Moving to London

egoode

Is there any sort of relocation service being offered by your company? If so make use of it as they may help you find a place and can give you the low down on various areas.

If there isn't a service available I would organise to stay in a serviced apartment for a month or two while you get to know the city a bit and check out a few areas you would like.

You really need to provide how much you are wanting to spend and if you are looking to buy or rent before people can really help you with areas in London.

Also think about the maximum commute you are willing to do and whether you would prefer to be closer to the action of the city or a more suburban environment.

benjus

As always, it's a trade-off between how close you want to be to the action, how much you will spend on rent, how pleasant an area you live in, and how much you spend on commuting (and how long it takes).

Being near a tube station doesn't necessarily make for an optimal commute - it's often faster to get to central London from the outer reaches of the city by train rather than tube. The TfL journey planner is good for exploring commute options - if you have more than one possible route it's always a good thing, as it's not uncommon for transport lines to be suspended for some reason.

My current choice is Blackheath (transport zone 3, very nice area, lots of open space, affordable rent - I pay £1050 pcm for a large 1-bed place, regular trains to Charing Cross and Victoria, with the Jubilee line accessible with a bus to North Greenwich). The downside is that it's a bit of a trek from the centre, so if you want a late night on the town you're looking at £30-£40 for a taxi or the "adventure" that is the London night bus.

bluecheese1987

Hi there,

Just to clarify- its definitely to rent.

BTW thanks for all the replies- some really useful stuff.

Chris

buzzyzoe

princeofpounds wrote: »

London is a huge place. I think you need to be more specific in your requirements (or I should say hopes) otherwise you'll just get people reeling off lists of places near them that are ok.

If you get a zone 1-6 travelcard (and you might have to) that's going to cost over 10% of your take-home pay, remember that.

I just had a look and one-beds in sydenham (a random cheap area that isn't too nasty) go for 900, Acton seems to be more like 1100, Southfields 1200, Walthamstow 900.

So as a couple both working you have some choices but solo do realise that you budget at 28k is likely to look like this:

Take-home monthly: 1820
Rent: 900
Transport: 200
Council Tax: Varies, but could be 70
Water: 30

That's two thirds of your take-home and you haven't even got to eating or heating yet!

So make sure you judge your new pay deal in light of the genuine increase in living costs you will see.

Having said that, don't get too scared. If you are being paid under market rates you can change jobs when you get to London.

They're earning c. £50,000PA between them though, that's more like £3000pm.

I would say go for somewhere around zone 3, no need to go for zone 6 unless you're really trying to save money.

I live in North London, and there are flats available near me for around £1000 pm (example below). The commute from the one below would be about 45 minutes, not too bad by London standards I don't think.

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-to-rent/property-17446797.html

I'd say council tax you're looking at closer to £120pm, bills £100, travel £140 each. That comes to £1500, meaning you should have a good disposable income left.

However, it all depends on what's more important, price, location or area. You could be willing to pay more to have a shorter commute, or to be in a nicer area, or you might want to compromise on these to get somewhere cheaper.

As others have said, without more info, the answers you get might be quite random.

princeofpounds

They're earning c. £50,000PA between them though, that's more like £3000pm.

Yes, I said they would have options as a couple. But couples don't always stay together forever, and if they do, they don't always both stay working, especially if they want a family.

My point was ultimately to get the OP to realise that this needs to be viewed in the context of their life goals. If they want a child and have only one income without improvement in their jobs... very hard in London.

Stinkybell

So if your office is going to be based in Mayfair you will need to get your head around either living in a shoebox or commuting. A studio in that area will cost you around £1200 a month in rent and they are very competitive (lots of crash pads for the country set whilst they're at work during the week)

You need to consider how long you are willing to commute for, and how much this is going to cost you. http://www.commutefrom.com/ allows you to look at what your options are likely to be using trains and tubes.

If your roots are in Bristol I'd recommend looking West over East if you want to drive back on the M4 regularly. Look at areas you shortlist in detail - London is a place where one street is highly desirable and the next is a no go area.

And finally, hit up your employer for a relocation package... they may well get a corporate let for the first few months whilst you adjust to the new area!

purplepetal

For £950 I live in a lovely 2 bed flat in zone 3, less than 10 mins from the tube. (Tottenham Hale) which would probably only be about half an hour to Mayfair. This is not that unusual a situation.

We were recently looking at moving to south London but for a similar price would have had to live much further away from good transport (for us) and/or downgrade to a 1 bed. So this would probably work for you. Places we were looking at in South London included Streatham, New Cross, Streatham Hill and Denmark Hill.

I would definitely steer clear of living in commuter belt territory certainly to begin with. If you are not used to a long commute it would really put you off living and working in London.

Best of luck.

lion-o

My rent is £1300 for a one bed flat in North Greenwich.
Council tax is £100 pcm.
Travel is around £5 a day.

Hope this helps!

isisini

Where you do live in Bristol? Do you want to live somewhere similar? Might help us narrow down what you're looking for.

The great thing about London is that there is so much choice of areas and you can really find a place that fits your lifestyle, the downside is that it can be a bit overwhelming at first.

Do you know anyone else living in London? This is also a good place to start. London is so big that although you may be living in the same city, you don't want to spend your downtime trekking around just to meet up with friends. If you like to be in the thick of things but with a bit of a sense of community places like Stroud Green/Stoke Newington/Crouch End are all nice places to live as a young couple in the city and just about affordable on your budget.

The great thing about Mayfair is that it is pretty Central so you'll have loads of choice about where you live - you can pretty much cycle from anywhere in Zone 2 or lots of Tube/Train links.

abankerbutnotafatcat

richardw wrote: »

Mayfair is a great location for an office base.

You can get national rail trains to london victoria and then it's a pleasant walk past Buckingham Palace and then across Green Park to Mayfair, if it's raining just jump on a C2 or 38 bus.

So look at places like Herne Hill, Nunhead, East Dulwich etc.

Just what I was going to say! When I worked in Mayfair I took the train into Victoria and walked the very pleasant walk from there thus saving the cost and aggravation of the tube. The bus (regular services along Piccadilly or from Hyde Park Corner to Victoria) makes a nice alternative if it's raining.

You are then free to live in some of the best value (due predominantly to their lack of tube) suburbs of London in the SE where you will find some lovely housing in leafy suburbs.