London areas to rent.

ag359

Looking for some advice on good areas to rent in London.

I'm looking for a one-bedroom flat of a reasonable size and in a decent state, within 20-30 minutes of central london (Bank/Chancery Lane). Which areas offer good value for renting at the moment? It's quite important that the area isn't 'rough', i.e. that it would be safe enough for me and my wife to walk around at night withouth being in fear of our lives!

If anyone can help, or suggest a forum/site that could help, that would be much appreciated.

purple12

I don't know which areas specifically to recommend as there are too many to comment on and one person's idea of rough might be different from another.

Also budget is a massive issue when it comes to recommending a particular area of London over another, however, two websites that you might find useful are https://www.movethat.com which has some forums on different areas in London so you can ask people that live in those areas about them.


The other one is https://www.upmystreet.com which is a national site but it has some interesting local forums if you type in a london postcode where you are thinking of moving to.

I'm sure other people will come in with suggesting specific areas so I'll leave it to them!
Good luck!

black-saturn

My bf lives in Stratford and pays £60 PW for a 2 bedroomed flat with a balcolny. I wouldnt recommend you live there though if you don't like rough areas as it is extremely rough there. You are definately not safe at night.

ag359

purple12 wrote:

Also budget is a massive issue when it comes to recommending a particular area of London over another, however, two websites that you might find useful are https://www.movethat.com which has some forums on different areas in London so you can ask people that live in those areas about them.

Our budget is up to £250 per week, although ideally, we'd rather get somewhere for nearer £200 so that we can save towards a deposit.

Thanks for the website - I'll have a look...

morwenna_macro

Central East London can be great value for money and very quick into the city. I lived in Bethnal Green for 2 and a half years (one of the most up and coming areas according to the Telegraph) and found it great as it is near a large Sainsburys, a large park and a high street, aswell as comedy clubs and the vibrant culture of brick lane. It is just 10 minutes to Chancery lane on the tube and less for bank and the central line is one of the most reliable, I find. It is not the most salubrious of areas, but I don't think its that rough either - nowhere in London is completely safe unless you are in Mayfair or Highgate etc! I am now in the Mile End/Bow area which is a little more residential and a little further out (3 more minutes), and still great value. You could also try some places further out on the central line or overground commuter lines into Liverpool Street (which are very quick and frequent). These are perhaps more residential and really quite cheap to rent.

Before moving East, I was South of the River. Avoid Peckham, Camberwell, Stockwell and Elephant as these are decidedly unsafe. However, Vauxhall, Kennington and Oval are pleasant areas and still quite cheap (being South of the river).

Hope this helps and good luck! Remember to try to get a good deal on rent by not just offering what is advertised and haggling.

ag359

morwenna_macro wrote:

Hope this helps and good luck! Remember to try to get a good deal on rent by not just offering what is advertised and haggling.

Thanks for your really useful post. I just wanted to pick up on the last point - is rent really that negotiable? If so, what sort of percentages are we talking about roughly? (I realise that it will vary from property to property, of course)

Number_6_3

You could try North London...somewhere like West Hampstead which is on the Jubilee line is nice...some good restaurants, not too far away from Hampstead Heath. If not a bit further up the line is Willesden Green. Very up and coming.

R

morwenna_macro

It depends. But if a property was advertised at £250pcm, I would offer £200 and see where you go (be prepared to walk away if necessary). Try to find out how long the place has been vacant (the longer the more desperate the Landlord will be). Also, check the terms of the tenancy. Try to negotiate in a break clause in your favour (or you could let that one go for less rent!). Also you might get a better deal if you are willing to sign up for longer, eg 12 months, 18 months, 2 years (but make sure there is a break clause in any lease longer than 12 months or you will be stuck if the Landlord or flat turns out to be crap). Emphasise that you are a married couple and any references you may have. If you have a respectable, steady job that is good also. Be friendly with the agent (and see if you can meet the Landlord and be friendly to them), but never forget who the agent acts for.

purple12

Definitely would back up that 'negotiating on rent' line. I got the landlord to reduce rent by 15pw and I wasn't even very pushy! I think there are a lot of rental properties floating around at the moment due to the amount of buy-to-lets that people have been buying.
I even got the landlord to throw in extra furniture that wasn't strictly necessary! and I'm SUCH a bad haggler!

ag359

morwenna_macro wrote:

It depends. But if a property was advertised at £250pcm, I would offer £200 and see where you go (be prepared to walk away if necessary). Try to find out how long the place has been vacant (the longer the more desperate the Landlord will be). Also, check the terms of the tenancy. Try to negotiate in a break clause in your favour (or you could let that one go for less rent!). Also you might get a better deal if you are willing to sign up for longer, eg 12 months, 18 months, 2 years (but make sure there is a break clause in any lease longer than 12 months or you will be stuck if the Landlord or flat turns out to be crap). Emphasise that you are a married couple and any references you may have. If you have a respectable, steady job that is good also. Be friendly with the agent (and see if you can meet the Landlord and be friendly to them), but never forget who the agent acts for.

£250 pcm - in my dreams! But thanks for the advice - hopefully it will help that both me and the OH will be starting relatively well paid jobs, so the risk to the landlord is pretty minimal. Hopefully will be able to get a good reference from current landlord ('up North') as well, as we haven't done anything to offend him.

I don't think we will want to sign up for longer than 6 months at a time, because we will be looking to buy sometime in early 2007.

What is a 'break clause'? I'm guessing it means you can move out with just a couple of weeks notice, or something like that, but can you get one that you can use even if you've only been in the property for a couple of months?

morwenna_macro

A break clause means that you can break the agreement early. Typically a 12 month tenancy might have a break clause at 6 months - i.e that you can decide to leave at any time after 6 months has passed by giving the specified notice (and you may want to try to limit the notice you have to give to eg 1 month). This gives you flexibility. So, if you don't know when exactly you are going to leave, I suggest you take a longer term tenancy, but have a break clause. This worked for us for our last rental. We knew that we were thinking about buying our first place at some time in the following 2 years and wanted to be flexible about leaving. Rather than take a 12 month tenancy and then have to decide whether to then take another tenancy, we took a 2 year tenancy, with a break clause after 12 months. This meant we did not have to give notice until after we had exchanged contracts on our new home. If we had just taken a 12 month, we would have had to have taken out a new tenancy when that ended and would have been in difficulty. An alternative is to "hold over" after a tenancy ends, rather than sign a new tenancy agreement. You remain a tenant under the same terms (now a periodic tenancy) and can just give the requisite notice whenever it suits. Most Landlords are keen for you to sign up to a new one, although you should try this - tell them you will leave otherwise and also they will save on agents' fees (most charge for each new agreement).