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Zone 2 London - which are the cheapest areas to rent?
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This is the reality which is why the salary in London is higher. I hope that in this instance they are getting a better salary.It's nice that you are giving them a hand, but to be honest, its better that they problem-solve this and undertake the budgeting/property search themselves. It will help tackle their denial that they can have the same lifestyle when their living and travel costs may double and their social expenses will also be dearer there.
Let the penny, and their jaws drop, by giving them the link to the TFL journey planner, right move and the MSE budget spreadsheet, then stand back.
If their consumer/lifestyle obsessions won't allow for compromise, then later you can provide links to MSE debt management advice....
A couple living up north in a self contained property in the centre of the city with next to no travel expenses are always going to get a shock when they move to London and find out that they can only afford an ex council studio flat on the outskirts of the city and an hour plus commute into work....Never mind a fiver for a pint and £15 for a cinema ticket.
For zone 2 I would budget at least 1k per month rent + council tax + bills. There are some exceptional choices in zone 3 to consider as well, but the price will be similar.0 -
It's nice that you are giving them a hand, but to be honest, its better that they problem-solve this and undertake the budgeting/property search themselves. It will help tackle their denial that they can have the same lifestyle when their living and travel costs may double and their social expenses will also be dearer there.
Let the penny, and their jaws drop, by giving them the link to the TFL journey planner, right move and the MSE budget spreadsheet, then stand back.
If their consumer/lifestyle obsessions won't allow for compromise, then later you can provide links to MSE debt management advice....
A couple living up north in a self contained property in the centre of the city with next to no travel expenses are always going to get a shock when they move to London and find out that they can only afford an ex council studio flat on the outskirts of the city and an hour plus commute into work....Never mind a fiver for a pint and £15 for a cinema ticket.
Exactly - I've sent the links but I am biting my tongue and sitting on my hands and I am hoping that they now take a very close look at the figures and be realistic.
If they were both based in central London for work then it would be easier - just a choice as to how far out they needed to be to get the right rent/commute balance. But St Albans keeps rearing its head.
The other additional strain on the budget will be BFs need to go back to see his family at weekends - 4 hour drive or 2 hours from kings Cross, at least £50 return.“Create all the happiness you are able to create; remove all the misery you are able to remove. Every day will allow you, --will invite you to add something to the pleasure of others, --or to diminish something of their pains.”0 -
One of the girls that works with my daughter commutes from Southend which sounded quite mad but I've just been playing with train time tables again and its also only about an hour out of London and flat rentals are much better. I don't expect though that Southend is very hip and happening though for 20 somethings.
Also not as good for St Albans.
I think you have to think outside of the box“Create all the happiness you are able to create; remove all the misery you are able to remove. Every day will allow you, --will invite you to add something to the pleasure of others, --or to diminish something of their pains.”0 -
Exactly - I've sent the links but I am biting my tongue and sitting on my hands and I am hoping that they now take a very close look at the figures and be realistic.
If they were both based in central London for work then it would be easier - just a choice as to how far out they needed to be to get the right rent/commute balance. But St Albans keeps rearing its head.
The other additional strain on the budget will be BFs need to go back to see his family at weekends - 4 hour drive or 2 hours from kings Cross, at least £50 return.
Yes, fingers crossed but a worse case scenario will see them sign a tenancy on lifestyle grounds and a sense of entitlement before they've number crunched and they sleepwalk into debt.
Must the BF see his family every weekend?! Unless there were family issues, this is a bit anti girlfriend or under the thumbness - that's over £200 a month.
Of course, it would probably only be a tenner on the Megabus but that's for poor people, innit......?!0 -
D'oh - read A city as THE city - thought someone had bagged a flat close to the Thames for £650 a week which is why I dropped my clogs and flipped!No, its possible to get a 1 bed private flat close to the city centre in my city in Scotland.
I just don't think its helpful to bring northern values when assessing southern rental prices, not one bit, this is the market, its hot, get used to it.
