Advice on moving to London

[Gigia]

I am looking to rent a flat in London for when I am working there and no idea where to start! Ideally I would like a 2 bed with at least a communal garden. I work close to Covent Garden and wouldn't want to be too far out. I know it's a massive ask but any safe and fairly affordable areas close by? Ideally I would like to pay 2-2.5k a month max

Define close by? For Londoners anything up to an hour's commute is thought of as reasonable but obviously that's pretty unthinkable for people used to living a 10 minute drive to work! Also define 'safe', personally I feel safe pretty much anywhere in London so long as you take sensible precautions but of course crime can happen anywhere, by safe do you mean 'middle class'/upmarket looking/has nice cafes, independent shops and restaurants etc (it's perfectly OK if that is what you mean!) - or are you happy with somewhere that looks rough around the edges and lacks hipster coffee shops so long as you don't get stabbed on the way to work because those are very different asks!

At that price you're not getting anything decent in zone 1 I'm afraid or even the closer/nicer parts of zone 2 - not if 2 beds and a garden is essential. The nature of central London housing is that there aren't really even communal gardens usually, often you get a balcony and sometimes a communal courtyard (aside from the fancy kind of mansion blocks which have lovely planted gardens in the centre of the square but yeah, those are pricey!).

Covent Garden is on the piccadilly line as you doubtless know but north of the Holloway Road or west of Barons Court which is where you'll find flats in your budget on the line it gets a bit rough around the edges for a while before it descends into upmarket suburbia at either end. So I'd look on the Northern line personally for an easy (for London!) commute, you can get off at Leicester Square and its only a 10 min walk to Covent Garden (you want to avoid Covent Garden station at rush hour anyway cos of the lift situation). Try Balham, Clapham or Tooting to the south or Belsize Park/ Hampstead and Swiss Cottage/St Johns Wood borders in the north? Or go further out into proper suburbia for more choice if you don't mind more like a 45 min to 1 hour commute?

How close do you want to be? The closer to CG the less likely you'll find somewhere with a garden (even communal) because of the lack of space. But blocks in Central London tend to all be close to some sort of public green space anyway. I think you'd be able to get something within your budget in areas like Russell Square, Holborn if being close to work is more important to you than a bigger space/garden. Otherwise if you go up the Piccadilly line 30 mins to somewhere like Southgate, you'd get more square footage for your money and some will have private gardens at the £2k mark. I'm not well versed in South London but Charing Cross - a short walk away from CG - is on both the Northern and Bakerloo lines, as well as the rail, which open up a lot more options south of the river. I'm sure other posters can advise re: price points and atmosphere! You do tend to get more for your money in South,

Hi
Thanks both, in terms of close I guess 45 mins was what I had in mind, in terms of safe it doesn't have to middle class at all, abit rough around the edges is fine. It feels like a minefield at the minute and I really appreciate all the suggestions

Ah well in that case! I think personally (and given a preference for north London which you may not share) I'd look around the Upper Holloway/Highbury/Canonbury sort of areas. You have a lot of transport links in that area including a couple of different piccadilly line stops or Archway in the north for the northern line. The Holloway road itself is notoriously very busy and a bit of a dive as is the area immediately round Finsbury Park station but there's lot of nice quiet roads in the vicinity and you have your choice of housing stock, older houses subdivided into flats (you will pay more to get the garden flat but then have a private garden) or more modern blocks which may well have communal gardens (watch for enormous service charges though). Depending on which you prioritize out of space/garden/closeness to tube/niceness of house you should find something in your budget. There's lots going on in that area plus you are handy for Muswell Hill/Highgate/Crouch End/Hampstead for weekend cafe trips or whatever. Just avoid the areas/streets immediately surrounding the stadium (Arsenal) as these can get busy/noisy on match days with the odd bit of anti-social behaviour (and it goes without saying not to go into a local pub on a match day in a Spurs shirt!).

As pp Cats posted south London definitely an option from Charing Cross mainline zone 3/4 is quite a short commute.
maybe explore options north & south also depends on the vibe you want facilities green space etc.

Oval, Kennington, Pimlico.

Just as some examples of what you get get for your money, this for instance is a lovely flat in a great area, I appreciate top of your budget and a communal garden not private but it's in a pretty period conversion house. Bit close to the stadium perhaps if being critical and its not huge by any means.
https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/143105117#/?channel=RES_LET

This is marketed as tufnell park but is distinctly more upper holloway - the proximity to train tracks and industrial estate would both some people but maybe not you? and you get a private garden https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/143934527#/?channel=RES_LET

This is a bit further away again from transport and clearly an ugly building or busy road as no picture from the front but a bit cheaper and private garden https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/143103611#/?channel=RES_LET

Amazing thanks for all the suggestions and links, working through them now. The garden is probably the least important thing tbh

Tufnell Park is such a great location - I used to live there, if there are issues on the Northern line it's not too far to walk to Holloway Road to get the Piccadilly line and there are good bus links too. I also saw the flat on Goddard Place and thought it looked great. So many great shops, restaurants and cafes in that area as well.

Elephant and castle is quite central, on the bakerloo line direct to Piccadilly Circus within 20 mins and would have places within your budget

Westminster/millbank/pimlico
walk to work in 20 mins
no gardens but loads of parks and westiminster cheap council tax

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/144389588#/?channel=RES_LET

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/144050174#/?channel=RES_LET

Vincent square is nice
https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/142447313#/?channel=RES_LET

Loads in 9 elms- again could walk to work or 87 bus is direct