Moving to London, what should we budget for rent?

[ladymcq]

We are moving to London with work, offices will be near Bank station. Our combined salary is about £130k, so a take home of about £7k a month.

We want to experience the 'London lifestyle' and live somewhere central and nice like Notting Hill, Chelsea, Clerkenwell etc. Not decided yet.

We would like to rent a large one bed or a one bed with an office/dining room that could be used as an occasional guest bedroom.

In my head, I'd like to spend no more than £2,500 a month. Is this realistic?

I know that there are cheaper areas to live but we aren't suburbs people (yet) and would rather have a shorter commute. We also don't like new build areas like St Katherines, as lovely as the flats are for their cost!

I think those are ambitious plans you've got there. Oh that combined income you'd definitely struggle in those areas. Is there just two of you?
Take a look at Rightmove for studios and one bed flats for an idea.

Personally if I wasn't that much I'd be looking at zone 4+

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