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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To move to London

69 replies

Forestgreen · 09/09/2017 14:04

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!

OP posts:
NoProblemForMe · 09/09/2017 15:45

Hanuta that was me and it was based on the OP not wanting to share a property.

I'm clearly out of the London loop these days though, as I can't believe you can rent a 2 bed for £1,000 in a decent area Shock Prices must have come down a lot since I used to live there (admittedly quite a few years ago).

TheLegendOfBeans · 09/09/2017 15:47

Ps: you'd be super lucky to find somewhere you can rent solo for £1000/month.

BUT it's not inconceivable. Look on moveflat.com - that really helped me when I was searching many moons ago.

TheLegendOfBeans · 09/09/2017 15:51

FYI; this is the type of place you'd be looking at if you want a place of your own. Oakwood isn't bright lights big city but if you're not a party animal and want to live in London without the mental buzz then suburbia is ok you know.

Right; gonna stop living vicariously through you OP Grin

www.moveflat.co.uk/London_Oakwood_N14_£1250_2_Bed_Flat_517186.htm

NoProblemForMe · 09/09/2017 15:54

Just checked out Rightmove and yes, there are quite a few 2 beds @ £1,000 - some are even in half decent areas!

Maybe I'll move back myself!

Original poster
Forestgreen · 09/09/2017 16:01

One bed is fine too. Just somewhere to sleep.

OP posts:
TheNoseyProject · 09/09/2017 16:03

You could live in Croydon, you can rent a one bed for under £700 a month there and there are great connections to central London.

Original poster
Forestgreen · 09/09/2017 16:03

I was wondering about that or watford.

OP posts:
frieda909 · 09/09/2017 16:07

I live in London on a salary of 22k and I have a very nice life!

There will always be people who tell you you can't possibly live here on less than 40k/60k/80k/whatever, but there are plenty of us managing just fine on much less.

I had to learn to budget properly for the first time when I moved here, but as long as you're honest with yourself about what you can or can't afford each month then you'll be grand.

muminthecity · 09/09/2017 16:15

You could get a lovely 1 bed flat in Penge/Anerley for £900pm, it's in zone 4, good connections to central London and lots to do locally

muminthecity · 09/09/2017 16:17

here for example. Close to Kent house station which will take you to Victoria in 20 mins

NoProblemForMe · 09/09/2017 16:23

Ah, I'm an idiot. For some reason I thought you meant living in central London hence saying you'd struggle to afford it! The furthest out I've ever lived was Balham (and that felt miles out), other than that it was Bayswater, Notting Hill etc.

Yes, easily affordable in some of the outer zones.

TheLegendOfBeans · 09/09/2017 16:27

No disrespect to Watford or it's residents but if I was "moving to London" I definitely wouldn't opt for Watford.

As before; have a look on a map for train lines going out of Euston (for example). They reach affordable parts of London (Enfield) and they'd also get you home too (most lines will stop at Watford so you change to a train for to the North if you wanted to pop back for a weekend).

frieda909 · 09/09/2017 16:32

And just to add, cats don't necessarily mean you can't house share. The tricky part will be finding a landlord who'll let you take them, but there are plenty who will. I think a house with a garden is more likely to let you have cats than a flat, but I know people who've been allowed them in flats too.

I think what could be easiest is if you found a whole property with 2/3 bedrooms that would accept cats, then you advertise for one or two other housemates who'd be happy to live with cats too.

Good luck with whatever you decide!

ChampagneSocialist1 · 09/09/2017 17:35

Can you get your current landlord to write you a reference or be willing to give a reference over the phone re: you keeping the place well with cats?

Original poster
Forestgreen · 09/09/2017 17:40

I don't rent at the moment. Will apply for some jobs and see what happens. :)

OP posts:
londonmummy1966 · 09/09/2017 18:00

You can rent quite centrally - south of Vauxhall north of Brixton and around the Oval for around £700pcm for a studio to £1100 for a one bed. Good transport links and you may be able to walk or cycle to work and save on a season ticket

gamerwidow · 09/09/2017 18:13

SE London is the cheapest I think especially if you look at zone 4-6 Kent borders. I live in zone 6 it takes 30 mins into central London by train and 1 bedroom flats start around £800/month. You may even be able to get away with zones 7-9 like greenhithe and swanley depending on which central London terminus you want then rents more like £600/month

Girlfrommars77 · 09/09/2017 19:04

You can do it OP.

I rent a one bed (tiny) flat with garden in zone 3 for £900pcm. Person who lived here before me had a cat.

Prepare to spend a bit of time searching and try Leytonstone (central line), Tottenham (Victoria/Piccadilly) and south on Victoria line.

Good luck with job hunt.

BarbaraofSevillle · 09/09/2017 19:49

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

^^ This. £30k in Leeds, Manchester, Liverpool etc will probably be easier than £40k in London. I'd check your take home pay. I'm on £40.5k and take home £2420 pm after tax, NI and pension contributions of about £160 pm.Or would the £2100 be after student loan payments? I don't have those.

BarbaraofSevillle · 09/09/2017 19:51

Studios and cats sounds impractical unless there is safe outside space.

But I would then worry about the Croydon cat killer. I don't know how far that bastard operates but I wouldn't be letting my cats out within at least five miles of that area.

Snausage · 09/09/2017 22:17

There are lots of places in the south east within commuting distance of London! Surrey, east Sussex, Kent, Hertfordshire... I moved out and commute in every day because I couldn't stand to live on London any more.

Snausage · 09/09/2017 22:18

*in

FunkinEll · 09/09/2017 22:24

I'm zone 5 and I just checked and you could get a studio 5 mins from an overground station. 28 mins into main London station. £900pcm. Close to a 24 hour bus route that goes to a tube station of trains ever get messes up (a joy of london commuting.

carjacker1985 · 09/09/2017 22:25

You will struggle with renting alone if you have cats as much as you would with a flat share- the latter may potentially be easier if you can find one that already has a cat and is open to more.

As for where you could afford to live, it all depends on where your job was- when you got it. London is a massive place and if you were in zone 5 at the opposite end to where you need to be you could easily be spending 1.5hours commuting each way, plus a lot of money in travel.

In theory though yes- it is doable, definitely in a flat share, and probably alone too if you didn't mind being a bit broke most of the time. But I live and work in London and don't know anyone that isn't a bit broke most of the time! It's an expensive place.

Nuttynoo · 09/09/2017 22:42

Live in bedford or milton keynes and commute to London. You should be able to save and eventually buy your own place that way