Renting in Birmingham City Centre

pman187

Hi forum users!

I am currently renting a double room (fairly big) with ensuite in birmingham centre for £500 pcm. This inclues all bills. Water, elec, council tax, internet etc. Nice flat as well but also share with another flatmate. A few people have told me that I am being ripped off...
What do you think? I have a salary of 20k per annum.

cheers.

pat.

BitterAndTwisted

It's impossible to say unless a person is familiar with the area and the price of similar properties. This isn't the "Flat-sharing in Brum" forum so I don't understand how you'd think folk from other parts of the country would be able to tell you. In London you'd be getting a fantastic deal at that price with all bills and council tax included but I'm in London not Brum

Have you visited your local letting agencies and looked at rental ads in the paper to make a comparison? This is the only way I can think of to find an answer

Doozergirl

You are renting a room for that much?!

I'm buying a huge two bedroom flat that if I let it, will be £600 a month. £500 is a lot for a room - you will easily pick up a 1 bed flat for that.

casper_g

Whether that's a fair price must surely depend entirely on the flat. A quick look on rightmove shows plenty of "penthouse" type 2-bed flats to rent in central Brum for sums well into 4 figures, and a half share in one of those for £500 a month including bills would seem pretty good.

To judge if the price is reasonable we'd need to know more about the flat really. Is there a similar one on the market at the moment on rightmove or similar that you could point us towards?

BitterAndTwisted

Gee, sometimes something is only worth what someone else is prepared to pay for it. I reckon you must have believed it was a decent deal when you first decided to take on this rental but if your pals are suggesting you're paying too much then you need to do your research locally. It goes without saying that you should have already done that online as I can't believe that someone with internet access wouldn't have already done this. Have you considered contacting the agents for the building you are in to check what they're expecting in rent for vacant properties? Are you renting from an agent already or from the leaseholders if they are a different party?

Spartacus_Mills

Doozergirl wrote: »

You are renting a room for that much?!

I'm buying a huge two bedroom flat that if I let it, will be £600 a month. £500 is a lot for a room - you will easily pick up a 1 bed flat for that.

It does sound an awful lot of money for a room.

BitterAndTwisted

It might be a lot for a room but it's actually a flat-share with an en-suite bathroom. I think "rip-off" isn't strictly fair under the circumstances: it must have seemed fair when the OP agreed to rent or they wouldn't have taken it. If it's proving too expensive on the OP's salary, then it might be time to look for a room in a house-share or consider becoming a lodger. These are invariably cheaper than a city-centre, yuppy-style apartment.

Horace

I rent a 3 bedroom flat close to bus and rail (Lohgbridge) for £525 a month which beats your room into a cocked hat. I have a parking space outside too. Move out of the city centre as the rents there will be enomous and look at living a little further out.

I can pick up a bus to town opposite (in fact there are 3 bus stops on either side of the road within walking distance) and can be there in half an hour, or I could face a 10 minute walk at most to Longbridge Station and can be in the city centre in 10 mins or so.

My 3 bedroom flat has a shared garden, a shed (handy for storing stuff), a pantry, a kitchen, a small hallway, a large living room/dining room, a small box bedroom, a bathroom, two double bedrooms and a balcnny and I have rented unfurnished - my landlord rents furnished flats out at £585 a month in the same block and these are the same 3-bedroom ones.

Bills are not included though...so I have to pay my own water, council tax and electricity and I paid to have broadband installed (Virgin Media).

I guess it depends on what you want - if you want the type of apartment that Fleet-Milner rent out or the nice flats my landlord rents out (Dave Raybone of Raybone Developments).

PasturesNew

You might be in a right posh gaff and this might be a doss hole
http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-to-rent/property-24170111.html

But you do need to look around at what's available in your area.

barnaby-bear

pman187 wrote: »

Hi forum users!

I am currently renting a double room (fairly big) with ensuite in birmingham centre for £500 pcm. This inclues all bills. Water, elec, council tax, internet etc. Nice flat as well but also share with another flatmate. A few people have told me that I am being ripped off...
What do you think? I have a salary of 20k per annum.

cheers.

pat.

If it's en-suite in city centre, you have no travel costs and no bills I don't think it sounds ridiculous tbh:

I'd guess in a 2 person flatshare your bills would be
electricity+gas £30
water £15
council tax: £60
internet + phone £20
sky ?
T.V. license £6

so easily £120 worth of bills - a two bed flatshare ensuite sounds cheaper than a studio/1-bed where you pay all the bills and have a teeny if private lounge but none of the hassle of bigger flat-shares - sharing bathrooms etc.... I think living alone is prohibitively expensive because of the bills on top of the rent for a lot of people - so really is what you pay the going rate for a two bed flatshare is the question?