To think we could live in London on £55k?

[Londonline1]

DH has been offered a job in London on a salary of around £55k. I'm mainly a SAHM; I do some pt work from home earning around 4k a year or so, but we're about to have baby #2 and I've no idea if I'll get back into it / if the work will have dried up etc.

We currently live in the North East and survive comfortably on an income of around £50k (including my earnings and CB). We have a fairly modest lifestyle and put most of our money into our mortgages which we were hoping to pay off early - we don't do holidays other than to visit family elsewhere in the UK; we live in a small house in a cheap area, and we have a flat we rent out in another city (income from that adds towards paying off the mortgage so it's effectively building up a savings pot but I haven't included that in the £50k above).

My question is whether we could realistically relocate to London with a £55k budget. Would expect to have to downsize and rent. Would prefer not a crazy commute for DH (to Battersea). Don't need to live anywhere fancy, but would like to feel safe and have some green space nearby for kids.

Please feel free to tell me it's ludicrous. I genuinely have no idea.

We certainly don't expect to be near to as comfortable as we are now

Which begs the question, why do it?

Unless this job is pretty much guaranteed to lead to opportunities your DH can't get elsewhere in the country for some reason then I can't see why it's worth swapping the security of owning your own home for renting, having less space and a significant drop in your standard of living.

On the communing time and costs, it makes sense on neither front to commute into "zone 1" (the city centre) and then out again to Battersea (in zone 2). Any journey that involves travelling through zone 1 is more expensive (and more hassle). Look at the rail network and live somewhere south of the Thames where you can just get off within walking distance of work.

Where I live 20 minute commute to Battersea, catchment for two outstanding primaries and a new secondary, a three bed house with garden rents for £1600 a month. Annual season ticket for train about a grand a year. I think it’s doable.

We could live on one income if we had to but it would require frugality not abject poverty though.

Do you know which part of Battersea, if its the end near Clapham Junction then Croydon is an easy commute, if it's the end near Waterloo then you might want to look at other areas. Does this £55k include London Weighting? I think you need to look at exactly how much you expect to have left at the end of the month, rent for a 2 bed flat will be at least £1k a month excluding bills. If this is only a short term plan I probably wouldn't bother uprooting but like others have said there is loads of free stuff going on in London and Battersea has a lovely park and plenty to do.

£120k will not get you much in London - moving South is one thing but why London in particular? Is it a permanent move or temporary? London is the most expensive city of them all, so it’s absolutely not a decision to make on a whim, especially as you currently live in an extremely cheap area of England. From your posts, it seems like you don’t have many connections in London nor wanted to move until he got this job - so it sounds like a fantasy move.

There are plenty of higher earning Southerners that decide to live in nearby commuter cities or the Home Counties due to the cost of living in London. It’s something that you really have to consider. He is the sole earner and on £55k, you won’t be able to build up savings or a London house deposit. I also think London is different ball game if you’re moving with a family and not moving by yourself - your costs are substantially higher, it’s not like you can live in a house share or in a shitty, cheap area (with equally bad schools) to cut down costs etc like a lone person can.

Also switching from being a home owner to renting would be a pain in itself. You might get lucky with your landlord, but there are plenty of landlords/agents in London who are useless and overpriced. The reality might be more restrictive and shoddy than you thought.

Housing is key here and accepting a commute into London. We have happily lived on less in the Surrey commuter belt but bought before house prices rose

If he is prepared to commute in (and battersea is a station on the Southern railway line into Victoria) I would look at that line around 45-1hr out and at house prices

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-to-rent/property-74744048.html

Hey Op,

Out household income is similar but split with 2 salaries, live in zone 6 housing association house and it’s tight (2 D.C. in nursery though)

Crawley is very nice (though near airport) 47 mins into Battersea Park statiob

Disclaimer being in London I consider anything under an 75 minutes a reasonable commute

I'd rather be in the NE on 50k than in London on 55k for sure

I wouldn't. I did London on £45k by myself and it wasn't good. I made ends meet but I wish I hadn't.

I did London on 45k by myself and had a fucking blast! Super nice flat in a cool area, out all the time for food and drinks, parties with friends, had cool holidays and saved.

So, not sure what you consider making ends meet!

