18 year old moving to London

[TinyDancer78]

Hi,

I’m wondering if anyone can help me. My youngest son has been offered an apprenticeship in London starting in September 2026. It’s at Deloitte and the offices are in New street Square.
We live in the North West and don’t know where to start when it comes to accommodation. Ideally I’d like him to be somewhere safe with all bills included and for around £1200 a month and easily commutable. We’d be happy to pay up to £500 more a month if it was perfect as we only want him there short term while he settles into his job and hopefully makes friends.
I think starting a new job aswell as running a household and bills will be too much for him initially so we were looking at The Collective Old Oak.

Does anyone have any experiences or advice?

Spare room is the place to go
he can look at trendy, young person areas like east London

I think I need to contact some of the accommodation aimed at students to see if they’d take him as that would be the ideal.

I’d much prefer him to be central but he also really wants to be financially independent from us. Ideally if I can find somewhere perfect and then insist we help short term.

Look East and if Deloitte’s can’t help, there are loads of private student halls within that budget. He’d make friends around his age and bills/wifi/furniture etc are usually included. It would be a bit of a safety net for his first few months in London until he finds his feet.

Yes, do get him to contact Deloitte and ask if they have any accommodation tips for new apprentices/grads. When I joined the Big Four as a grad (many years ago), they used to have an ‘internal’ accommodation list which they shared with new grads. I used it to find my room in a London flat share - the room I took was actually that of another employee who had gone overseas for a 1 year secondment.

The best advice you’ve already been given is to look at SpareRoom and concentrate on postcodes E1 and E2 to start with. These areas will give him multiple transport options to “the Deloitte campus” (that’s actually what they call it) at Holborn including the Liz line to Farringdon (5 min walk to Deloitte) and the Central line to Chancery Lane (3 min walk to Deloitte) and potentially the District line to Blackfriars (7 min walk to Deloitte) if he’s around Whitechapel / Stepney / Mile End. He will probably work long hours (certainly at times!) plus there will be after-work socialising required so ideally try and keep his commute to no more than 45 mins and stick with tubes (or Liz line) as these are more frequent and later running than overground trains. He will end up working at clients not just all over London but potentially all over the UK (and maybe beyond) so proximity to a variety of good transport connections will make his life a lot easier. Make sure he downloads the Citymapper app on his phone. Actually if he finds somewhere in E1 / E2 he could even walk to / from work (or cycle/run) if he doesn’t mind a 45+ min walk. I live in E1 and used to work very close to the Deloitte campus (for one of their biggest competitors actually - meant we always had to be careful if we spoke about work when out in the local pubs) and often used to walk home, especially in summer. Or just jump on a bus.

Thank you! Yes i imagine the hours will be long so a shorter commute makes more sense. Honestly the kid can sleep anywhere (he actually slept on the train on the way to his interview!) so isn’t worried about the size of room.
The more I look and think about it I think a house share could work. You’re right @opencecilgee my fear is if he didn’t like them but again that’s my worry. He’d just suck it up!

Acton’s full of students these days as Imperial has three newish blocks of accommodation there. I think for that new campus you can see from the Westway

Congrats to him. I assume you are thinking of a flat share?

This is so helpful! Thank you.

Hes not afraid of a walk of cycle (especially if it saves him some cash!) so that’s a really good idea.

Having postcodes to concentrate on for now will help and I’ll make sure he downloads that app so we can look at the best and later running options.

Also you’ve made me feel better about him asking Deloitte. The last thing I want is for him to look pathetic.

Advice from someone who has lived and worked there is invaluable. Thank you!!

It might be worth at look at these as a short term option @TinyDancer78

https://lhalondon.com/lha-living/interns-apprentices/

Friendship House in Southwark (SE1) would be a quite pleasant walk to work for him across the millennium bridge and past St Paul’s. There are worse ways to start your working day. Actually when I started my first job in London I used to have to walk to work across London Bridge with that stunning view of the Thames to Tower Bridge and years later that same view still moves me emotionally. No matter how much living/working in London stresses you out, those moments when you suddenly look around and think “OMG this is London” make it all worthwhile.

(Note: I’m originally from the North West and moved to London for my first job which was with the Big Four so trust me, I get it).

Fucking hell. Ignore shite comments like this. Dopey 🙄

Was about to say the same thing - my son is at Imperial and, although he lives in South Kensington, lots of his friends are happy in Acton. Agree with your DS getting in touch with the firm to see if they have recommendations.

Congratulations to your DS. It's a very tough market out there, so he's done incredibly well.

