To move to London

[Forestgreen]

For hopefully a better paid job.

I'd be on around £40,000 a year. I realise this won't go far.

Which are the cheapest areas? I am from the North and so everywhere seems horrifically expensive!

So your take home pay will be about £2500 per month. So approximately: Rent for a room in a shared 2bed flat will be £1000 pcm In zones 2-3 (£600-700 for a room in a shared house). Monthly travel card £150 Zone 1-3, bills and council tax £150 so you'll have about £900 left over each month for food, clothes, entertainment etc

What do you earn at the moment? Whereabouts do you live at the moment? 40k in London is not much so might be worth living somewhere cheaper if your wages would be about £30k-£35k ish?

Depends where you work and what you're willing to put up with housing wise.

Morden is a bit more reasonable than most parts of London that are on the tube.

It's Zone 4 so not a hideous cost into town (comparatively).

Thanks. Take home pay is more like 2100 and I would not be able to live in a house share as I have cats!

I earn way less than that and have a lovely life in zone 5 :-) do it, it's great!

We live in zone 2 and it's nice and all, but I am desperate to move back to Liverpool. Our money will go a lot further and we will be able to buy a lovely house. Here we rent a one bed flat, and also pay to park our car on someone's drive. Still, each to their own. If you really want to experience London life, go for it! On the positive side, I've made quite a few lovely friends in the 2.5 years I've lived here.

Take home pay is more like 2100 and I would not be able to live in a house share as I have cats!

I don't think you can afford in London then I'm afraid.

I can't afford not to! I need a job ... it is tricky.

It may be hard to find a rental to take your cats....

Of course you can live in London on 40K. Not the most central parts but in outer parts yes. Rent a flat for £1000-£1500 no problem.

950 rent
135 CT
150 (utilities)
200 travel
200 food
20 Contents insurance

That's bare minimum for 1 bed in Morden. Looks doable but tight.

There are jobs outside of London too. There are lots of big cities up north too.

I know that. But I have much more chance in London.

You don't uproot your life for no reason.

I rent a one bedroom flat in a nice area of SE London for £1100 pcm zone 3 so you can do it. Will be a shock to your wallet though.

Do you want to buy or rent? If you want your own place you will need to go quite far out to afford something on that salary. E.g. If you look at croydon (zone 5 but good transport links into central London) you might get a one bed for £1000 a month, not incl bills. Travel card will be expensive though. Another issue is that with two cats you will find it very difficult to get a landlord to rent to you, and if you need a garden you'll certainly be looking at higher rents.

Personally I do think it's manageable but you'll need to adjust your expectations of what's possible on £40k as a single person. Most people on that salary don't live alone as they just can't afford to.

Oh and if you choose an area with low council tax you might get away with £70 a month for that assuming you get single person's discount

Rent! Would never afford to buy. Thanks for.advice

Where in London is the job? If in the city/ north you'd be better off looking at Alexandra Palace, Wood Green , Bounds Green as those areas are relatively affordable (c£1000-£1200 pcm for a 1 bed) and potentially you could cycle in and save £200pcm on travel.

Okay, I retract my comment about not being able to afford to live in London.

Yes you can afford it, but you'll be living pretty much hand to mouth, rarely able to afford to go out and no chance of saving any money for the future. Bearing that in mind, if you really want to live in London rather than have to live there it will still be a good experience (for a while anyway). Being constantly skint is no fun irrespective of where you live.

Are your cats indoor ones or do they go outside? If the latter I'd be a bit worried about traffic in some parts of London (others less so). I assume they are fully insured as vets charge high rates in London from my experience.

To the PP who said you can't afford London on take home £2100 a month. I'm literally laughing at that.

I have just come back from the West End, it took me about 40 mins to get home. I have to take home £1400 a month to cover minimums and I think I live a comfortable well off life, really. I run a car and have a mortgage and bills etc on my own. I'm self employed on short contracts.

OP it's totally doable. I've just looked at where I live and you can get a 2 bedroom flat to yourself for £1000 a month - if you only needed 1 bed it would be less obviously. I live in quite a sought after area too. There's other places that are still perfectly liveable in that cost less.

Thanks a lot! I will apply for jobs then, hope I get one.

I don't want to be negative, but you may struggle to find a LL willing to accept pets.

How are you paying a mortgage and meeting all other expenses out of £1400 per month?!?! If this is a mortgage in its early years of the mortgage and you are living in a desirable area of actual real London then I salute you.

I think you'd be ok. I think you'd be ok with cats. As someone with a hideous allergy I had to decline to live in some lovely house shares as seeimgly everywhere I looked had furry tenants

You could look off the beaten track a bit; places that are not on Tube lines tend to be a little cheaper...depends where. Clapton/Stoke newington/Hackney are all getting pricier. But look further up the train lines and you may get better prospects in say Hornsey/Harringay/New Barnet/Kilburn/Brondesbury etc.

I don't know how old you are but put it this way; I came to London at 25 and it's been my home ever since. You'll know within a year if it's for you x