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.

For 500 grand you could buy this house in Epsom.

380 grand mortgage @ 1,537.68 a month here -

www.lendingexpert.co.uk/mortgages/calculator/repayment/380000-pounds/

CB stops if one of you is a higher rate tax payer. I think that's about £50k now isn't it?

@awalkintheparka

Child benefit stops when one of you earns over £50k. Tax-free childcare stops when one of you earns over £100k.

Nope. We didn't have much of a life on 60k so moved out of London. Both DH and I would 100% never ever return either!

When we finally moved out of London after 20 years it was amazing to have so much space and greenery and good schools on our doorstep. I miss the fantastic public transport but that's about it tbh.

I don’t think the banks will lend anything close to that on a 55k salary though TatianaLarina. Lending is much stricter these days.

Thanks all for the info! I didn't realise- always thought it was 100k.

You can have two parents earning 49k each so household income of 98k who will still get CB but household income of 60k with one parent working that won’t qualify.

Depends where you are.

Some parts of Greater London you can still buy a three bed house for 300-400k, don’t need a car, and buy food at the same cost as other parts of London. Remember public transport is often cheaper in London than every other part of the UK because it’s subsidised.

Public transport is very expensive down here. A season ticket on the train could cost in the region of £2,000 to £4000

@alwayscheddar - A season ticket on a single bus route in the NE or the midlands (to travel half the distance) could cost about 2-4k too. London is always cheaper for public transport.

To clarify, the grand a month childcare is for 3 days a week, at a childminder, including the 30 ‘free’ hours subsidy.

I haven't rtft. If he stay in his current position, I would stay.
We earn a decent enough by living standards but living in a city Dublin means every week we pay out most of our income to survive, no holidays, or big shopping trips, unless it is to primark.

Totally do able providing you are willing to work full time too.

I think that when you work out how much difference in take-home pay that extra £5k will be, offset by the loss of CB, and factor in the much higher housing and commuting costs in the SE, you'd be an awful lot worse off than you are now, OP.

And I'm not sure that I'd want to bring up kids in London these days. Even my most urban lifestyle loving friend says that if her kids were young now, she'd move out rather than have them grow up where there is such a lot of crime, drugs etc. And she lives in a lovely road in trendy Crystal Palace, not some concrete jungle estate.

Agree with Teddybear. The things in London that are more expensive are housing and driving/parking. The things that are more expensive outside London are Council tax, bus services and trains and basically everything else. We have to pay for certain waste collections and they only come fortnightly. Taxi's around here are extortionate, that's if you can get them.

I got on a bus with my kids to go to the nearest shops and worried that I only had a fiver and they may not have enough change. I needn't have worried it was about £13 and they took contactless.

Hmmm
I lived in London for many years and in the more gritty areas.
I'd look at more than the money here.
London living doesn't suit everyone and families with kids can find it really tough once childcare and finding the right schools come into the equation.
Live outside and you are looking at a long commute. Mine was a fast 1 hour 15 mins door to door zone3 to 1. I've friends who do a couple of hours on the train there and back each day.
5k doesn't give you a "putting up with it for the money" cushion.
You'll be moving to a capital city with the good and the bad- the crime, noise, travel problems, relentless busyness of it all and without family close by?
I love London but I wouldn't recommend a family moving there without higher earnings to improve day to day living.

It is possible to find cheaper houses in London BUT there's usually a reason and living in a grim miserable violent neighbourhood will wear you down fairly soon..

I don't really see the point of making the move if your DH is going end up with a long commute - it's both a waste of time and money.

I'd opt for something like this: www.rightmove.co.uk/property-to-rent/property-70978729.html

Your DH could cycle to Battersea in 10-20mins (a nice commute along the river so no cars!). ZERO commute costs. I have a lovely 25 min cycle commute along the river and it's been a game changer for me.

You're right next to the park to make up for no garden. Plenty of space for football, bike riding etc.

Nearest tube is East Putney which is Zone 2 on the district line. You're only a few stops from South Ken for the museums.

Best of all, it's Wandsworth Council which has the lowest council tax in the country.

It won’t be fun. I wouldn’t want to.

I don’t think the banks will lend anything close to that on a 55k salary though TatianaLarina. Lending is much stricter these days.

I couldn’t say. But that’s a repayment mortgage, interest only is 500 a month.

I would never pay 1600 a month rent for a 2 bed flat for 2 kids. It would be dead money on a sardine tin.

I wouldn’t really want to live in suburbia either but Wandsworth park isn’t particularly nice and cycling from Putney to Battersea on a daily basis - the pollution would be horrendous. One of my best friends was nearly killed cycling round Wandsworth Bridge roundabout. It’s weirdly difficult to get from Putney to Battersea on public transport.

I’m forever nagging DH to get a job in London. But then we would get vastly subsidised housing (military). Wouldn’t do it on his salary alone, with children especially.

I miss London but I lived rent free in my ex’s flat. I moved when we broke up as earning £38k on my own wouldn’t make for a great lifestyle.

There are certain kinds of jobs (think for international companies/organizations) where not being in London will restrict how high you can go on the ladder. If you're ambitious career-wise then moving might make sense for long-term earnings.

I would do the calculation as take-home money left after rent and commute is paid for. Then maybe subtract 10% for other things being a little more expensive in the south (drinks in the pub etc.) Then you can compare like-for-like with your current position.

I couldn’t say. But that’s a repayment mortgage, interest only is 500 a month

My friend bought last yr & was only able to get 4.5 times her wage with a very hefty deposit. As far as I know you can only access interest only these days if you have a minimum 25% deposit or a 6 figure wage. It’s one of the reason property has stagnated in the toppy areas as affordability is pretty much stretched. Things may have changed this yr though.

120 grand is 25% near enough.