Is £1,400 a month in rent too much on this salary?

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DS is moving to London for a grad job after his PhD. So he’s 26. He was discussing salary and rental costs and said his take home is going to be £3,300 a month. He is looking at rooms in flats for £1,400 a month.

Is that typical for London?

You can get rooms in Wimbledon/ Tottenham/ Brixton/ Peckham for about £900+(ish) a month - and not in 'dumpy' houses either.

My friend has just moved into a house share in Wimbledon. She pays £900 a month, not including bills, and has an en-suite and shares the house with only two others. She's about 50 minutes to the office (Westminster) door to door. It has a garden and off-roading parking and is actually quite nice tbh.

But it depends on priorities. My friend went 'cheap' so she could save as much as she could to go towards a house deposit. But not everyone wants to do that.

For a flat-share that is pricey. Is it very central?

Gosh 50 minutes commute and still £900 a month! I live on another planet.

Thank you - that’s a good comparison point

All depends. I’d say more like 1200 for a reasonably central and decent flat share. It’s a balance between commute time and cost and how much he wants to be near the centre. Where will he be working? We can suggest areas to look.

Ds pays about £800 plus bills in East London. Less than 20 minutes in to central London.

Hes an adult what does it have to do with you? If he finds it too much he will find somewhere cheaper all by himself ;)

Also factor in council tax which can vary significantly in London.

If it includes bills it's on the expensive end of fine. If it's very central it's good, and then he wouldn't be paying much in transport. Even if he finds he's skint for a year he can move can't he? I'd let him make his own mistakes.

Parents can give a shit about their kids when they're adults you know and try to help them when possible.

Perhaps her son has asked her opinion.

Pathetic and pointless comment.

This is exactly DD's set up too.

Where is the flat and where is he going to be working?

My first house share in London (quite a while ago!) was in zone 2 (Oval), cost £750 + bills and my take home at the time was just over £2000. Which left me with less leftover than your DS will have. But i was able to get a bus to work or do a 45mins walk when things were really tight, which made a big difference to having to take the tube. I managed just fine and just concentrated on settling into my job etc. After the first year, id then made new friends and worked out which bit of London we liked etc and then we decided to look for somewhere that suited us all better.

So i agree with @Spinet - if it includes bills and its a super nice place, it sounds on the more expensive side of ok. If it doesnt include bills or its a bit of a rundown flat, then he should be able to find something cheaper. Is he using spareroom? I just looked at Tooting for example (where a few of my younger work colleagues live) and there are plenty of rooms for around £800 plus bills or Clapham, which is always popular with grads, for around £1000-£1100.

The Wimbledon to Westminster commute that pp cited is actually really common and super easy as its either one tube journey or an overground to waterloo plus a short walk over the bridge, so even though it sounds long, its not as bad as it seems. I do it now.

£1400 is toppy for a room in a shared house. Where is it? Are bills included? If not, how much will these be? What will his commuting costs be? How much does this leave him? Does he need to join a gym, go out, clothe himself, eat? Lifestyle costs are huge in London (easy to spend £100 on a not spectacular night out if at a bar then restaurant for example). Only after doing these sums will he be able to assess whether he can afford the £1400.