Spending £1350 a month on rent for a room (!)

[farcicalfan]

Dd has just finished her masters (she's 24) and is moving to London for the first time. She has a grad job a a big bank and is expecting to be working a lot.

She obviously has her head screwed on but she came to me to ask for help with budgeting. Her take home is going to be around £3,400 a month. She's found a room in a flat about 25 mins walk from her work that she likes. The only problem is that it's £1,350 a month before bills (!)

Granted it's a very nice flat with lots of space and her own bathroom. Has anyone else got dc in banking/law in London as grads? How much do they fork over in rent each month?

Tell her to take it for 6 months if nice and walkable. She has plenty left over. At this age nothing is fixed long term so if she decides in 6 months to get cheaper room further out she can !
Start someplace nice and walkable in new job

Vauxhall isn't the best area to be walking home at night. Worked on Kennington Lane a few years back and had to attend board meetings ending around midnight. Had to rush to station to get last train and the wait was pretty scary.

Walk

A 25 minutes walk is only a 10 minutes bike ride. Lots of people ride their bike to work.

That sounds similar to what my London friends are paying.
Well done to your DD for finding such a high paying job, she'll have £2k left to spend on bills, food, anything else she wants, and will be able to save plenty each month.

That’s so much money to spend on rent (yes I know it’s the going rate for an en suite room in central London).

She could effectively save more money by having a similar set up further out - more disposable income for holidays, saving, nights out etc.

She could effectively save more money by having a similar set up further out - more disposable income for holidays, saving, nights out etc.

She could save even more if she lived in a tent and survived on baked beans, but maybe she wants a bit on fun in her life?

Well yes, that was the point of the op you quoted. If she moved a little further out,, she'd have more money for fun.

The credit check people generally don't like people spending more than 1/3rd of takehome on rent - although perhaps there is a bit more leeway in London. That comes in at 1122. So, it's possible she's not given a choice, they might turn her down.

This rent calculator website suggests she'll be fine to pay £1,400.00.

Normal! What's the issue with this exactly?

I live in a small town 60 miles from London and people here are paying £900/£1000 a month for a room in a shared house so London is going to be a lot more and wages are higher

Not necessarily. I oversea a building of 110 flats on the edge of zone 1 and I know of several flats here who have charged tenants £850-900/month for a double room in a shared flat.