How much do people really spend on rent in London?

[peterandmildred]

We are moving to London from New York where we've been living for a few years. Taking a pay cut but want to be back in the UK. We are late 20s.

I'm the sole bread winner as dh is going to college for a masters. So this year our take home is £7,200 a month after tax and pension payments.

Once Dh works again the year after, our take home will be around £11,500 a month.

We want to rent somewhere longer term, say 3 years. Do we go for a cheap one bed and then move or go for a bigger place? Or is it better to just move once and have a tighter budget for one year when DH works.

We have seen some nice properties around the £3k mark. Is that normal for a nice 2 bed in central areas?

I think that sounds quite normal. How well do you know London, a cheaper one for a year might give you a chance to work out where you want to be in the medium term, it could work out quite nicely for you.

Long term here doesn't mean the landlord will not be able to hike price in a year or ask you to move out, but you will not be able to move out without a fine, so I would start from a 1yr contract. Also every time you move they'll try to charge you for repairs and also you pay movers so you might lose money while moving from 1br to 2br in a year. If you're positive you need a 2bed I wouldn't bother with 1bed.

Your budget is allright for a 2bed in the centre, maybe it will be a modern building with a gym and concierge.