Will I struggle to rent ?

[Rental101]

I live at home with family and my 9 month old . I work full time .

I want to move out, I can rent about 1200 pm on affordability/my wages. This used to get me a 2 bed , now only a one .

I have heard it’s hard out there . I have only rented once when I didn’t have a child .

Will I struggle to get a landlord to accept me ? Any one got experiences of being a single mum trying to rent ? I can imagine they prefer couples . I could pay rent upfront . I’m not eligible for social housing as I have savings. Not sure I would get a place either .

It will depend if you can pass affordability checks. My friend could easily manage the rent, £1000pm, but they wanted minimum salary of £30k, and shes earns under that so offered to pay 6 months rent up front. She got the flat.
It probably depends a lot on where you are, and what the rental situation is like. But if you dont try then you'll never know.

If your rent is 1200 then your take-home will need to be around 3600 to pass affordability checks.

Some LLs like renting to families, they are more likely to stay for longer.

They can’t discriminate on your personal situation but most landlords/agencies these days will require you to pass ‘right to rent’ checks which include affordability and a credit check plus referencing.
It is definitely a competitive market out there at the moment depending on what areas of the country.

I would recommend speaking with all your local estate agents and seeing where you go from there. There are also groups on Facebook for private landlords who are looking for tenants… be worth a look on there?

I and most agents use this to determine affordability:

rent affordability criteria

Thanks all . Appreciate it !

I used this very simple rent affordability calculator that helped me determine how much rent I can afford based on my salary. The tool also provides information on how you can manually calculate it yourself as well. It also shows how much income a guarantor needs to be able to support me as well.

Rent Affordability Calculator

I have never struggled to rent as a single parent. Currently paying £1400 for a 2bed rental. There was 5 people going for this flat when I got it, fact I have a secure job helped I think.