How can my son find decent lodgings in north London?

[ParmoParmoPARMO]

Ds (20) has been offered a job in London. He's very keen to spread his wings and start living independently. We live about 40 mins by train from Central London.
The job doesn't pay brilliantly, but doesn't want to commute.
He's decided to look for a place to live.
He's looked on spare room and been to see a grotty flat this evening. Really dodgy vibes. Laminate lifting off the loo floor, mouldy shower curtain. Bleurgh.

Doea anyone know of any 'nice' people who want a clean, hardworking young man as a lodger?! Where would we find such a household? He wants to be north of the river.

Oh that advice is very out of date. East was cheap in 2007 before it was cool

I live in East London. Much of it is still quite a bit cheaper than most of North London, especially for renting rooms.

Being an actual lodger Mon-Fri is cheaper

For a room in an HMO he will be looking at £1200, a shared house around £1k in London suburbs (this is what the youngsters at my office pay, they are on about 40k)

Your suggestion to live at home for a few WEEKS while trying to find something word of mouth is the right one … point out to your DS that if the job doesn’t work out he will be tied into a contract and no way of paying it.

I've just found several rooms for £750+.

Start off by commuting until he settles into job, gets to know people, gets a realistic idea of costs.
I have a lodger who has been with me for 5 years and it has worked out very well. I know families who take foreign students and house shares are popular.
But there are lots of scams around. So my advice would be as I have said. Settle into job, commute, get to know his way around, make friends, then look for local accommodation.

That’s not always the filters, it can be the advert

sparerooms is the way to go

id let him be adamant- did he want to live in the grotty place tonight?

just keep going Ali g with it, knowing he has. A place to live anyway

For a room in an HMO he will be looking at £1200, a shared house around £1k in London suburbs (this is what the youngsters at my office pay, they are on about 40k)
I don't find this entirely accurate. On my local FB group for rental rooms I often see rooms in decent houses (usually with a living room and/or sit-in kitchen) for about £750–£850. Zone 2 north-east.

Thanks everyone. Yes I'm being precious! I don't want my lively son living in a skanky hole!
Would you??

But anyway, I'm going to try and persuade him to commute for a bit. He's had an offer of a friend's floor for the first week, maybe that will make his mind up!!

Same
.

I agree that he should start the job and then try to find a place and he might get useful contacts and information from colleagues. When I moved to London to start teaching, I stayed with someone temporarily then there were five new teachers like me at the school and we all got a shared house together and stayed there for eight years!

That would be easy for your son as he could commute from yours for a while.

There are lots of schemes. Here is one:

https://thelowegroupltd.com/guardians/

My friends , both degree educated professionals, did it, and saved for a deposit.

I’d start the job first then review.

Lots of Facebook groups advertise seemingly lovely house shares.

He should commute tbh. At least for a little while. Living in central he will still end up commuting a long way. It took me 40 mins to commute from zone 2 to zone 1 in my old job. Now I’m zone 6 and work zone 2 and it takes… still 40 mins lol to one job. My other commute is 80 mins and tbh it’s fine.

Anything decent will be £1000+ a month. If he wants to lodge with a family why not just stay put with his own family??

You’re not being unreasonable but your son needs to lower his standards to suit his budget. It will be a life experience that’s for sure and that is part of growing up.

But please be very wary of Facebook advertising. Anyone can post a picture and say anything they want. Same goes for spare room. Be aware of scam tactics. Even from estate agents, they aren’t all legitimate.

Unless you’re son is a free spirit who calls home where ever he lays his hat and all his belongings are in a bag then property guardianship isn’t for him.

mon-fri lodgings is a pain in the arse lugging all your stuff everywhere and you miss the best bit (the weekend) but likely in hospitality he would be working weekends too?

I tell you this from renting in London for a decade before I had enough and moved up north and purchased a property, on my own, so I never had to share with strangers again 😂

Families also don’t tend to want to lodge young men. They prefer older folk who are more settled and less likely to be out late. Also anyone with children wants a female lodger.

South is still £1000+. It’s not 2009.

Where exactly is his workplace? For lots of places he'll be commuting for over 40 mins even if he lives in London (I'm in London, zone 1/2, and it takes me just under an hour to get to work).

If he wants to live independently then great but I wouldn't see it in terms of commute time.

Oh he's now getting cross because all the people who care about him and want him to be safe/not get ripped off (I couldn't bail him out even if I wanted to) are all 'talking down to him.

One of these people works for a housing charity in Londin!

His job is not far from Camden.

He's my third of 4 offspring, really struggling with finding his feet in the world ans a young man. He's been surrounded by women all his life, his dad is/was an unpleasant man who pops in and out of his life (and his little sister's) for FB 'arent I a brilliant dad' photo opportunities .

Gumtree used to be a great website for finding accomodation in London, probably still is.

Have you looked at Homestay @ParmoParmoPARMO? Don't know what his thoughts might be though.

At least until he settles into his job.

This. Families don't want male lodgers.

And a 40 min commute is nothing. DS is in his first job and commutes that.
He will shortly be paying £1100 pm for a room in a shared house in Zone 2, London.

Feel so sorry for young people wanting to move to London on an average salary now. Early 2000s I rented a lovely big two double bedroom flat to share with a friend in zone 2 east London, can't remember how much it cost but it was affordable on my £18k salary.

I'd suggest your son looks at FB groups where people are looking for housemates to fill empty rooms in existing flatshares.

@ParmoParmoPARMO

Could this appeal?