I'm sorry to say that Gen Z do have a rep in the workplace as needing much more handholding than previous generations. Do you seriously think it will make him look capable if he can't use the vast world wide web to find somewhere to live?

@TinyDancer78 It sounds like somewhere slightly east or slightly south would suit him. The Thameslink goes south from Farringdon to Elephant and Castle, Denmark Hill, and Peckham. E&C (IMHO) is a bit ropey. But Camberwell (Denmark Hill station) and Peckham are full of young people, have tonnes of decent restaurants and bars (he can take you to the Camberwell Arms for a Sunday roast when you visit!), gyms and sports facilities. He can hop on a night bus there if he's out late late or an Uber won't be too much.

East is a bit more "trendy", but he could look at Hackney, Bow, Whitechapel, Dalston, Clapton. Easy to get to from his office, full of young people, and again, lots of facilities. I wouldn't go as far as Stratford.

Spareroom.co.uk is basically where everyone starts. Sometimes people let their rooms on a short term basis while they're travelling or whatnot, so that might be a good option if you/him don't want to commit to a long term contract.

I SERIOUSLY advise against him living alone (and you'd struggle to get anything for your budget anyway). London can be a lonely place, so he'll want people around him.

You could enquire about private halls, but your son might find he doesn't have as much in common/feel left out with those people if they're all living the uni experience and he's working a 9-5.

Why plan for him to have such a painful commute though? It’s not a driving commute…. My tube commute is 75 minutes and it’s brutal at times and knackering, packed full of people, boiling hot, delays etc.

Choose somewhere closer.

You have plenty of time until September 2026. Unless things have changed massively, rooms are advertised 1-3 months before they become available. Maybe others can input on this.
Btw, I second not choosing Acton, way too far.

My son started an apprenticeship in September. Not in London but in a reasonably big city. He really struggled to find accommodation because a lot of houseshares weren't interested in an 18 year old. He found a lodger type situation in the end but the owner is now selling so he's on the hunt again. I'd hoped having a good reference would help but he's home this weekend and told me that he's hitting the same issue. Very frustrating for him. Hopefully London will have more options!

SpareRoom

set his criteria, be willing to do lots of remote viewings
he will be fine

I would go for one of the LHA hostels. It’s a good landing point, you’re with others in the same boat and it’s a great way to make friends. Good to see these still exist.

https://lhalondon.com/accommodation/

Congrats to DS, OP, that’s a huge achievement!

Agree with PPs that I see no issue at all in a sensible query to Deloitte as to any arrangements they may have to allow YP to source or share accommodation.

Two further thoughts:

1. i have a student DC who considered pausing study to take up a good work opportunity. Decided against it for several reasons but in process realised that council tax position for a student household can be impacted if not all meet criteria. Don’t know where apprenticeships sit, but may be an issue for some house shares
2. I work with apprentices on a different professional path, and I know there are local networks in our (not London) city run by the apprentices themselves to meet across employers. Your DS must be bright and resourceful to have secured this position, but if hasn’t already, may be worth a few searches

Good luck to him (and you!)

This is very near where I live. Probably expensive, but you are thinking in terms of short/medium term. There are several others as well.

Very flexible rentals I understand week/month/six months etc. Safe area. I'm round the corner 😀

I don’t see anything wrong with travelling from Acton to Holborn.

Which area of Deloitte? You have to recognise if it’s Audit or Consulting there’s a good chance he will spend the majority of his time at clients - therefore being (relatively) central is more important than the commute to Deloitte’s offices.

I’d echo the recommendations of SpareRoom.com, and also networking with other offer holders to find a shared flat/house.

Collective is fine but the Acton one is quite far from a station.

Look up 'co-living' for similar places which will have bills included, small personal spaces and more communal space and which are set up to meet people.

He’s young, he doesn’t want to be living in Acton! Plenty of time to live places like that when he’s older and starting a family. Elephant and Castle would be an easy commute and there is a lot going on there these days (not like the ropey days of old). I would recommend Borough, but that might be out of his price range. Peckham Rye and Denmark Hill would also be a short commute.

Kings Cross is great place to live now, but can be a bit pricey. If you look more to the Caledonian Road end, it will be more affordable.

I like east London, but I wouldn’t go too far Clapton is quite far out and the commute would be a pain. Shoreditch would be better, but more expensive.

When I was his age, I had under a 20min commute and it was perfect. Especially in an industry where I had to start early and leave late. I could also walk or cycle in the summer. I wouldn’t pick anywhere with a commute over 30mins. He young, he doesn’t want be bogged down by the banality of commuting (plenty of time for that when he’s older).

Oh Elephant and Castle is fine these days, I live not far from there.