Is 990/month rent too high?

[sjd1995]

Hi there, just wanting some opinions with no judgement please.

Currently earning £28k salary, wanting to rent my first apartment as my mum doesn’t work so paying a lot of bills and food etc.

The 1 bed apartment I’m in love with is in Leeds centre and comes with a lot of perks:

• free Yorkshire travel pass
• on-site free gym
• fully furnished but freedom to decorate
• weekly cleaner (I could do without)
• free super fast broadband
• common areas, study areas & rooftop terrace

I don’t have any significant debts (less than £1000) and currently have just shy of £10k for a house deposit so I wouldn't need to save huge amounts every month.

I don’t have a car (and wouldn’t need one), I don’t plan on having children and hopefully getting a raise to £31k in the next 12-18 months.

When I say the decor and finish on the apartment is absolutely stunning and I’m obsessed. I feel like I deserve it but just not sure about price and income! Please be gentle, TIA.

You will never be able to say if you’re paying that much rent

That's very expensive! But I suppose it depends on what your priorities are. Would you be happy sitting alone in that flat because you can't afford to out and party with your friends? Would you be happy eating Tesco Value beans on toast in that flat because you can't afford to buy nice food or go out to restaurants?

I'd go for it OP but on a six month contract so if it is too tight even with good budgeting you've got a way out. It sounds like this could be a formative experience for you and from what you have said you've been through a lot in life I'm sure, so snap this place up and enjoy the gym and cleaner!

990 for Leeds is overpriced regardless of affordability.

That's a substantial % of your income (and £10k is not a significant deposit for a house, and will be eroded by house price inflation too, so you do need to add to your savings).

I really wouldn't, I'm on £31k and would consider that a stretch, also £10k isn't a massive deposit the way things are going atM.

What about something like this and treat yourself to gym membership at Nuffield in the Light it has a spa area

The Iceworks, 40 New York Street
www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/112149113

It sounds amazing but is a lot of money. When I first moved to Leeds I rented a room in a shared house with professionals. We had an absolute ball and it has ended up being the best time of my life. Why don't you do that to start with? It was just past the LGI so I walked everywhere!

I think for me this depends massively on what council tax etc are.

Does the rent include heating/electric and water - sometimes they do at these more "managed" places. If you'd need a bus pass and want a gym membership anyway then those are a saving - round my way that would be £50 + 5 a month. Add in water and heating and that would be another £50-75 potentially. Broadband is another £25 (for super fast which I find I do need now I work from home regularly). So if all those things are included then the actual rental cost would be about £815. Which is still a lot of money but might make it make more sense. Obviously you'd need to check if the service charge was included.

If you take home £1800, and it's then £990 plus between £75 and £100 pcm council tax (band a to band c with 25% discount in Leeds) so that would then be £1090. Assuming you then don't need to run a car because of the travel pass, you've got £700 a month for living costs and saving. It's not going to facilitate massive amounts of saving but if it's something you want to do I think it would be affordable if gym, travel, and effectively all your bills bar council tax and your mobile are included.

I don't know much about Leeds as I'm from a different part of the country, but the rent seems extremely high to me. If you're set on renting then maybe look for something a bit cheaper? You'll have more disposable income for other things then. Given that you already have a deposit, would you not prefer to buy somewhere rather than rent? - absolutely nothing wrong with renting btw, I've rented for the last 6 years. But i've just bought my own place, a lovely 2 bed flat, newly decorated, in a nice quiet area and my mortgage payments will be £310 a month, as where my rent was £500 so I'll be saving quite a bit, the very reason why I wanted to buy, plus the property will actually be mine one day... just something to think about. I hope it all works out

The advise I would give to you is aim for your rent to be no more than 1/3 of your income. So you've be looking at spending £600 per month for a 1 bed flat- which is doable. Will bills you'll be looking at another £2-300 per month.
Forget about the flash side of it, think practically. BIlls, food, unexpected expenses. Better to enjoy your expendable income than get a few months down the line and realise you have little to spend.

Do it op- get out of that home situation before it sucks you right in and you can't see the wood from the trees. Here where I am, a gym membership would cost circa £60 a month, travelling to work about £250, etc. Rents are much higher, almost twice what yours would be. Considering your circumstances, I'd want to save and save so I have a higher deposit that would allow me to have a smaller mortgage but £10K isn't bad. You only live once and it seems like you've got your head screwed on- keep your goals in mind- and give yourself a better standard of living until you're able to make it permanent via a house move.

I understand the temptation, but unfortunately am another vote for taking something cheaper, expanding your deposit/savings (10k is a great start, but ideally you need at least double that), and then being able to buy and create the nice finish you like on a house/apartment you actually will fully own one day. You also don't know how much costs might rise in the rental in the future. For example, will rent be raised after a year, service costs go up, etc.?

