Flat renting in Cardiff, advice and budgeting help?

essjae

Although I've not lived right by Clifton Street, I do know the area quite well - it is fairly vibrant, diverse and busy. A little rough round the edges, but no worse than other central Cardiff areas. Has a couple of decent restaurants / takeaways (Canteen is nice), and the mini Tesco is very handy. Also close to the Caledonian pub for the excellent Hangfire Smokehouse!
Other parts of Adamsdown - personally I wouldn't want to live too close to the prison / magic roundabout, but I have friends who do and they don't have a problem with it.

£400 - 500 will get you a 1-bed flat in Adamsdown / Splott / Riverside / Roath. Probably fairly grotty at the cheap end of that price range, and pretty decent at the upper limit.
£550 - £650 for a 2-bed.
You might find a studio flat for around £370 - £400, but they're more uncommon.
Plenty of options on rightmove.
Council tax will be just short of £1000 a year, minus 25% single person discount.
Water - my bills are 6-monthly and work out as about £20 a month (1 person in flat on a water meter)
Gas/Elec - I'm on a direct debit for £60 a month combined, which seems to work out about right (I'm not one to stint on the heating, mind!)
Phone/internet - I pay £16 a month including line rental. (not including mobile phone, obviously)

However - on your wage, I would recommend looking on spareroom or other websites and finding a room in a 2-bed flat - you may well find that sharing with one other person is much less stressful than a houseful, and should cost around £320 - £350 bills included (or even cheaper if you find a bargain!)
In addition, if you are there as a lodger rather than tenant, you won't be tied into a 6 month contract if things don't work out (although conversely, you also don't have the security of tenure that a tenant would have).

Hope some of that is helpful!

guideme

19lottie82 wrote: »

OP..... I'm sorry to say but I really don't think you can afford your own place. You earn just over NMW and will clear £1028 a month?

These flats are £450-£475 a month.....

This leaves you with £550 ish a month left for

- food / groceries
- council tax
- mobile phone
- gas / electric
- water
- contents insurance
- clothes
- Christmas / Birthday presents
- haircuts
- travel
- entertainment / nights out
- broadband
- TV license

And thats before any unforseen emergencies........

I'd concentrate on working hard to increase your salary and then you will be in a better position to rent your own place.

Thanks!

I've since been able to properly work out my budget and I'm sure I will be fine now. I will have around £250pcm left after all my outgoings without overtime (and I always have a lot of overtime per month). Most things in that list don't apply to me apart from the phone, internet, essential bills and a monthly haircut. I don't have travel costs. Granted it's not a lot but I lead a very quiet life and don't have any outgoings so if anything I will manage to save most of that each month.

ryecatcher wrote: »

I just moved from that area and I'd say Broadway (the main street that Clifton St branches off from) should be avoided unless you can cope with people playing their music LOUD at all times of day/night, traffic noise is also pretty intense.

As for Clifton St it depends on which end the flat is on - The Clifton pub is at one end so that's worth thinking about. In terms of location though it's only a 10 minute walk to town, with great public transport. If I were you I'd take a walk around and see what I thought but don't reject it out of hand just because the street looks a bit scruffy.

Thank you!

guideme

essjae wrote: »

Although I've not lived right by Clifton Street, I do know the area quite well - it is fairly vibrant, diverse and busy. A little rough round the edges, but no worse than other central Cardiff areas. Has a couple of decent restaurants / takeaways (Canteen is nice), and the mini Tesco is very handy. Also close to the Caledonian pub for the excellent Hangfire Smokehouse!
Other parts of Adamsdown - personally I wouldn't want to live too close to the prison / magic roundabout, but I have friends who do and they don't have a problem with it.

£400 - 500 will get you a 1-bed flat in Adamsdown / Splott / Riverside / Roath. Probably fairly grotty at the cheap end of that price range, and pretty decent at the upper limit.
£550 - £650 for a 2-bed.
You might find a studio flat for around £370 - £400, but they're more uncommon.
Plenty of options on rightmove.
Council tax will be just short of £1000 a year, minus 25% single person discount.
Water - my bills are 6-monthly and work out as about £20 a month (1 person in flat on a water meter)
Gas/Elec - I'm on a direct debit for £60 a month combined, which seems to work out about right (I'm not one to stint on the heating, mind!)
Phone/internet - I pay £16 a month including line rental. (not including mobile phone, obviously)

However - on your wage, I would recommend looking on spareroom or other websites and finding a room in a 2-bed flat - you may well find that sharing with one other person is much less stressful than a houseful, and should cost around £320 - £350 bills included (or even cheaper if you find a bargain!)
In addition, if you are there as a lodger rather than tenant, you won't be tied into a 6 month contract if things don't work out (although conversely, you also don't have the security of tenure that a tenant would have).

Hope some of that is helpful!

Very helpful thanks a lot, I'm more hopeful about it now!

SpeedDemon

I would look around the Roath area, near the Albany Rd shopping district. You should be able to find a 1 bedroom flat for around £500-£550 pcm.
Its about 10 minutes from the centre and on all main bus routes.
Area is a mixture of students, young professionals and families depending on what road you live on.

19lottie82

OP, obviously it's your choice but spending circa 50% of your wage on rent is madness, especially when you're on such a low wage.