Working away but not relocating full time

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Has anyone on here experienced working away from home but not relocating. Specifically working in London but living a couple of hundred miles away.

I will be working in London at least 3 days a week but can’t decide whether to rent or stay in a hotel for 3 nights. Moving the family isn’t an option and besides, cost of living in London as a family would lower their standard of living.

Looking at the cost of renting or hotel stays, I’m thinking it even makes sense to buy a small studio as it would be an investment for the long term too, with a mortgage. Really struggling to justify paying £1000 a month on a decent studio, and absolutely don’t want to share a house with strangers.

How do others on here manage when working away from home. Keen to hear your stories on how you arrived at the best living arrangements.

Is your contract from home or London?
If London cheap hotels- premier inn/ travelodge or Airbnb could be your best bet. Or lodge somewhere? 3 nights a week could be attractive to someone.
If you have a home contact then the company should be paying for it.
My mistake if it's a new job. But lodger, Airbnb or cheap hotels still stand.

Spareroom.co.uk mid week room?
Even a small central studio is at least 230k with council tax stampduty as second homecetc ... I found this property on the Rightmove Android app and wanted you to see it: www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/163977155

I stay in a hotel 2-3 nights a week which the company pays for. Can’t be arsed maintaining a property (bills, cleaning, laundry).

I worked away for six months of the year for a decade, but I only came home at weekends. Sometimes I house sat for colleagues on sabbatical, and at other times I worked out a semi-lodger/house sitter situation with someone who wanted someone there on weekdays but not weekends.

A previous colleague found a self contained annexe on Air BnB and then asked the owners if they would take it off Air BnB for cheaper rates but guaranteed occupancy which they were happy to do (we are not somewhere desirable like London though!)

Other people I have worked with have rented rooms with varying degrees of success, one guy used to stay at work until 9pm and eat dinner at his desk rather than go back to his room. You might find someone who also works away and if you're only there in the week, you rarely see each other.

Thanks for the reply. It’s a London based role, so I will get no assistance. I knew this throughout. Fortunately I have never had to relocate previously. This is the first time to trying to figure out the most cost efficient but beneficial for long term solution, without disrupting the family.

Thanks to sharing. Thats actually quite a nice property, though I know nothing about the location so not sure if it’s good value for money.

London property prices are obviously insane, but I am wondering if buying something like could be a good investment for the long term. Paying upto £1k in rent seems such a waste, when the same outlay could result in your owning something at the end of it. But also seems risky at the same time, not knowing the London market at all.

Spare Room has lots of people looking for part time/week day lodgers. Would be a lot cheaper and less hassle than booking a hotel.

Do you mind sharing how long you did this for? Did you knew how long you would need to do it or was it an indefinite thing? How long was your commute home? Thanks.

10 years, wow. Thanks for sharing.

Is it written into your contract that you can WFH for 2 days per week and are those days specified? It would be a nightmare if someone decided you had to do Mon, Wed, Fri in the office.

£1,000 might be optimistic for a studio if you are concerned about location. Many of DD's friend have been forced to pay around £1,200 a month for a room in a house share as it's been impossible to find studios or flats without paying a lot more.

Hi, yes officially in contract about 3 days in office. That being said, lots of companies are calling people back to office for 5 days so I’m realistic that this could also happen some time in the future.

Your point about £1k being an optimistic number is exactly my concern. Paying so much to not then have anything to show for it seems a waste. I don’t have £200k spare cash to buy but we could stretch to a deposit and get a mortgage which would be less than £1k per month and a property to own. But then there’s the hassle of running two households even if the London one is a basic place for sleep for a few nights a week. And then there’s the London property market. Is on the up, down, stable, volatile, who knows.

£1000 mortgage seems low in London. Would this be an apartment that has a service charge too? Then add in council tax, bills - add in that the market is sketchy and it sounds risky and unrealistic to buy.

Would you have the funds to continue to pay the mortgage if you were made redundant and had to find a local job again?

Personally I’d go for the premier inn option.

£1000 a month mortgage calculation is based on a £200k property at 60% LTV. It would have to be a tiny studio at that price. But that’s ok, as long as it a property in an area which holds resale value.

airbnb and premier inn options mentioned so far make sense too as low risk options.

If you’re looking at the Premier Inn option also consider depending on location the chain hotels that offer loyalty eg IHG, Hilton etc. points and status rack up quickly if you are staying every week and then some stays will be free with points. A family member does this (although not London) and it definitely works out more economical than Premier Inn with the free stays paid for on points, free breakfast at a certain status etc

Remember that owning more than one property also comes with additional costs such as 200% council tax on the second home, then there's capital gains tax to pay if you sell. In additional there is obviously double insurande, electrics, water etc.

I do 2 weeks in London each month. I live about 200 miles from London.

I pre-book and stay in aparthotels for around £100 a night. So around £1000 per month on travel. I negotiated my salary to make that work from post-tax pay.