Renting alone on £1000 a month

mab7689

In September I am due to start a new job and according to various tax calculators I have used online my take home pay will be approximately £1050 from a salary of £15817. As I dont start till September it could be a late July or August move, I just want to plan ahead.
As the job is a teacher training job where I will spend one academic year in 2 different schools. I may need to relocate to make it easier to get to both schools as I currently don't drive, so need to access both by public transport, and one is difficult to get to from where I currently live, therefore I can envisage it being problematic when I need to go there. I am looking at a neutral location for the 2 schools, which Nottingham city centre would be which would enable me to use Nottingham's public transport links.
I need to look at getting a place in Nottingham but as I have never moved out before I need some advice. On £1050 a month could anybody advise me on whether that is possible to live off? I think it could be but only if I am diligent and frugal with everything, accepting that luxuries and social life will be limited. I know in a city flat/house shares will be available and some will suggest it but I don't want to. I would rather live alone to have my own space and privacy, especially as a teacher training year will have a workload that I would want to get on without external disturbances. I would be happy with a suitable 1 (maybe 2 if possible) bed property.
The few points I need to consider are:
1) What is the maximum rent I should be looking at?
2) How much could I be looking at for other outgoings-Council Tax (I am aware of eligibilty for single occupancy discount), Utilities and Broadband/Landline and groceries. I know its impossible to give exact figures so any approximations based on other peoples experiences would be good.
3. How much am I likely to have left disposable?
You may also need to know I estimate around £100 a month, maybe less, on transport costs (rail and bus passes) if I were to move there. I also have no credit card debts or others. My other outgoings are £32 for mobile and £16 for cinema card.
Any advice and help would be appreciated. Thanks

mildredalien

A brief rightmove search suggests you can get a house share or studio flat in Nottingham for £200-£300/month which seems reasonable on your income, although I'm not sure if thats for dodgy areas!

Bills will really depend if you are living alone or not and will obviously be easier if you are splitting with others. This is a total guesstimate but I'd say budget perhaps £50/month for council tax, £100 for utilities, £100 for travel, £150 for groceries and £100 for random bills and other expenses (TV licence, broadband etc.) That'd give you £500 to play with as far as rent and disposable income goes.

pmlindyloo

Have a look at Rightmove for studios and one beds then work out a budget.

Useful guide here:
http://informationadvice.com/lifestyle/how_much_does_it_cost_to_live_alone_in_the_uk.php

If you spend a few months (!) reading this website you should be able to get your outgoings down to the absolute minimum!

Good luck!

HappyMJ

mab7689 wrote: »

In September I am due to start a new job and according to various tax calculators I have used online my take home pay will be approximately £1050 from a salary of £15817. As I dont start till September it could be a late July or August move, I just want to plan ahead.
As the job is a teacher training job where I will spend one academic year in 2 different schools. I may need to relocate to make it easier to get to both schools as I currently don't drive, so need to access both by public transport, and one is difficult to get to from where I currently live, therefore I can envisage it being problematic when I need to go there. I am looking at a neutral location for the 2 schools, which Nottingham city centre would be which would enable me to use Nottingham's public transport links.
I need to look at getting a place in Nottingham but as I have never moved out before I need some advice. On £1050 a month could anybody advise me on whether that is possible to live off? I think it could be but only if I am diligent and frugal with everything, accepting that luxuries and social life will be limited. I know in a city flat/house shares will be available and some will suggest it but I don't want to. I would rather live alone to have my own space and privacy, especially as a teacher training year will have a workload that I would want to get on without external disturbances. I would be happy with a suitable 1 (maybe 2 if possible) bed property.
The few points I need to consider are:
1) What is the maximum rent I should be looking at?
2) How much could I be looking at for other outgoings-Council Tax (I am aware of eligibilty for single occupancy discount), Utilities and Broadband/Landline and groceries. I know its impossible to give exact figures so any approximations based on other peoples experiences would be good.
3. How much am I likely to have left disposable?
You may also need to know I estimate around £100 a month, maybe less, on transport costs (rail and bus passes) if I were to move there. I also have no credit card debts or others. My other outgoings are £32 for mobile and £16 for cinema card.
Any advice and help would be appreciated. Thanks

MAXIMUM Rent...take your annual income and divide by 30. £525 a month...note that is the maximum you should pay. Paying this amount is at your limit you really want to be looking at less so you have some spare income.

