Renting first flat with partner. One or two bed?

[zemphoria]

My partner and I are finally moving in together. We’ve been dating for 3 and a bit years, since our masters programmes. We’ve obviously spent a lot of time in each others rooms in shared flats.

We are going to rent a flat together. We can easily afford a one or two bedroom place. But obviously the less we spend on rent the more money for savings or little treats.

Is it better to rent a one or two bed together?

One of us will work from home a couple of days a week. We also live far away from friends and family so a spare bedroom would allow us to have people come and stay.

One bed is £2,200 a month. Two bed is £2,800 a month.

if only one of you works from home sometimes, I would go 1 bed but look for a layout which allows you to use the living room as a bedroom for guests-ideally a separate living room (not combined with kitchen). You’ll save a lot, and your 2nd bedroom would mostly sit empty otherwise

How big are they in comparison. So if 1 bed is big, could you have a sofa bed and or table for working? 2 bed might seem better but is it making master room smaller?

One bed is 45 sqm
Two bed us 65 sqm

one bed, and use the living room as a spare bedroom for guests. Save your money

That's quite a lot extra each a month, which you could be saving.

My spare bedroom is my guest bedroom and home office. I wfh more often than not and have a decent office set up in there; I love being able to close the door on work at the end of the day. It's nice for guests to have their own space, though I do also have a sofa bed in the living room for when more come to stay. Having a spare room is a total luxury and I'm very lucky to have it. I'd say it depends on how your finances are after paying the higher rent price, and if you're happy with that.

2 bed. You’ll appreciate the extra room, close your work life away at the end of the day.
Guests much prefer a separate room as well.

One bed. Save the money to put towards a deposit.

We always had family staying in hotels nearby and it was fine.

One bed is plenty.

You’re paying £600 for an additional room that isn’t likely to have many guests staying in that often? That is £7,200 a year difference.
Your friends can pay for a Premier Inn or a Travelodge or they can sleep on your sofa!
It is a no brainer.

One bed for renting. When you are ready to buy I’d say 2 bed if you can afford it

£600 a month is a lot to be saving for a deposit

These rental prices are extortionate, even by London standards.

When my OH still worked in offices, he got raging colds and was an absolute snot monster four times a year.

For that reason alone I would go for two!

Have you missed the two recent threads where people are paying £1400 for a room in a house share?

I would take 1 bed save rest for deposit for mortgage.

I would say check a couple of things:
Storage space
Space for a sofa bed
Space for a desk or a big enough table to properly wfh
When we had a 2 bed flat we used the 2nd room as a wfh space and a massive dressing room, we both liked clothes and had to move from having a whole wardrobe each to 1 small wardrobe in the main bedroom, and also needed to fit a desk to wfh. It physically didn't fit in our standard sized double room. I'd go for the 1 bed but only on the proviso it has enough storage space for you to both have space for the things you love, and space for a sofa bed and a desk to wfh in the living room.
I wouldn't worry too much about guests but it's always handy to have a spare bed on the off-chance one of you starts snoring, or has a cold, or a bad stomach. For guests, that £600pm for the 2nd bedroom could put them up in a pretty nice hotel unless you have more than 2 every single month! (I know they'd pay for themselves in a nearby hotel, but view the cost of the spare room in the light of, would I pay £600 for a guest to stay the night in a hotel - probably not)

Do you wanna stay with this human? Then two beds. lol. But kinda true. You’ll need space and a office/ desk area. Bonus people can stay, but don’t set it up that way, just a fouton or something. Set it up as functional space for you.

still cheaper than renting a one bedroom each. Although if you’re still in school you may not be in that place in life.

also look for a cheaper/better two bedroom.

Two. Partners snore. Its good to have a spare room to dry the washing in etc. we survived in a one bed but not wfh. We also had a huge loft to stash things in.

1 bed and put the difference aside to save for a deposit.

1 bed and save the cash for your future.
It's your first time living together you'll really get to find out if you're right for each other by living together full time.
Save for a deposit for your own place eventually better to pay your own mortgage than someone else's.