Anxious about moving to London. How can I prepare over the next year?

BitterAndTwisted

With savings of £15k and no job you could support yourself for nearly TWO YEARS if you didn't earn a penny in that time, as long as your partner was earning and paying his half of rent and bills.

You should expect to pay around £500 each in rent, £50 for Council Tax and about £130 for fares per month as an absolute minimum. Food will be as cheap as it is where you are now, more or less. You can see where those friends' grand a month gets spent now, can't you?

The challenge will be to find a landlord willing to offer you a tenancy when neither of you have any proveable income and limited credit-history. This could be overcome by paying six months rent in advance but that should be considered a last resort.

In the meantime both of you should be looking to establish a credit-history. You could think about applying for a credit-card, using it to a limited amount each month and paying off the whole balance. If neither of you have mobile phone contracts, applying for one could have the same effect.

The most sensible way to go about this move would be to not look to rent anywhere until your partner has a job offer but if you could stay with family or friends until he has, that would make the transition a lot simpler.

Tens of thousands of people do what you are proposing every year, and some of them with a lot poorer job prospects than the pair of you have.

blahblahblah85

I think you're right to be anxious, London is expensive, not just for rent, but there is so much to do there you will want to spend more on activities, and when you're out you want to eat/drink and everything near enough costs more in London, even the toilets can cost!
However you should earn more ph and through tips, it's just that settling period which will eat up your savings which would be a massive shame as you sound like you've worked hard for your savings.

I personally would have massive reservations unless a) you have free accommodation until you set yourselves up b) your boyfriend gets a job or at min get a few interviews lined up! c) he brings some savings to the table

Also, are you just moving for him ? Do you think you will enjoy living there?!

stu12345_2

I read advice that too many folk try to live in a big city and spend all the times commuting long distance to work and still pay high rent,the wages are high in big city, but at end of week ur worse off.. what you need to do is find if you can do your job in a smaller town with a good wage too and walk to work and is cheaper to rent also.
hence you save on transport and rent and still have a good wage.
this is why folks work in say edinburgh,perth,stirling, cheaper rent,than london, shorter commute, but good wages.
Only the very rich can live and work in london,
see if you can do ur job in a cheaper town, that gives more disposable income at end of week.find a town that allows that.

there is a website of a person that retired early by doing that, he didnt follow the rule of working in the capital, he stayed in a smaller cheaper town that had a job market,where he got a good wage and could live rent or buy close to the town centre and rent property was cheap compared to london and saved alot due to low commute and house costs as his slightly lower wage was offset by all the savings he made.
my friend did that gave up working in london with a 30 mile round commute , high rent and moved to stirling scotland, a prosperous attractive town, he bought a house 1000 yards from town centre and can walk to work in 10 mins. and can still earn a decent amount.

Errata

If you really are heading for north west London you could commute the other way and work at Heathrow.

Job vacancies at Heathrow are sewn up tighter than a duck's bum.

topdaddy_2

What do you want to do? Minimum wage barista doesnt sound like a career path. What type of work do you want to get into? Is it an industry in the are you are looking? What rent are you looking at? Your friends living for a grand a month are doing it quite cheaply. Get a job then move down not the other way round.

mitzi_tov

Thanks everyone for the advice so far - very helpful! We do plan to find work before we move, the search starting when he completes in his thesis in a couple weeks (next July is just when our (very flexible) tenancy here runs out).

If it comes to it his folks are in Harrow and could put us up - they even own a block of flats in zone 2 - but I don't want to rely on them, it doesn't feel right.

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

With savings of £15k and no job you could support yourself for nearly TWO YEARS if you didn't earn a penny in that time, as long as your partner was earning and paying his half of rent and bills.

You should expect to pay around £500 each in rent, £50 for Council Tax and about £130 for fares per month as an absolute minimum. Food will be as cheap as it is where you are now, more or less. You can see where those friends' grand a month gets spent now, can't you?

The challenge will be to find a landlord willing to offer you a tenancy when neither of you have any proveable income and limited credit-history. This could be overcome by paying six months rent in advance but that should be considered a last resort.

In the meantime both of you should be looking to establish a credit-history. You could think about applying for a credit-card, using it to a limited amount each month and paying off the whole balance. If neither of you have mobile phone contracts, applying for one could have the same effect.

The most sensible way to go about this move would be to not look to rent anywhere until your partner has a job offer but if you could stay with family or friends until he has, that would make the transition a lot simpler.

Tens of thousands of people do what you are proposing every year, and some of them with a lot poorer job prospects than the pair of you have.

