Rent in London & use Tube or Rent outside London & use train&tube - which is cheaper?

markcramer

Hi all,

We're waiting to hear about some work in Wimbledon, SW London, for up to three months, but probably more likely just one or two. Is it cheaper to rent short-term accommodation in London and use the tube to get around (given that the people we've already contacted in London about accommodation have either laughed or raised their eyebrows at our lack of budget!), or to rent outside London and use the train? My wife would need some suitable facilities for entertaining a three year old (parks, libraries, soft play centres etc) within reasonable travelling distance as we won't be bringing much with us, so they will also be using public transport to get around.

Thanks for any help.

PS - Not sure if this is the right place to post this, as it seems to fit in both the "Local Moneysaving England" and the "Motoring and Public Transport" forums, so please move if necessary.

balsingh

If London in not within your budget, you have no choice but to live further out and commute!!! The other problem you have is that nobody will rent a place for just 3 months. Arent there any friends/relatives nearby who could put you up??

dag_2

I expect you'll find that Wimbledon is also quite pricey compared with some of the other areas nearby, such as Morden and Roehampton. There are certainly areas closer to the centre of London that are a lot cheaper than Wimbledon.

If time is on your side, then I would recommend that you check out neighbourhood statistics, so that you don't end up in a really rough area.

There's a lot of bedsits and budget accommodation around, particularly closer to the colleges. So it really depends on your family size. If there's only one or two of you, then it makes more sense to live locally. But if you've got a very big family - yet only one of you is actually working in the area - then it might make more sense to live further out and commute in.