First time renting London 18 years old

Yackob94

I am looking to rent a flat in London with my girlfriend. My monthly income is around £1100 after tax and my girlfriend will have a student maintenance loan as she is studying her degree in London. At the moment we don't know how much it will be plus her parents want to help out etc. But I can safely assume that she will match whatever I can afford. So it will be easier to think in terms of we have £2200 a month. We are both 18 coming up to our 19th birthday shortly.

I was trying to stick 33% of my gross income for rent. We are looking for a Studio or 1 bedroom flat for around £700 pcm. This is the first time I have ever even looked for any kind of property to rent.

I would like some advice regarding costs of living from people who know about or have done the same kind of thing we are looking to do. The biggest problem/cost is that I will have to commute to Camberley, Surrey every weekday. This obviously cuts out a massive chunk of our budget. If you could give me some advice of food costs, bills, TV, council tax etc it would really help! I can factor it all together and see if it is doable with our current income.

Thanks

martinsurrey

any ideas about what area of london you need to be in, and how central?

you'll get very different advice if you say north london.

I presume you mean south london (since you work in Camberley)

Yackob94

My girlfriend is going to Central Saint Martins Uni, so yes its needs to be central/southern kind of area. However if there is a considerable living cost difference we would consider somewhere slightly out of the way.

Fire_Fox

Welcome! There have been loads of thread on this, it's worth running a search, not just on this board but also crops up on the Student and Families boards. The honest answer is how long is a piece of string, it depends on the property and your lifestyle - which borough for council tax, is there gas or electric heating, how hot you like the flat and how many hours a day, how well or badly insulated it is, how long your showers are, what sort of food you like to eat. This doesn't just make a little difference that you can get a ballpark figure for, the difference can be enormous. Council tax and TV all you need is Google.

You also need to consider if any agents or landlords will let to you if you are on a fairly low income without references. Do you have much of a credit history? Will your girlfriend's father act as guarantor for your rent? Have you considered a shared house or shared flat so you share the bills whilst you get used to living frugally? Have you considered she will get a student Oyster card so it may be cheaper for her to do more travelling and you to do less? This would work best if her contact time is not 9-5 obviously.

olly300

With commuting costs you are going to have difficulty affording a studio or one bed flat to rent in London. Commuting out of London costs a lot more than commuting in London.

Also commuting to Camberley from London is a b*t*h of a journey by public transport. You are best of doing it by car and even then it's not a good journey unless you live on the outskirts of London/Surrey.

Unfortunately as you will be liable for all the council tax as your girlfriend isn't working you are best off living apart during the week i.e. you both live in shared houses near where you have to be, and then you going up to London on the weekends.

Edited to say: I can give you an areas you can live in that are suitable for you to get to Camberley but due to where your girlfriend has to study I really think it's unfair to make her live so far away from her Art school. Also due to your commuting costs anywhere you can afford to live will likely be a s*hole.

outtawork

My DD is sharing a 1 bedroomed flat in Woolwich & is costing them £900 per month, then bills on top. You may need a guarantor or have to pay 6 months in advance

Yackob94

Hmmm it does look to be rather unrealistic. I will look into shared housing, is there kind of site I can use to look at kind of setup?

Thanks for the advice guys

Idiophreak

As a bit of an aside, 1100/month sounds like quite a lot for a student, even with parental help. I might be tempted to look for a room for the two of your in a house share or similar...would save you some money in bills, too - and would minimise the amount your gf had to borrow. Just food for thought.

Yackob94

Idiophreak wrote: »

As a bit of an aside, 1100/month sounds like quite a lot for a student, even with parental help. I might be tempted to look for a room for the two of your in a house share or similar...would save you some money in bills, too - and would minimise the amount your gf had to borrow. Just food for thought.

Completely agree, where do I start looking for shared housing? Or is it all privately done?

Fire_Fox

Letting agents, free ad websites, newspaper small ads, corner shop windows.

martinsurrey

ouch.

she’s north of the river and you're well out of the city to the south.

I gues you’ll want an area with good connections to both Camberley and St Pancras train station.

The best one I can think of is Richmond, which is a very expensive area unfortunately.

The train to Camberley is an hour with one change and the train to St Pancras is about 40 mins with a change.

A 12 month season ticket for both is about £4,500 (a zone 1-4 for her and a Richmond Camberley for you)

Prices in Richmond are pretty expensive though

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-to-rent/property-35587240.html

and thats the only one under £900...

so,

travel is £375 a month
rent is £750 a month
C Tax is £90 a month (with the single person discount)
Electricity/gas is £70 a month (around for a Victorian studio)
Water is £20 a month
Insurance is £20 a month
Internet/tv is £30 a month (inc TV license)

Food on a tight budget is £150 a month

So to get you to work, her to uni and a (tiny) roof over your head is £1,505 a month, this is without a single luxury or mobile phone, or coffee out, or cinema ticket, or pint, or present, or clothes, or uni books...

Sorry to say it, but I think you’re really going to struggle to get a decent standard of living on your budget with that sort of distance to cover.

for a house share try gumtree, but rooms for couples are pretty hard to find, but try looking around the Richmond area.

good luck!