Spending 68% of my salary on rent!! :( How can i get it lower??

iscrimger

I agree. A flatmate is the answer - I have done the same. I was paying £525 in rent myself plus £100 council tax plus everything else.

I now flat share and I'm saving around £200-300 a month.

As has been said Sky is not an essential. If you insist on keeping Sky I would switch to Sky Talk who include line rental and remove the requirement for you to be charged by BT.

You also don't need 2 haircuts per month. 1 a month is closer to the average.

You also seem to be working around some very tight budgeting and you really have to do something to either reduce your outgoings or increase your income with a second job.

I also don't think you need to be drinking as much per week as you are. Your costs allow an average of 2 per day. At £75 a week that is a lot of money. Try going out once a week and spending just £50.

You salary is not that poor - it's fairly above average. That salary works out to around £9.89 an hour. Well above the minimum wage. You are finding it difficult because of your choice in rental accommodation.

hebawom

Move to Nottingham?
I rent a 2 bedroomed house for £350 a month which I share with my housemate - so £175 each!! Plus I don't think you'd have any problems earning at least 18k here too!!

Jowo_2

Sounds like the income you currently enjoy makes having an entire property to yourself largely unaffordable, even if you cut back on other expenses and get a modest rent rebate.

Move into a shared property or become a lodger you may be able to halve your expenditure as its fairly common to be able to find shared accommodation for around £100 per week, sometimes where some or all of the utility bills, CT and broadband are partly or fully included.

And though I don't understand what the 'SB' is that you've referred to, I'm amazed that you are sure that you've gained full tax exemption from your income, nor why you also thought your ebay income was exempt from tax just because you are a student. If you've not been submitting tax returns for many years, I don't think you should be so blase that you've found legitimate loopholes since there are virtually none.

Lavendyr

Angel89 wrote: »

But i don't get how me offering to pay him the FULL asking price on the flats that hes trying to rent could ''annoy him''?? :huh:

It's not what you ask, it's how you ask it. You didn't ask in the best or most professional manner. Rather than asking politely if he would consider your request, you virtually told him he should be charging less and listed your opinions as to why. That is not going to win anyone over. You act as though you know everything about his business and his reasons for charging what he does. You don't, and talking to him as if you do is only going to alienate him.

PasturesNew

Didn't read most of it - too long.... however:

Angel89 wrote: »

My life costs sheet is as follows-
Rent= £675
CT= £64
Travel to work= £180 (£45pw)
Food= £105 (£26pw / £3.50pd = 3meals) - do it for £60, save £45
Drink= £75 (£19pw / £2.50pd = 2beers) - stop it, what a waste, allowing £10/month save £65
BT (Internet port)= £12
02 (Mobile phone)= £20
Sky TV + Internet= £36 - no need, get a freeview box for £15 from Asda/Tesco/many places - save £36
Halifax CC repayment= £50
Electricity= £30
Haircut x2= £18 - stop it, no need. One per 2 months - and find somewhere cheaper, say £12, so now £6 - save £30
Other Essentials= 30
______________________________

£1,295 - £45+£65+£36+£30 = £1119


Now, about your housing. You are in a new build studio - FAR more expensive than an older one. Two choices: ask the LL to reduce your rent down to match the other flat he's advertising, or take that one off his hands (he won't want the hassle of you moving JUST to get one cheaper if they're the same).

Look around at other studios, maybe you're not actually looking, but assuming based on when you looked a year ago.

If you can't get a 2nd job, then why not do the trading again - that'd bring in extra cash.

Angel89_2

Lavendyr wrote: »

Rather than asking politely if he would consider your request, you virtually told him he should be charging less and listed your opinions as to why.
You act as though you know everything about his business and his reasons for charging what he does. You don't, and talking to him as if you do is only going to alienate him.

Im not trying to alienate him,
bt i wanted to make sure that he knew that i wasn't some mug who was going to pay £100 per month extra for something that he no longer is asking for that £100 extra for.


Ive looked into the legal side of it, as it did seem like it would be getting close to a form of discrimination to have 2 identical flats but to refuse to rent one to someone at a certain price which is your actual asking price,
but accept that price from others without any justifiable grounds to do so.
(Just because someone owns the property it doesn't legally mean that they 'can do whatever they want with it' when it comes to renting to tenants).


And ive foundout that it actually would be a form of discrimination if he refused to rent to me at the current asking price,
but was willing to to accept that price or lower from others (without any justifiable reasons).
http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/index/family_parent/housing/private_sector_tenancies.htm
(Near bottom of the page)

GrammarGirl

Angel89 wrote: »

Im not trying to alienate him,
bt i wanted to make sure that he knew that i wasn't some mug who was going to pay £100 per month extra for something that he no longer is asking for that £100 extra for.


Ive looked into the legal side of it, as it did seem like it would be getting close to a form of discrimination to have 2 identical flats but to refuse to rent one to someone at a certain price which is your actual asking price,
but accept that price from others without any justifiable grounds to do so.
(Just because someone owns the property it doesn't legally mean that they 'can do whatever they want with it' when it comes to renting to tenants).


And ive foundout that it actually would be a form of discrimination if he refused to rent to me at the current asking price,
but was willing to to accept that price or lower from others (without any justifiable reasons).
http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/index/family_parent/housing/private_sector_tenancies.htm
(Near bottom of the page)

Are these two properties exactly, exactly the same? In the same building, on the same floor, same number of bedrooms and same furnishings?

Angel89_2

GrammarGirl wrote: »

Are these two properties exactly, exactly the same? In the same building, on the same floor, same number of bedrooms and same furnishings?

yep exactly identical.

They are both unfurnished, were build as a set of 2,
when i went to view the flat before i moved in i was even shown the other 1 nextdoor (the lock to mine wouldnt open), since they are the same.

PasturesNew

Looking on RM he did originally advertise it at £675, but with no takers he's reduced the rent.

Also on RM there are a handful of other newish studios at up to £150/month cheaper ... probably £20/month cheaper council tax too.

Angel89_2

PasturesNew wrote: »

Looking on RM he did originally advertise it at £675, but with no takers he's reduced the rent.

Also on RM there are a handful of other newish studios at up to £150/month cheaper ... probably £20/month cheaper council tax too.

whast RM??