Looks like the OPs daughter and her partner will have to pay around £800 per month for basic accommodation there, unless they are happy to move further out or roomshare. Brockley sounds like a nice enough spot in the disaster area of urban south London but its not Mayfair and therefore provides a basic baseline for their budget.0 -
You get very exposed to transport issues being outside of the capital. Something I see often with those commuting in by train compared to those using tube/bus/thameslink/bike/etc..One of the girls that works with my daughter commutes from Southend which sounded quite mad but I've just been playing with train time tables again and its also only about an hour out of London and flat rentals are much better. I don't expect though that Southend is very hip and happening though for 20 somethings.
Also not as good for St Albans.
I think you have to think outside of the box0 -
D'oh - read A city as THE city - thought someone had bagged a flat close to the Thames for £650 a week which is why I dropped my clogs and flipped!
Ha, ha!
Yeah, I know everyone thinks London is THE city, like its the only city in the UK. I've lived there, it has some great upsides to it (job opportunities, social life) but the downsides prompted me to move (hellish crowded expensive long commutes, high crime, property prices that meant I had to live in less desirable places outside the city centre).
Now I live in a Scottish city in a period property, next to a park, good shops, a pub, good restaurants, just 2 miles from the city centre and I can get there from a nearby train station in a single stop lasting 6 minutes that costs £2. A 1 bedroom flat in my neck of the woods can be bought for 60k which I think is less than the cost of some garages in London.
But when you are young, you have the stamina for long public transport journeys and tend to be able to ignore the nuisances that comes with some urban places plus budgets are for old and poor people, right?0 -
Yes, fingers crossed but a worse case scenario will see them sign a tenancy on lifestyle grounds and a sense of entitlement before they've number crunched and they sleepwalk into debt.
Must the BF see his family every weekend?! Unless there were family issues, this is a bit anti girlfriend or under the thumbness - that's over £200 a month.
Of course, it would probably only be a tenner on the Megabus but that's for poor people, innit......?!
Yes, I think the weekend trips are inevitable, very much a home boy - even drove back from Gloucestershire when he worked there for six months, 4 hours through worst traffic ever and home at 9 at night on a Friday and he used to set off at 4.30 on Monday morning to get back.
That was 2012. In 2013 and onwards serious family ill health so I don't think anything would stop him now from getting home at the weekend.
I am not sure how daughter feels about this - wether she would be willing to do the trip herself by up north every weekend with BF as well - another question I have to ask her.
No they would not use the megabus ever
Train is the sensible option, half the time but doubt if he would - never did when he was working in Gloucestershire (when he could have gone Birmingham New Street and then North or BNS and then train across to us as a half way point for both of them) “Create all the happiness you are able to create; remove all the misery you are able to remove. Every day will allow you, --will invite you to add something to the pleasure of others, --or to diminish something of their pains.”0 -
Ha, ha!
Yeah, I know everyone thinks London is THE city, like its the only city in the UK. I've lived there, it has some great upsides to it (job opportunities, social life) but the downsides prompted me to move (hellish crowded expensive long commutes, high crime, property prices that meant I had to live in less desirable places outside the city centre).
Now I live in a Scottish city in a period property, next to a park, good shops, a pub, good restaurants, just 2 miles from the city centre and I can get there from a nearby train station in a single stop lasting 6 minutes that costs £2. A 1 bedroom flat in my neck of the woods can be bought for 60k which I think is less than the cost of some garages in London.
But when you are young, you have the stamina for long public transport journeys and tend to be able to ignore the nuisances that comes with some urban places plus budgets are for old and poor people, right?
Nooo, honest, it's not even that. I was being extra dumb. The part of London controlled by the Corporation of London, the financial bit, is just called The City, you'll see it on sign posts, as opposed to West End, it may even be the original city for all I know. When people in London say The City it's a specific part of London, I know, makes no sense - just blame the Romans...
If your daughter had a flat in The City I'd be amazed - 300,000 people work there but only 8,000 residents. A riverside flat in the city would cost tens of thousands a month. Hence my shock.0 -
Yes, I think the weekend trips are inevitable, very much a home boy - even drove back from Gloucestershire when he worked there for six months, 4 hours through worst traffic ever and home at 9 at night on a Friday and he used to set off at 4.30 on Monday morning to get back.
That was 2012.
Granted the recent travel is prompted by family sickness but I'm afraid before that, it just sounds like he's a mummy's boy. Not good. He's going to have a very limited experience of London by not exploring its best features at weekends.0
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