Where can i find a flat for my daughter in London?

[MrsFrancisUnderwear]

I'm hoping some wise London mumsnetters can point me in the right direction as I don't know the area well myself.

My daughter has finished her studies and will be working in the centre of London. She and we are very fortunate in that we can help her buy a small flat. So, where do we start?

She seems to prefer South West London (had a flat share in Norbiton, Kingston) but we've looked there and it's much too expensive. I'm worried that she will choose an area that she doesn't know.

Where can we start looking? Our budget is £200k.

Hither green is too expensive, you won't find anything there

Surprised about your lease question OP - do you own your own property?

You need to be looking for something with at least 100/ 150 years left on the lease otherwise you'll find it difficult to sell

To those questioning the lease question - I live in Scotland. We don't have archaic leasehold properties here - thank goodness.

If a graduate in their early 20s started at my workplace and said they lived in Croydon/Sutton/Romford/Epsom etc I would just assume they were living with their parents while they saved a deposit for a flat share.

Catford, Downham, Bromley, Grove Park, Mottingham is still quite cheap and 20 Minute train link to London Bridge from grove park.

www.zoopla.co.uk/for-sale/details/36467259?search_identifier=6ea3f76ebd518adb0652916653578af1#sWWAcflZLRCxxigO.97

www.zoopla.co.uk/for-sale/details/37692569?search_identifier=47e91247f586aebd332b51cbec7e04f5#DtG1UMf0Mzi4gUaF.97

144k one bedroom catford

Is she up for living alone anyway? Living in a houseshare is just part and parcel of being in your early twenties isn't it? You make friends that way and it's more sociable, and she won't have to live in Croydon! (No offence croydon).

Have you thought of asking Kirstie and Phil? (I'm being serious).

I thought people house shared because they didn't have any choice. I know that's why I did. As soon as I was able to get my own place I did that. Can't imagine being offered 200k to buy a place and saying no I'd rather live with 5 other people in Clapham. Maybe I'm just different!

re a lease. I'm trying to remember when I worked with residential solicitors - you don't want a lease that will need extending as lease extensions are roughly 25K from memory.

if I could buy again I'd buy the same as I bought (e.g. what I have now) which is a 2 bedroom garden flat.

Yeah maybe! I enjoyed the fun of living in a shared house in my twenties tbh but couldn't do it now!

Lily your first link is better.

the second one in Catford is bloody awful decor included and also remember a lot of lenders won't lend (if you want a mortgage on a flat above a shop). also reselling it on could be harder too.

having said that Catford is 'up and coming'. i used to live in Forest Hill/Catford borders but this was about 7 years ago.

As LilyLongLegs says, many of the SE suburbs are nice and relative to other areas, affordable, but whilst Mottingham has its nice bits those are the locations where you will not get a flat, there are some Parts I would personally be happy for my daughter to live (sorry!). The SE often gets overlooked as it isn't on the tube network but it does have excellent links into London and as a young person who might be changing jobs Petts Wood (link in earlier post to a 2 bed with garden) is excellent as it has lots of destinations includingKings Cross, Victoria, Blackfriars, Charing Cross, London Bridge, Waterloo East, Cannon Street. For those who like the night life trains leave Charing Cross as late as 1am and as early as 4.30am and Petts Wood is safe to walk home from the station at any hour.

This one is ok. I live not far from here (in nicer part!) - she would be I think in between Thornton Heath and Selhurst train stations or a walk/bus ride to Gipsy Hill/Crystal Palace.

Selhurst itself is residential but has a big supermarket, Thornton Heath a bit grubby but fine for what it is. both areas perfectly safe.

not picturesque. in I think zone 4 and about 30 minutes into Victoria/London Bridge/Charing X by train.

www.zoopla.co.uk/for-sale/details/17482892?search_identifier=00564d56100d422254c98464955ccb5b#U3fgeRDVvZqIjt0T.97

What's the first bit of the post code she has a job in.

Honestly it will help the search. Central London is huge. Occasionally I have to go from Central London to se7.. At least a hour one way.

There might be other areas that we know that are up and coming but without a potential hour
Commute.

