£1300 pcm for a tiny one bed flat?!

[NellesVilla]

I’m well and truly gobsmacked.

I have just viewed a flat in Guildford, Surrey as I’m thinking of moving to the area (know it well, many links etc). The flat- nondescript (but pleasant enough, one bed, small) was a whopping £1300 pcm. There were others that cost MORE!

I felt the place was too small for a couple and as a singleton would want to live alone in a space that size as I am large and it would be cramped for more than one.

I’m sorry but how the hell is this possible? That price is absolutely obscene. Do people really pay that much for a one bed in an admittedly nice, but nothing special location?!

After tax, that rent plus bills and basic living expenses would leave me with pennies so there’s no way it’ll be happening. I’d probably fail the affordability check anyway so I don’t know why the letting agents showed me around tbf.

I would need to claim benefits for that ridiculous monthly cost- something I’ve never done before.

But my main point is: how on earth have we got to this? A basic one bed flat in a bog standard Surrey town costing this much?

I’ve posted about similar but felt the need to share. It’s a joke.

Guildford is very commutable into London though (frequent trains, only 35 mins into Waterloo) so that pushes the price up.

Are you commuting into London for work? I get Guildford is a likeable place, but if you don't need to commute you'll have cheaper options that can still be nice.

Minimum £1200 a month in Cambridge - and that’s a flat you wouldn’t wish on your worst enemy.

Lack of social housing and the cost of mortgages are the main problems. Together they push more and more people into the private rental market which itself is shrinking.

As for the OP, well it's Guilford in Surrey isn't it? Expensive area. I rent out a nice 2 bed flat within walking distance of the centre in Sheffield for £450 pcm.

I've seen studios here in Dublin where the bed is literally beside the cooker, and they're charging over a grand a month. It's shocking.

Where do you need to commute to?

Surrey sounds like a really expensive choice if you don't have the salary to match.

If the main requirement is that you need to be able to commute to London there are many cheaper but still nice places you can choose to rent in.

Hertfordshire, Kent and Essex will all offer cheaper options and they have some decent towns too.

Personally I think it is a ridiculous price to pay for a 1 bed flat on a single salary. if you add up the rent and the commute you will spend most of your income that way.

Not surprising. Paid £1250 for a small 1 bed in zone 3 London 7/8 years ago. There were lots more expensive and very little choice under £1300.

I'm in commuting distance (40 min train ride) from Copenhagen and previously lived within a similar distance from Stockholm. In both places I paid less than £1000/month for a 75m2 2-bed flat in a leafy area. No council tax to pay, and heating is included in the rent.

Housing in SE England is a rip off.

Most mortgage companies insist on landlords charging at least 125%-150% of the mortgage as the rental costs. So as mortgages go up, rents will also go up

Surely most people will have fixed for 5 years though?

I don't understand why you went to look at it if you knew you couldnt afford it. Not like the agents don't advertise the price...

What do you call ‘main city’? Which country are you in?
Guildford is not that near London or any other cities.

Fully agree

I think if people stopped thinking of Southern England as the be-all-and-end-all, then they'd be able to live properly (and happily).

I'm in Norfolk in a town with a direct rail link to London - ninety minutes - and all the amenities you could want and I pay £575 a month for a two-bedroomed terraced house with a double parking space and a back garden. I commute to work by car - 35 minutes each way, no hold-ups - and my Council Tax is £1500 a year. And guess what? We do have good schools up here, theatres, galleries, cinemas, gyms, poncey food shops and superfast broadband for everything else.

I used to live in Brighton (and Lewes for a while) and, compared to where I am now, that part of England is a joke. You can keep it and carry on paying through the nose for it. No sympathy.

@AngelfishDecay a lot of us work in central London offices. A 90minutes train with a commute either side isn't a realistic commute for most.

Not sure Guildford counts as a "bog standard Surrey town"... One bed flats in central London were £1300 15 years ago so I'm surprised Guildford isn't more than that by now!

@AngelfishDecay but there's locations under 1 hour door to door north of London - much cheaper even once fares are considered