Minimum income to cover £1000 rent pcm

kmmr

Hi,

To the wonderful renters and tenants on this board - how much would you expect as a minimum income for a tenant to be able to comfortably afford £1000 in rent per month.

Bills would probably be another £150 per month, and living in London's east end.

I have a lovely couple looking at my flat who are very keen, and I am not sure that they can afford it, so was just wondering how much income people feel would be a minimum.

Thanks!

Kath

PasturesNew

One rule of thumb some agents look at is "no more than 40% of take home pay".

How much is your mortgage and how much do you earn .... they might like to be assured that you can still afford the mortgaage if you lose your income ... :P

superfran_uk

I'd guess a combined income of about 60k would be about right, when we were renting we earned 50k and our rent was 800 pcm and that was ok.

jenny_13

When I rented the letting agents we used wanted us to have an income 3x the rent.

superfran_uk

Take home I assume? Because on a wage of 36k we couldn't have afforded a grand a month... And particulalry not in London where everything is that bit more expensive anyway.

kmmr

So Income of 3x rent is 36k for this flat. They would be on the cusp of that - and living in London is pretty pricey.

I suppose in reality I was thinking more like £50k.

Disappointing, as they would be perfect. I'll think about if I am happy to go with them with a guarantor.

LilacPixie

we have a combined income of around 48k and our take home is 3k per month. I personally would not like to be paying 1k rent plus utilities and council tax on our income and still have a life.

superfran_uk

Assuming they pay pension/tax etc then that leaves them with 24k, then 12k for rent is just a thousand a month to live on, pay bills etc. £250ish a week for two people living in the capital isn't a lot :S

kmmr

Does a student pay tax on their grant?

superfran_uk

No - a grant or loan is as is, so take the full amount plus 2/3 of the income of the worker....BUT be aware that there have been problems with the payment of student loans in the past...

kmmr

PasturesNew wrote: »

One rule of thumb some agents look at is "no more than 40% of take home pay".

How much is your mortgage and how much do you earn .... they might like to be assured that you can still afford the mortgaage if you lose your income ... :P

Are you asking this of me? The mortgage costs are very low, so I can afford it. It's more just the annoyance of having to deal with a tenant breaking with minimum notice or stopping payment. The income is helpful, but not critical.

KMMR