Working at Bank/Canary Wharf - where to get a flat?

[thetroutpout]

Hi, my DH has to work in London for a year or so. He will be based in bank and canary wharf, he wants to rent or possibly buy a flat, where do you reckon would be good places to look as we don't really know London at all? Needs to be safe, not too expensive, not too far from work. Thanks!

..and how many hundreds of pounds for service charge, oh and council tax, oh and water?

Renting a room in someone else's flat would be the cheapest option there are always people wanting to rent a room on the online notice board of banks/ companies. That way council tax/ service charges won't be your responsibility.

Of course what Mumzy is saying is correct and it's something we all seem to bypass.

It is the most sensible solution tbh.

Buying, at this time, is certainly not.

A friend's husband lives on a boat when he is working at Canary Wharf - much cheaper than a flat and moored in walking distance of the office.

Look along the central line going into East London. Wanstead is very nice or further along you have Buckhurst Hill, South Woodford wtc. They are all very nice areas and within easy reach of Canary Wharf x

thetroutpout - Zhaghzhagh makes a great point. If DH only needs this crash pad for a year then paying £9000 (3%) stamp duty on the purchase of the Silver Wharf property may not be the best move, unless you want the property for a mid to long term investment. Happy to take an email to discuss more.

DD is sometimes based at Canary Wharf and her flat is at Royal Docks - literally a 4/5 stop DLR ride to Royal Victoria. But it costs (sit down) £1,950 per month for a two bedroom flat. Admittedly, 16th Floor so amazing views over the Thames, Dome, Canary Wharf and Olympic Park. 1 year lease is now ending, so it's back to reality. She also had a nightmare finding a suitable sharer. We have looked a some high quality studios near Canary Wharf which are currently being marketed for £280,000 ish, and rent for around £325 per week +. I keep dreaming!

For renting, have you looked on Spareroom?

If you want to live somewhere a bit more residential then have a look at Clapham Common, about 15 mins on the tube from Bank and much more soul!

Woolwich Arsenal has the Royal Arsenal development which is quite shiny. You can choose between DLR or Thames Clipper boat to get to work then! Woolwich itself has improved a LOT in recent years, and there is more to come.

I also recommend Greenwich.

I'm assuming that your DH will be returning to the family home at weekends; if that's the case then I would actually look for somewhere that makes that journey easy. Getting into central London will be easy, getting in and out of London for the weekend can be painful. There would be no point in your DH basing himself in SE London if he's going to be travelling out to, say, somewhere north-west of London every weekend - he's got the whole of London to get through (I say this as someone who has to make that exact journey every time we want to see FIL and it's a total drag, at least an hour just to get to the M40). If you go on the basis that most Londoners don't live on top of their work, and factor in a commute of about an hour door-to-door, then start looking in areas that suit getting home of a weekend. You don't have to live on the tube line that work is on.

I used to live near The Wharf on the Isle of Dogs. The older developments down the bottom of the island provide better value than the places right near the Wharf and are a short walk from Greenwich for the park and bars and restaurants (there's a foot tunnel, you don't have to swim). I started off renting someone's spare room and then bought a place. Whoever mentioned 200-250k for a flat is way off. I sold my place (2 bed) in 2008 for just under 400k and the prices haven't dropped round there. And that wasn't in one of the shiny new developments.

Limehouse is another place to look.

Greenwich is nice but many places that describe themselves as being in Greenwich are actually miles from the centre and really Charlton or Deptford (in fact when I first rented on the Isle of Dogs, I had been aiming to live in Greenwich but gave up after seeing so many sh1tholes near the centre or having estate agents send me to places they claimed were in greenwich but were nowhere near it).

Avoid Shadwell/Whitechapel/Mile End unless you value the price over the environment.

He needs to live in Limehouse. Perfect location - 5 mins from each place. Lots of modern flats built around a lovely marina or right on the river. Walk to CW in 15 mins or DLR 3 stops. 2 stops other way to Bank. Greenwich is too far out for my liking, Limehouse better placed for central London.

NB: when I lived there (4 yrs ago) a 1 bed in Limehouse could be had for £1100 a month but it could be considerably more now.

Have you considered Monday - Friday sharing OP?

I have a friend who lost her job in London but found one in Aberdeen. She rents out her house in London Mon - Fri and then most weekends she goes back to London to enjoy her house.

www.spareroom.co.uk/content/info-faq/mon-to-fri-lets/

I used to live in the Isle of Dogs nine years ago, probably changed a lot since then though! We lived near a fantastic curry house called The Gaylord!!! Yes Limehouse was nice, Poplar wasn't, we lived there too. Agree to avoid Shadwell too. Maybe Wapping? Although that is probably very expensive now too. (amazing restaurant the called Il Bordello though!!!!!)

Ooooo, I used to live pretty near the Gaylord.

Agree there are a few nice pockets of Mile End but IMHO the bad outweighs the good in my book. Mr euro lived there when I was on the IoD. We always stayed at mine (mutual choice).