How do I calculate how much rent I can afford?

BitterAndTwisted

HappyMJ wrote: »

Maximum of 40% of gross pay to even to be considered by any agency.

You must earn 30 times the monthly rent as annual salary. Rent £400 a month means you must gross £12,000 a year or £1,000 a month.

This is the sort of calculation a letting-agent or landlord would be making to ensure you pass the "affordability-test" before they offer you a tenancy, so I suggest you use this as a template. All this assumes that you're not servicing any debts as that would have a marked effect on maximum the rent you could afford, of course. And estimate an absolute minimum of £200 a month for CTax and utilities as I suggested before.

I also suggest that before you change your living arrangements you road-test the figures by putting the difference between what you spend now and what it may cost you in the future into a savings account to prove that you really can afford it. No-one wants to get stuck with a minimum term of a six-month AST and then find that the numbers won't stack up.

AJayneC

Thanks, that's good information. I had no idea that spending 40-50% of your income on rent Was still manageable, for example!

R P W I have kept it as simple as possible from the start. I asked a simple question and praised the posts qhich gave me a simple answer such as '30%' It got complicated, and I got defensive, when BitterandTwisted grossly misjudged my personal living situation, and knocked my Intelligence.
It should not have been brought into the discussion,period.

giddypenguin

You may have asked a 'simple' question - but it's not easy to just give a 'one-size-fits-all' percentage. It's simply what you can afford when you take all your costs into account. We don't know what your outgoings are, you could have massive debts and like designer shoes...

AJayneC

Haha I love designer shoes!

Yeah I appreciate your comment. I now know that it's not a straight forward Q, sorry if I seemed bullish about it.

I've never had an overdraft, credit card or loan in my life so I have no debts/annuities other than my student loan. Rent/bills/council tax/food/Student loan/NI/income tax/phone bill/internet are my only regular outgoings. And my salary is my only income (no benefits etc). Hence it is quite simple in that respect.

PrincesaGuerrera

AJayneC wrote: »

It got complicated, and I got defensive, when BitterandTwisted grossly misjudged my personal living situation, and knocked my Intelligence.
It should not have been brought into the discussion,period.

I'm not sure why you think I should house-share or lodge as I already stated I am living alone. I am earning about triple the minimum wage.

'I meant I will be living alone, when I start to rent. I am not currently living alone.

Wow you really are a Drama Queen. Get your story straight and drop the attitude!!!

girl_withno_name

AJayneC wrote: »

That's great. I just wanted a common proportion of salary people spend on rent.

I receive more monthly salary than the cost of rent for about 98% of properties in the area. Hence I just wanted a sensible estimate of what I should be spending.

I agree it is all about priorities, and it is for me to work those out. This is why I asked a simple question in my original post, and didn't invite anyone to help me create a budget or delve into my lifestyle. I was hoping to get a general consensus of the percentages of salary everyone spends on rent, hypothetical or actual. it seems to be around a third.

I pay about 16% of my takehome salary on rent, another 20% for household bills, 5% for personal bills (mobile phone & petrol costs) and I save about 40%... the rest is left as spending money and if there's any left over at the end of the month that gets saved too.

AJayneC

PrincesaGuerrera wrote: »

I'm not sure why you think I should house-share or lodge as I already stated I am living alone. I am earning about triple the minimum wage.

'I meant I will be living alone, when I start to rent. I am not currently living alone.

Wow you really are a Drama Queen. Get your story straight and drop the attitude!!!

I'm sorry about my attitude, I had already apologised in an earlier post as well, I was shocked at a response I got,which I still think was rude, but please accept my mistake in the way I handled it. And I think it was slightly mean/unnecessary for you to post the above as it added nothing to the discussion content wise but just attacked and was a bit divisive. The same thing could have been said less judmentally. To say things like that in the open, and not as a PM, is a bit humiliating and expecting people to not defend themselves is a little hypocritical.

I'm interested to hear your view on the topic, as I really just want to get some good answers, as nearly all have been, but I'm finished with this dispute and I don't want to respond anymore.PM me if you have a problem, please not on here.