Can we afford to rent?

Sammie310

Hi,

So my boyfriend and I recently graduated from our undergraduate degrees and had planned to move into together ASAP. I started a masters which I got a Career development loan for whilst he looked for a job. 6 Months later and he starts his job next week, we'd (I think naively) assumed that we would be able to rent somewhere and move in together at this point.

He will be earning £23000 annually but we don't think we'll be able to afford to live together, we've looked at rent which seemed fine but coupled with commuting costs, bills ect. it doesn't seem feasible anymore. However, we really wanna live together and its putting a lot of strain on our relationship to be each living at our respective parents houses after three years of uni accommodation together.

So my question is, can we afford to live together? With my study I can't really get a job unless it was a saturday job and as far as I can tell we're not entitled to any government help.

Does anyone know of anyway we can afford to live together? It seems odd that he's on a pretty good wage but we still can't do it? (my dads on £26000 and he supports 3 kids, 1 grandkid numerous pets)

Other question is renting a waste of money? should we just stay living rent free at home and save like crazy to get a deposit together despite the extra stress rarely seeing each other would put on our relationship?

Sorry for the long post, I'm just really confused as to our options!

Thanks

martinsurrey

without a lot more details you wont get much usefull info

such as:

where you live (in the country)
where you want to live
where you (and him) work/study

Sammie310

Oh thanks!

We currently live near Bradford, I study in York his new Job is in Manchester, ideally we had wanted to live where we both had the minimal commute but I'm not sure if it would be easier for one person to commute?

bubblegum1985

How often do you attend Uni in York?

Jellybean_Jo

You need to figure out exactly where you want to be, and find out what rent and CT you would pay there. From there, you can then go on to get an idea of what everything else would cost. And I mean, everything. Only you can decide on what kind of budget you're comfortable living on.

I earn £23k a year and live on my own, and I wouldn't fancy trying to make that budget stretch to cover another person. Admittedly I do live in what I imagine is a more expensive part of the country, but then I also only have a 5 minute journey to work so my travel costs probably go some way to cancelling that out.

bubblegum1985

In most big cities you can go into a shared house but you would have to live with other people/another couple.

You may be able to afford to rent but just not in a desirable area.

Tixy

I wouldn't consider trying to rent somewhere until he'd started his job and got through the probabtion period (usually 3 or 6months). Even if there is no formal probation period he might decide after a month he doesn't like the job and be looking elsewhere.

How long until you finish your course? and where do you hope to work then? If your course is only until summer and both plan to work in manchester then could you wait until then before looking for rental properties?
You don't want to end up renting somewhere between york and manchester and the find you get a job in say liverpool and wish you'd waited and looked to rent that side of manchester.

Would either of your parents be willing and have the space for you to both live at one of their houses in the meantime?

Sammie310

most weeks its only 1 or 2 days the rest of the time is 5 days.

Ok, thanks that's given me a lot to think about! How do we work out what sorta prices we can expect for bills (i.e gas and electricity?)

Is renting a waste of money? A few people who we've asked have said that it's just throwing money away.

Thanks for your advice

Sammie310

Hi Tixy, my taught modules finish in mid april and then its dissertations until september so time in uni really depends. That was our other dilemna, he didn't want to restrict what jobs I could apply for by us having moved to a new area. Unfortunatly his mother lives in a 1.5 bedroom bungalow (I say .5 as his room only fits a 3/4 bed not even a full single) whilst my sister and her son recently moved home so theres very little space in my parents' house either.

Tixy

Sammie310 wrote: »

Is renting a waste of money? A few people who we've asked have said that it's just throwing money away.

Well its better than being homeless - and provides a roof over your head which throwing money away doesn't.
Even if your long term aim is to buy a property, renting is a good option whilst you get yourself in a position to be able to buy, save up a deposit and get your lives settled enough that you know where you would want to live longer term.

Reue

Sammie310 wrote: »

Is renting a waste of money? A few people who we've asked have said that it's just throwing money away.

It depends what the other options are...

Personally for me it's renting or going back to living with my parents. I know which option im picking