To quit my job because I can't afford to go

[Megapops]

I have my dream job, I absolutely love it, and thought I was on a decent salary. Recently the organisation has asked staff to go into the London office 2-3 days a week. Not a problem.

But.. just broke up with my partner who I've been livng with for a few years and I'm obviously looking at moving out into my own place now. To rent a modest, 1 bed place within an hour/hour and a half commute to work is more than my monthly salary. And to rent a room in a houseshare costs around half my salary. Living further out means more expensive train fares too. I'm looking right outside London too. (Considering moving back into a houseshare, and it costing half my salary is also making me die a bit inside).

I dont know what I'm going to do? The only solution seems to be to quit my job and move somewhere else because I literally can't afford to go to work. Although rent doesn't seem much better anywhere! Any advice?

Talk to your employer before you quit & explain.
they might be about to lose their workforce if everyone is in the same position.
they’ll either up your salary or rethink the requirement about being in the office.

you can’t be in a worse position at the end of the conversation if you’re going to quit anyway !

@concertgoer I suspect in future, even for decent salaries, there will be fewer people moving to London to take up those jobs and more people who are able to live with family nearby at low/no rent doing them. It's going to be a big issue for employers as well as social mobility generally.

so you earn around 40k, but you can't search for somewhere to rent?

This is my kind of thread, I think I am an expert in these matters! You do have options, don’t quit your job. You’ve worked hard to get it, and jobs that are good are few and far between. If you quit, you’ll be working on lower wages in a cheap area in a role which is probably under your level of capability. It will be awful. Unless you apply to a job, and secure a permanent contract doing something you love, in a cheap area, don’t consider moving. Have you looked at getting buses to work? Airport buses are reliable and cheap. Greenline is a company that run these. Also National Express, but they can sometimes be unreliable. Look at Rome2Rio for transport options. Just see the commute as extra work time for your higher salary. There are new towns surrounding London that may not be known as nice but are cheaper: Stevenage, Harlow, Basingstoke. You could use a property website in conjunction with a transport website to work out if the cheap anomalous accommodation you find is commutable. Have you considered the warehouse community? Have you considered a boat?

Of course off-cycle pay rises are considered on a case by case basis. How valuable someone is to the company, how difficult the labour market is for their role, their performance etc. are all valid criteria to consider when deciding how much to pay someone.

What isn’t acceptable is considering the employee’s personal circumstances when deciding how much to pay them vs similarly qualified and experienced staff. Single and choosing to live alone, high childcare fees, paying towards care for ageing parents, etc. all push up people’s expenses - but those being a factor in the pay discussion discriminates against workers who live with others, who are child-free, whose parents are dead etc. Basing pay on the personal circumstances of an employee is an antiquated and frankly disgraceful practice.

Your example is only believable if Anne is valuable to the company and replacing Anne would be an ordeal. Anne would not get £200 a month more just because her child’s nursery has put up their fees. That might be the reason why Anne asked for the pay rise but it won’t be the reason she gets it.

In fact, a top tip for asking for a pay rise is to talk about your contribution to the company and why you are valuable as an employee, and with evidence of what other companies are paying for a similar role to demonstrate your worth in the market. Going into the discussion whingeing about your expenses going up is ill-advised if you want a positive outcome.

Have a look at areas in North London/south Hertfordshire that are on Thameslink? Luton even, sounds quite far out but direct trains to London and probably much more affordable

Tooting house share? I used to commute to CW from Balham (now ££) but Tooting is 1 /2 stops down and is definitely an option to look at.

Not read the whole thread but have you considered being a property guardian?
Apply to become a property guardian today | Property Guardians

Definitely look at Rugby then as you can get somewhere for around £550-£600pm.

There's loads of rooms near/a couple of miles from Canary Wharf under 750 with bills included on spare room. Take a look at the current housemates and you should be able to find somewhere suitable

Haven't read the full thread but have you looked at Home Share? https://homeshareuk.org/looking-for-accommodation/

I'm afraid young people today feel very entitled and are shocked by having to slum it in a shared house. I know all the time I was working in London I could not afford flats and so on. It used to be completely normal for people to live that way but so many now turn their nose up at it. You're just going to have to decide what's more important to you.

She's mid 30s. Not young and entitled, just out grown living like a student.

I don't know about the areas I'm afraid but the flat market is ridiculous in London right now. My son is going to kings and needs a flat by end of July. He is planning to share with 2 others. They have been looking daily for a month so far, most flats are gone by the time they enquire and the ones available they had had to bid for along with about 30 others for each place. They haven't got anything yet.

Also, it seems that lots of agents are only doing block viewings, so if you aren't available at 3:45 on Tuesday afternoon (for example) there's no chance.

Everyone I've known living in central London all my life has lived and worked locally. Generations of us live here. The thing is, central London has always been full of local housing cooperatives, associations, squats, council housing, etc.. People who aren't local and want to move here for jobs find it harder, of course, as do young people born here but forced to move away due to overcrowding.

Expecting to rent a flat by herself on £40k in London is entitled by London standards. Living with flatmates is not living like a student - it's living like most Londoners.

The OP hasn't come back yet to say whether she's explored moving to the Isle of Dogs.

It's a cheap but nice area of London and super convenient for her job. She could cut right back on their travel costs too - the distance is walkable. Can't get much more ideal than that by London standards.

Yes, she would be sharing a flat, but everyone does unless they're a high-earner. £40k is considered low by London standards. Money just doesn't stretch as far here.

If you adjust for inflation, my older colleagues were on a similar salary 20-25years ago and all of them had their own (bought) flats in London. It shouldn't be entitled to want to be able to afford the rent to live alone in reasonable commuting distance from your office once you're in your mid-30s and on a salary of £40k. What happens when everyone moves to Rugby or High Wycombe?

The thing is that the population of inner London was still freakishly low twenty five years ago. It dropped like a stone in 1939/40, kept on falling until 1980 and was then flattish until the late nineties.

This was areas like Brockley and Wood Green, I wouldn't class zone 3/4 as 'inner London'.

@Megapops

Strange coincidence as I commented on here yesterday, but my lodger has just given notice. I've sent you a PM. Not usually one to potentially offer a room in my home to a random stranger off the internet, but if you are who you say you are then read my PM and let me know if you're interested.

Sorry that you’re in this position. Don’t quit. You have had a lot of change with the end of your relationship etc and you like your job. If you have to - find a house share, lump it for a year and use the year to regroup. Try east London - some cheaper pockets!! Or Essex central line zone six for maybe cheaper travel than national rail out to Crawley etc. Debden?

https://www.spareroom.co.uk/flatshare/london/south_woodford/16787016

for example this is a house share but living with the owner. In my head living with one other occupant, the owner, is much preferable than a house share of six! Rent looks ok to me.

My brother found a room on Air B&B when he had to spend 3 days in the office 2 hours from home. Worked really well for him

They are the more expensive areas between Brighton and south London, I would look at house shares in Ilford, romford and Stratford areas towards Essex that's zone 4-6.

Look at Birmingham, cheap rent and very commutable from and to London.