She also have to think about travel and the commute if relying on the underground because they do go on strikes and you are still expected to get into work. Which could easily add an another hour each way.

another nicer property in South Norwood - i forgot that Norwood Junction is very near and has fast trains to London Bridge and I think Victoria. the area has also 'come up' a lot in the past few years. I know a couple of friends who live there and perfectly safe. near croydon which has an ikea on a retail park.

www.zoopla.co.uk/for-sale/details/37612588?search_identifier=060523336dfc7e413babe4196d8ff4af#v7Am5qpH1La9LfEC.97

I would look at Orprington if you really really want to buy.

Honestly I think the budget is too low. I think £400k is a more realistic budget. If her salary is low she should check out some of the low cost housing options. My brother dated a lovely girl who was living in a convent when she first moved to London. This website gives a list of all places for short and long term accomodation. I understand you might not be catholic but it's a great safe place to start. My brothers ex loved living there as she moved to London knowing no one and not having a job.

Orpington is quite far out though want2b then you'd be looking at travel costs and time to London too!

I think get on the ladder ASAP in a not bad area. South Norwood is a short bus ride to Crystal Palace which is lovely (where I am).

super I'd actually be living in the convent! I think my brothers ex paid something like £350-400 a month and they served breakfast. It was all very safe and the nun quizzed my brother before she left because they were newly dating.

It's a very generous offer OP and I'm sure your daughter is grateful - I'd be inclined to let her rent for her first year so she gets to know her way round London (and whether she likes it here!) and can flat share with some friends while she settles in, then start looking for somewhere to buy when she's been here about 6 months - it will take a few months for a sale to go through and short hold leases are usually a year so that would work ok on timing, and once she's here she can look round areas more easily / test out commuting routes etc.

If I was early 20s there is no way I would want to live in the burbs. Last train home, extortionate taxis, not being able to get in for a night out (if the trains are fecked as they often are). I'd flat share for a few years.

Go with the investment property. She could always move in to it later.

Orpington??!! Hahhaa dear god no!

Honestly, London is far more fun when you live closer in. Unless she's going to be living there forever, I'd save your money and suggest a flat share somewhere she actually enjoy living. She's young, there is no need to tie herself to a mortgage just yet.

I lived in London for years before I bought. I was always able to rent somewhere no more than a half hour walk from where I worked. I eventually bought a run down ex-LA property in my early 30's. Being with people when you're young is far more important that having a property of your own, on your own. Not having a property gives you a lot of freedom as well, you can move when you want, you don't have to stay in jobs you hate because you have to service a mortgage.

I know you want her to be secure but I would leave her to sort herself out for at least 5 years before tying her to a property.

Seconding other posters who have said that the part of London she'll own a flat in vs the part her friends will live in, her social life will be in, and her job will be in, are likely to be very far apart. Safety-wise, this presents Issues, and night buses are no fun for anyone. On the other hand, her mortgage payments are likely to be fairly low, and so maybe she'll be able to afford taxis.

IMO the best bet, IF you can find something, would be Leyton or Leytonstone. On the central line so good into town, and rapidly filling with people exiled from Hackney. A couple of good pubs and a cycle route direct to Hackney Wick for nightlife. On the other hand, someone used to Southwest London may find it all a little gritty, and if her friends are all in Clapham it's a long way home!

I like Shooter's Hill, but it is nowhere near a tube by London standards so she'll be cabbing a lot, or catching a bus, which in that area I wouldn't want to do as a lone woman after midnight.

Croydon keeps being talked up but my god, I went there the other day and it was just as grim as I remembered.

Tottenham Hale you MIGHT still get something - but maybe not. It is on the up though.

I'd put the deposit away for year or two, myself. Once she's more settled in London and has done the partying everyone does when they first arrive and have disposable income, then maybe that'd be a better time to help - and she'll have more of an idea of what would and wouldn't be acceptable.

Honestly though I think being stuck in some of these cheaper suburby areas of SE London during my twenties would've really bummed me out!
They're where you move to when you're ready to raise a family and can't afford the cool areas anymore!