Relocating to London/Renting

southoftheriver

jozbo wrote: »

in addition to gumtree, try spare room http://www.spareroom.co.uk/

lots of friends have found houseshares through it and has much easier format than gumtree and probably fewer nutters

I'd like to second this. I'm from Southwark and know how expensive it is around there. Renting a 1 bedroom flat would completely eat up all of your wages. Better to share somewhere you can commute cheaply (walking/bus) than living further out and spending all of your time travelling and wondering how you will make ends meet.

johnmcga

Just wanted to chip in with a couple of thoughts.

First of all, London is a genuinely great city to live in if you're young and unattached. To start with things will be tight on your salary, but I'd be inclined to find a houseshare somewhere south of the river, rather than live further out in a commuter town.

Reasonably-priced houseshares (relatively-speaking) can be found, but you have to spend time and effort on the search! I'd have a few areas in mind, then try and get down here and scout them out.

It's intimidating at first but once you actually get on the ground and have a walk round you soon know if you'd be comfortable living somewhere.

Making use of friends and friends of friends can be really helpful - assuming you've graduated in the last few years I imagine you can start asking around on Facebook and in person. It's a hassle to find the right person for a spare room, so it's great if you can find a friend of a friend rather than a random stranger.

You might find http://www.where-can-i-live.com/londonproperty helpful. Although it doesn't cover houseshares, it'll give you a feel for rent levels in different areas that are commutable for you.

Good luck!

robatwork

jbreckmckye wrote: »

Also, this is going to be slightly offensive to some, but don't live with students. I know that's quite a bold thing to say, and hey, I was a student myself not so long ago, but they're not people you want to live with. They are generally poor at keeping things in a nice state for others. Just my experience.

Nobody who has been a student is going to be offended by that. They may recognise themselves however......!

Debt_Free_Chick

Working in Southwark, if you're prepared to live outside Zone 1 and take a train, then you need to be on a line that goes in to London Bridge or Waterloo. That's pretty much the whole of south, south-east & south-west London, so I reckon you'll do just fine :-)

BigAunty

What's the main station(s) near your work place?

There are some places in Kent just outside London that have quick train lines into London where the rent on a 1 bed property could be half that of Southwark.

However, it's possible the commuting fare could wipe out the reduction on rent and you might miss the buzz of London, plus some of the towns on the line have the reputation of being chav overspill from London or whose spirit has been sapped by the building of Bluewater or Thurrock retail parks that have turned their town centres into ghosttowns.