Don't let your short-term perspective on deserving something nice (and you really do!) get in the way of what is better long term.

Nothing much to add here other than you need to work out the value of the perks- do you have gym membership now, does the free travel thing actually gain you anything (it might well do, so you could write that off your monthly outgoings perhaps).

Being fully furnished is a double edged sword- saves you money when you first move out but adds cost on when you do buy your own place. Most people have a selection of furniture that they have accumulated while renting to put in their first home and then replace as need be so although you're not having to buy it now you're just delaying the cost.

Is it the first flat you've looked at? I say that because you might be pleasantly surprised by what you can get for a substantially lower rent, without the perks that you may or may not use. For context in the suburbs of Birmingham or Coventry you'd be able to get a three bed house for the same money in a perfectly average part of town.

You should definitely move out from your mum's but I think you'd be happier finding a room in a 3 or 4 bed house share with other young professionals at a similar life-stage to you. It will be tough to make ends meet with the setup you describe at the moment, but in 3 years time you have a good chance of having another step up the career ladder done, and be £5kpa better off, so it would be more affordable and meanwhile you get to have some experience of hopefully living with relatively "normal" people rather than the rather unhealthy dynamic you have had so far.

That’s expensive for Leeds. I’d go for a cheaper flat & try to buy somewhere as soon as you can.

I agree 900 rent pm on 1800 a month take home pay is a bit too high. However, you can negotiate rent with landlords. I’d decline the free things you don’t need... like how much would a Yorkshire travel pass be of value to you? How often would you actually use it? Also the weekly cleaner you have said you don’t need has to be worth at least £80/mo.

I’d go back with offer including only what you want and offering £750/mo or thereabouts. And keep looking...there is always a new place being added to Rightmove and if you register with a few letting agents they may even ring you up before advertising if something opens up you are perfect for.

You should never, ever spend more than 50% of your take home on rent. Find something cheaper.

You need to do a budget and see if what's left is affordable to you, based on the lifestyle that you want. Do you work in the city centre and would you spend a lot of your leisure time there? How much do you normally spend on food, going out, clothes, grooming etc.

I know everyone's saying it's too expensive, but its in the right ball park for a city centre flat and the gym and broadband could be worth at least £50 a month, plus you'll have no travel costs, so that's another bonus.

Your other essentials will be groceries, council tax, gas, electricity and water, mobile, any TV subscriptions and licence if you want to watch live TV or the BBC iplayer, a bit of spare money for things like prescriptions, dentist, optician etc.

After that, your money is free for clothes, hairdressing and leisure. I think it will be doable unless you want to be out for cocktails in new designer gear several times a week. You could always try the shortest least (6 months?) and see how you go on and look to move somewhere cheaper if it doesn't work out for you?

That sounds like rent for two people, OP. My son and his wife have just rented a two-bed flat in Manchester for that amount - they work from home so needed the extra room.

Do you definitely want your own place rather than share with someone?

Is your money saved in one of those ISAs where you'll get 25% extra if you buy?

I agree with you regarding leaving your mum's place. It sounds as though she's using you. You'll be a lot happier in your own place.

If you get a cheaper flat then you could pay for all those little extras yourself, but have the option to cancel them if you needed to save a bit of money. Whereas with the more expensive flat you’re stuck with fewer ways to economise should you need to.

Definitely move out, and I loved living alone so don’t rule that out either. But keep shopping around for a slightly cheaper place. That’s my advice.

We own a rental property in another West Yorkshire town, 25mins from Leeds by train. 3 bed house, with garden and cellar. Rent £650pcm.

You can get a lot more for your money.

£1k a month for a 1 bed flat in Leeds sounds like an absolute rip off, however nice it is. Will you genuinely use all the 'extras'? I think it'd be very tight on your salary tbh. It's ok being able to afford the rent but will you be so happy in your nice apartment if you had to live on beans because bills are more expensive than you first thought?

It is up to you of course OP, but that seems an awful lot of money for a one bed flat in Leeds. We rent a 3 bed detached house in a pleasant area of a Midlands city for around the same.

I know it is all new and shiny, but even taking into account the extras you get I can't help feeling you'd be ripped off. There is only you to pay all the bills and it will leave you unable to save much or pay for other stuff, like holidays, eating out, a car maybe. Even though you have a decent salary for your age. Could you settle for something cheaper, at least for now maybe? Keep saving and that should give you more choices in the future

Just a thought, but a lot of agents have affordability criteria that you have to pass. Usually the rent cannot be more than 1/3 of your income, or you might get away with a guarantor if your income is slightly less. Obviously it might not be the case for you and they may have different rules, but just something to be aware of.