Exact figures for utilities...very hard. Depends on so much.

Disposable left? Spending £525 a month on rent and you should have next to nothing left. Whatever you spend less than this figure therefore should be spare.

pmlindyloo

The local housing allowance for Nottingham is £88.85 per week for a one bed place. This gives you a clue to one bed places that can be found in Nottingham, although there are obviously dearer or cheaper ones.

Upsidedown_Bear

If you are looking at a property where you pay council tax to Nottingham City Council this shows you the amounts for 2012/13.
It will probably go up for 2013/14 but this will give you some idea of figures for your budget.

http://m.nottinghamcity.gov.uk/index.aspx?articleid=1178

ETA
When you find a property find out which band it is in - A is the cheapest as the link shows.

mab7689

I'm thinking of £450 pcm for basic rent as an absolute maximum. Is this reasonable/too much?

martinsurrey

Rent 450.00
Council tax (Band A with 25% discount) 63.00
Water 15.00
Gas/electricity 50.00
Insurance - Home 5.00
Travel 100.00
TV 13.00
Internet 25.00
mobile 32.00
Cinema 16.00
Groceries 120.00
889.00

which gives you £111 a month left over, this is just existing, not a penny for hair cuts, clothes or a pint.

sorry to say, but the cost of your privacy is going to kill you.

compare the above to this

http://www.gumtree.com/p/flats-houses/double-room-flat-share-in-nottingham-city-centre-station-street-300pcm/1012049329

£400 all in for rent + bills plus cinema, groceries, phone and travel totals to £668 a saving of £221 and more trebling your disposable income (and I bet the apartment is MUCH nicer than a single bed @£450)

Your call, but you’ll be miserable with the stress of keeping your head above water.

Upsidedown_Bear

mab7689 wrote: »

I'm thinking of £450 pcm for basic rent as an absolute maximum. Is this reasonable/too much?

Having had a look at rightmove it looks feasible to me if you are talking about a one maybe two bedroom place?

[Deleted User]

mab7689 wrote: »

I'm thinking of £450 pcm for basic rent as an absolute maximum. Is this reasonable/too much?

When I left home I was renting a £550 pcm apartment and my bills etc came to around £200 and £100 on top of that for food. You could live on £1000 per month in a £450 per month house. Side note, the salary your provided works out as £1,107.30 per month after tax.

Personally based on my own experience I would recommend you consider the following:

1. Do you plan to be on the same salary for the next couple of years or are you going to get a raise within a year or so?

If your rent is quite high (say 40% of your monthly take home) and your salary isn't going to increase for a few years then you'll risk your rent outpacing your salary and making your situation worse.

2. Do you have any savings to use as an emergency fund?

If you're starting your rental with a few hundred pounds in the bank (after fees, deposit, first month rent paid) and your rent and bills take up 80% of your take home pay, you risk a single financial emergency hitting you hard. If you're already cutting it fine with rental costs it wouldn't take much to tip you over the edge.

3. Are you a generally frugal person?

If you're careful with your money and count every penny then you can be more generous with the sort of place you look for, if you're someone that will eat out every week and throw parties then you're probably not going to be a good candidate for paying more than the "safe" amount on rent.

Regarding moving out and being independent for the first time:

Your short term goal as someone independent should be to establish an emergency fund and move from living pay day to pay day to having cash reserves. You may want to consider renting a not-so-great place for the first few months which would give you time to save money.

Ultimately it depends on your own financial prospects and management abilities, based on my own experience I would say:

If you have savings (of at least 3 months costs, so ~£3000) and your salary is expected to increase within a year or two and you're willing to watch every penny, go ahead. If you don't have any savings don't do it.

Definitely do-able though either way.

Wanton

Where are the two schools? When I lived in Nottingham you could get a pass for unlimited bus and tram travel, I'm sure it was about £30-£40 a month.

If you look for a house share in the West Bridgford area you'll find a lot of young professionals who probably will afford you the quiet to do your training. It'll save you a lot of money which you could perhaps put aside to put on a deposit to a house when you complete your training.