However, it would be a cold day in hell before I moved a family of 4 to London on 55k. You’re looking at living somewhere shit. Why would you do this when you have a nice life already?

The time for adventures is when you’re young and child free.

Or wait until they don’t need nursery and get yourself back into full time work and come to London on £100k joint.

FYI 55k isn’t a lot in London, it’s like one up from being a junior in a bank. Like, it’s what you earn when you’re 27 and kido free.

I wouldn't live in london with any less than 80k a year.
Id prefer to live nicely somewhere else

Need 100k+ to really enjoy living in London and be able to make the most of the great opportunities e.g restaurants, concerts, shopping, galleries, theatre etc.

I don't see the point of living in London if you don't have the money to do the above.

I had to commute into London but needed a car for work and the commute from almost anywhere outside London is a nightmare. By the time I got home of an evening it was after 8 and I was fit for nothing.

Have you spent time in London OP?

Is it 55k before or after tax

I’m astounded by the messages on here - we (dh, me and two preschoolers) live on only slightly more than that, and pay for two in childcare! We may not have anything left over at the end of the month, and don’t have a new car/ holidays, but once we’re not paying a grand a month in childcare things will be much better. Live very comfortably in a very nice area of sw London.

That's about £3360 a month before any pensions. It's doable (I've done it on a lot less but with no kids and not fussy about where I lived - Norwood junction - shudder)

When DH and I moved back to 'London' when he got a job there we rented out our house which just covered the mortgage. We started by looking at every train line which went to that station. We then decided what would be the longest commute we could live with (1 hour for us). Then we worked our way along each station looking on rightmove to see if there was anywhere which fitted our budget and criteria.

From memory there are 2 overland stations in Battersea - Queenstown park and Battersea park. If I were you i'd start at those and work my way out (remember to take commuting costs into account as once outside zone 6 it goes up quite a bit).

I think Queenstown park trains go out west (think of places like Staines, Hounslow, Osterley, Syon park) and Battersea park go south (to Caterham and Sutton i think). You could get a 2 bed rental for about £1300 - £1500 in these places.

One thing to think about is where other jobs in your dh's field (or yours if you are going to be returning to work). As you need to get to other places if your dh changes jobs. So somewhere which goes into Victoria would be good as it's close to get another train to Battersea. But then you are going into zone 1 and out again and I think Battersea is still zone 2 (I may be wrong tho and just rambling)

Sorry, I should clarify the reason I ' ' London is because we chose to live somewhere in Kent that dh could commute in to London from. We got a nicer place for less money but the commuting costs are about £500 per month.

A grand a month for two in childcare is very cheap. In SE London, it’s £1400 per month for one child and that was the cheapest we could find.

For those mentioning Sidcup, it’s a horrible commute to Battersea and soul destroying to pay to go into zone 1 only to go straight back out again. I’m glad I don’t do that anymore (and it was much more than £100 per month for travel ticket).

Oh please dont do it. We lived in london in zone 3 on £60k with one child and that was with a mortgage. We managed but it was a pokey two bed flat in not a nice area and we did not have a good lifestyle. We have since moved to a market town and we now feel flush with loads of space and extra disposable income and thats on less take home pay.

I grew up in London and worked there till 8 years ago. Most people I know there earn less than £55k. When I worked in universities and galleries and museums most quite senior staff were bands 6-8 and that ranged between 28-45k. It's crazy to think most people there earn more than that. My mum retired last year as a senior office manager and was on 38k in Hammersmith.

However, all those people I know either rent privately/HA/council homes or bought ages ago so have low mortgages.

If OP has a comfortable life on 50k now I suspect that the same life in London costs at least 75k.

I suspect that people with a good standard of living on 50k have some sort of "help" with housing whether that's inherited wealth, housing association, bought property 20+ years ago.... You really can't compare that to renting a 2/3 bed (depending on older child's age) in a good school catchment.

I wouldn't. The prices in London are so high. And if I were expecting my second child I would want more for my money. Why would CB stop? One of you has to be earning more than 100k? Or have I gotten that wrong?

Is there possibility for promotion? You have to factor in travel and other expenses. I would only consider this move if there was potential to dramatically increase his salary in the near future

£55k would mean that some of the CB would have to be paid back in tax, is what a previous poster was referring to, (as opposed to stop, which would be considered st £60k plus)