To go and live in a cheap room for a month or two

[Ripsinead]

With my partner who I currently live with (providing he agrees)
We currently live in the city centre (this is very convenient for us as non drivers due to work locations).
Paying £1050 per month including all bills and council tax, however this is for a studio flat. I pay a bit more due to our incomes, so I pay closer to £600.
I also have to pay £55 to student finance each month (this is due to a period I was working abroad) £110 CC debt, and honestly it's killing me.
Our flat is lovely but absolutely tiny.
I've just changed jobs and gone from weekly to monthly pay which is also killing me atm. I only have around £600 n savings.
Our tenancy is due to end on the 1st September. Part of me is very tempted to go and live in a flatshare for a month or two, where rent will be more like £350 each including all bills. I have seen some where you can just rent on a month to month basis without having to sign a tenancy which will be ideal.
We'd also get the deposit back from our current place.
I'm not saving and I'm anxious about paying next month's rent. I just want a month or two to save up a few hundred, then we can look for a more affordable property. Does this sound like a good idea? We're in Manchester.
Obviously he has to agree too.

You have decided to just move out and live on your own to save money?

Are you taking your kids with you? If its because of an abusive relationship no need to make excuses about saving money, help is available. Leave before its too late.

@Catza

My biggest concern would be actually finding a suitable flat at a reasonable cost after you spent a few months in a flat share. The rental market is awful at the moment with as many as 20 applicants fighting for the same place and landlords jacking up the prices as a result.

I agree. My son had to offer to pay a year upfront and offered £50 per month over the asking price to be even put on the list for the landlord to choose who to rent it to! It's absolutely crazy in some places. And this was a small Northern city, not London nor Manchester where I believe things are even worse. Viewings were fully booked within an hour of listing. We kept missing out even to get viewings, so when he finally got a viewing slot, there was no way he was going to risk losing it so offered whatever it was going to take to get to the top of the list of people wanting it.

I agree that your biggest problem may be finding another long term let when you want to leave the house share.

DD & partner have been searching for a flat to rent in Manchester for months, they are snapped up as soon as advertised.
Harder to find one in Manchester than London at the moment & rents are rising because of scarcity.
Letting agents said the only way to get somewhere decent was to offer the Landlord a ‘sweetener’ so they’ve just secured a nice place by agreeing to pay a whole years rent up front, 2 bedroom flat, £1300 a month.

And guys if you think it's at the lower end- the issue is just as bad at the higher end- when we moved back from Copenhagen we lost out on a 4 bed family sized house in Marlow having offered£200 a month over asking price- older couple, no kids, no pets, perfect long term renting record, no bad credit, good income.

God that's astonishing - that's how much flats in London go for near me (though that's the advertised price, not the after bidding war price)

£200 a month over asking is standard for small flats in major cities from what I've heard. It can't carry on at this rate, can it?

Agreed. Move into a house share for now. How old are you? What are your plans together? You probably need to move areas if your income is unlikely to improve as you can't keep bankrupting yourself on high rent.
Are you on the social housing waiting list? You don't have savings so you should get on there, although if you don't have children you'll be lower down the priority list

@YouHaveAnArse Yep- first time we've ever been asked for best and final offer on a 4 bed house though. Asking price was always what you paid or even made offers below- it was a new one on us - 5 of us after same house- it was a lovely house though

@Crikeyalmighty bidding wars and offers seem to have been the norm for rentals for about a year now, though I thought that was more the case in areas where there's more competition. This and being asked for six months or a year's rent in advance - just another way to disadvantage people who can't pull tens of thousands of pounds out of their bottom every time they have to move.

@YouHaveAnArse yes this was14 months ago in our case-

Could you not move into a commuter town outside the city centre with walking distance of a bus or rail link? e.g https://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-to-rent/map.html?locationIdentifier=REGION%5E94019&maxPrice=800&numberOfPropertiesPerPage=499&radius=20.0&propertyTypes=&viewType=MAP&mustHave=&dontShow=houseShare%2Cretirement%2Cstudent&furnishTypes=&viewport=-2.34385%2C-2.32737%2C53.5083%2C53.5249&keywords=

10 min walk to station and 15 mins train ride into the city centre.