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.

[whinetaster]

How about Brentford? Might be just possible. Brentford train station goes direct to Waterloo and it's a short bus ride to Boston Manor tube. Near ealing, kew and Richmond for nice places to go out.

This is a 75% shared ownership for £195,000

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-35668911.html

[PerspicaciaTick]

I think the OP needs to talk to her DD about her preferences rather than assume what she would like talking to us lot.
By the time I left Uni, I was sick to death of sharing accommodation. I loved being able to do all the central London nightlife stuff and still go home to a bit of greenery and calm on my 30min commute out of London.

[Dumdedumdedum]

It's more about how far out of London you have to go for greenery and calm for £200k, PerspicaciaTick! Wales apparently is the nearest!

[PerspicaciaTick]

Not really - I'm sitting looking at a field of horses at the moment 35 mins from Liverpool Street. Flats round here cost from £150k.

[Dumdedumdedum]

I was remembering the garage near Harrods being sold for a ridiculous sum, and have just found this in SW7: www.foxtons.co.uk/property-for-sale-in-south-kensington/nwca4118083

[antimatter]

Also - how much can she afford to pay for bills and commuting.
That's where studio flat in zone 3 (if you can find it that is) may be cheapest option over all.

Of course you can buy a flat for that money in Reading but commuting would take a lot of her wages.

[Queenbean]

PerspicaciaTick

You may be just 35 mins from Liverpool Street (Essex?) but the season tickets for travel there are a fortune. London zone 3 is about £130 per month - I think Essex is about 3 times that

[Hobbes8]

There's a lot of doom and gloom on this thread. Yes, there's a lot of conpromises to be made on that budget, but it's not impossible to find something. The OP's daughter had been renting in Norbiton and commuting to Waterloo, so she's already used to being outside of the centre, dealing with last trains, etc. Kingston has its own social life anyway - lots of bars and clubs (although McClusksys has shut down - sob!).

OP it looks like there's some new builds going on in Tolworth which might be worth a look. Also that shared ownership place in Brentford looked like a good deal. Way back on page 1 I mentioned Feltham - I bought my first house there when I was 29 and had a good social life, either in central London and getting the last train back at midnight, or in Kingston and Richmond, or by staying with friends if I was going clubbing. If your daughter prefers to rent more centrally then that's fine, but I would have jumped at the chance to own my own flat in London, even if barely in London.

[DinosaursRoar]

oh I'm out in Kent, the fast train is 25 minutes to London bridge/under 30 to Cannon Street. But, the last train back is before 1am, after that, it's a taxi ride that will set you back £60 (or more). It means a late night out isn't really possible. Fine for me now, I moved when pregnant and we don't do late nights like that anyway, we need to be back for babysitters! However, when we lived in zone3, we could get night buses home if we missed the last train (was on the overground), taxis weren't that expensive from the centre or friends living in other parts of south London.

It's fine to live in a commuter town if all you want to use London for is work. But it's rather depressing for the average 22 year old to work in London but effectively not be able to live there, esp if they are single in a 1 bed flat so noone else around in the evenings/weekends.

[PettsWoodParadise]

Bear in mind London is so big and many who will be working with your daughter will not have enormous budgets unless she is going into something like a corporate law firm. So they will be flung to all corners as well as central. It can make it hard to meet up on a Saturday night. Most of the youngsters working at the firm I am at are in the suburbs as that is all they can afford or their family is there - generally they have two sets of friends - work and local. Local for the weekends and work friends for during the week, normally Thursdays. I agree that the input needs to come from the girl who will be living there as all have different priorities - renting, even a room in a shared house for six months to decide on an area is a good idea.

[Lilylonglegs]

SuperHighFly Obviously for 144K its not going to be marvellous but for that price and near a station you can't expect much more. I grew up above a shop and we got way above the asking price when it was time to sell, although it was zone 2 almost bordering zone 1 (Elephant & Castle)

[SuperFlyHigh]

Lily if you can afford more though and especially as OP's DD is in a naicer place renting then I'd go for something naicer. If it is on main road could be noisy too.

[newname12]

This ones nice;

Croftongate Way, Brockley, SE4
//www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-53325053.html

I know this area. 7-8 mins to London bridge from Brockley station (zone 2/3), on the overground line. Sound investment as the area is on the up. Crofton park station (zone 3) straight to Blackfriars.

Along the east London line you can still find some reasonable properties within easy reach of Central London.

[newname12]

Sorry link didn't copy from pp..

//www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-53325053.html

[SuperFlyHigh]

newname that's great but there'll be service charges and OP said her DD wouldn't be able to afford them generally.

also you have to fold the bed up. not sure I'd be overly keen on doing that every day. area is nice though I know it quite well.

[NotCitrus]

Would you consider the £200k as a deposit for a BTL mortgage? Then you could go for a 2 bed place and she could rent out the other room?

If you look for 2 beds up to £250k, there's a fair few near Streatham Vale/Norbury, which have night buses to them and are under 20min train to Victoria (less handy for the City but there are trains to Blackfriars/City as well).

I agree it would be best for her to get more of an idea of where and how she'd like to live in the longer term, at this point.

[AboutTimeIChangedMyNameAgain]

I would day Streatham, Thornton Heath or South Norwood.

[Efferlunt]

Has anyone mentioned Berrylands? It's the poor man's Surbiton so you might find something there. It's not far from Kingston

[LadyStark]

I live just outside of Epsom and agree it's not the place for someone young and new to London. It's dull. Great for raising kids, good schools, green space etc but really so boring.

I think that goes for lots of the places mentioned on this thread, partly due to affordability of these places being in line with budget. I'm in zone 5 and my commuting costs are over £200 per month so you need to factor that in if you do look further out.

Also a contingency for when you miss the last train, it happens to everyone at least a few times a year!

[TremoloGreen]

There is no way I would have wanted to live out in the sticks when I was a 20-something with my first job in London. Flat-sharing and being central is part of the experience, she'll be isolated from all her friends and always have to leave the pub early to get the last train home.

Also, if you're concerned about service charges, you should not buy a leasehold property at all. The freeholder could just sting you with a bill for thousands at any time, and you have no control over when or how the work is done.

[TremoloGreen]

Also, has she lived in London before? London is really, really hard work for young people who aren't earning very much. In a year or two, she may be ground down by it and looking for somewhere else to live. She might also have a better salary so your gift could help her buy something nice rather than a poorly maintained wreck of a flat. I lived in London for ten years, it was manageable when I moved there and could rent a room for 85£ a week. By the time I left, I was so sick of everything. There's no way I'd do more than a short stint for career purposes now.

[SuperFlyHigh]

About - I said those areas - well not looked at Streatham but it is very expensive right now £469K for a few 1 bedroom flats!

this one in Tooting is perfect and it shouldn't be too far from a tube (Tooting Broadway or Bec but is nearer mainline ones here).

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-51662414.html

[AboutTimeIChangedMyNameAgain]

A short bus ride or 20 minute walk to the tube from that one. Easy. Near a few shops too, coop and a sainsburys and near Mitcham and Tooting high streets. There also the overground straight to Thames link and farringdon.

[specialsubject]

been a long time, but has the sewage smell in Berrylands been solved? It used to reek from the train!

[nagsandovalballs]

Ugh I used to play rugby at berrylands and it stank. And dull dull dull.