London at the moment.

Of course he can move out on £30k. He’ll just have to spend 50% of his take home pay on rent in a house share in Zone 3 like I and many others did 10-15 years ago! Of course a house share cost £600/month back then, whereas you’re looking at £1000/month now. (Understandable if he’d rather not spend the money, but honestly house sharing with your friends in London in your early 20s is the most fun a person can have 🥹).