These figures were really helpful, thank you. I'm working on my credit history as we speak! I got a Santander credit card last month and set up a direct debit for it. He's on a contract and we can get him a card too.

blahblahblah85 wrote: »

I think you're right to be anxious, London is expensive, not just for rent, but there is so much to do there you will want to spend more on activities, and when you're out you want to eat/drink and everything near enough costs more in London, even the toilets can cost!
However you should earn more ph and through tips, it's just that settling period which will eat up your savings which would be a massive shame as you sound like you've worked hard for your savings.

I personally would have massive reservations unless a) you have free accommodation until you set yourselves up b) your boyfriend gets a job or at min get a few interviews lined up! c) he brings some savings to the table

Also, are you just moving for him ? Do you think you will enjoy living there?!

I've loved my stays in London, and God knows I need a bigger city! London has been on the cards for a couple years, especially as I used to work in journalism and PR (not so many opportunities up here, hence my retail jobs).

Eating up my savings is exactly what I'm worried about, I've been building up this nest egg for 'something big' (Cordon Bleu, a house deposit, an emergency) and it'd be a shame for it all to go on rent!

We do intend to find work first and he'll be earning and saving up here while we search... I'm confident he'll find good work quickly but I'm scared that I'll be one of those cases who applies constantly and never gets anything.

stu12345 wrote: »

I read advice that too many folk try to live in a big city and spend all the times commuting long distance to work and still pay high rent,the wages are high in big city, but at end of week ur worse off.. what you need to do is find if you can do your job in a smaller town with a good wage too and walk to work and is cheaper to rent also.

I've certainly thought about this - there's so much work to be had elsewhere! I want to live in London at some point, but where we are now I'm able to save a lot of money and have a disposable income, rather than everything going to essentials.

stu12345_2

do what most folk do, take a day trip or holiday to london if you want to see the sights and sounds. live elsewhere in uk, after all unemployment is lower in say bristol, edinburgh and its more affordable than london.
you want to have money in your pocket at the end of the week and somewhere you can afford to live when you retire.

the only folk that do well in london are those in social housing, live near the city centre and have good jobs.
unless your a hedge fund banker.

it seems most low paid jobs, shop assistants in london are teenagers living with parents in low cost social housing.it seemed that way to me when i visited city centre london, all the tesco, costa coffee works were 18 yr olds, after all how else could they afford the commute to city centre london, let alone afford the rent even way outside the city boundaries.
one job i wanted to apply for was a reasonable pay, but employer stated i had to live within 3 miles of workplace, as there is a lot of emergency callouts within the work.so my wages would not afford the cost of the rent or mortgage.
my only way around it was to try and swap my council flat in the south of england for a tenant in that specific area of london, hence i gave up trying.

BitterAndTwisted

Would it enhance your career prospects to give up one of NMW jobs to concentrate on getting some experience relevant to the journalism/PR field you were in previously?

Maybe even some finance/admin experience could translate into getting a foot on the ladder of where you want to go rather than to continue in what you are doing already?

Making the transition into work down here when you've got family who can put you up until you've both secured paid employment is going to be pretty straightforward, I reckon, so I'd stop worrying if I were you.

mitzi_tov

bouicca21 wrote: »

You haven't Indicated whether your partner really does have good prospects for a job in London. I don't entirely understand why he doesn't get a job before moving. That would give you a budget and some stability, plus once you know where he'd be working you would have a better idea of where to look for accommodation along a commuting route. Hate to say it, but north west London is expensive even by London standards.

Am I reading too much between the lines? Is this really about him wanting to be closer to friends and family rather than about his career opportunities? None of us can comment on the opportunities in his particular field or whether his MA is going to be useful in finding a job; you and he will have a better handle on that.

It is partly for his career opportunities - he's studying and working in music and has more or less exhausted the options here, especially as most are unpaid or at a level that won't help him progress, e.g. stewarding. We've been keeping an eye on work going around the country and London has by far the best work going (but then a hell of a lot more competition too). It's the same for journalism and media, which I've had trouble finding up here. The family and friends are more the icing on the cake, I should've explained that better.

alberty wrote: »

What were you hoping to hear, that you can support yourself and have a great life in London with no money? Why not build a life somewhere you might be able to buy a house not too long from now, instead of living in conditions like a battery hen in London, or on benefits. I would.

I wasn't hoping to hear anything, just a bit of practical advice from people who know better than me. I've been thinking the same about buying a home, although I've never wanted to stay up here long term.

principlecounts wrote: »

Firstly, I must say congratulations on getting together a decent amount, not easy for a lot of people in this climate, if you carry on like that in a years time, you'll feel a lot more comfortable in a place like London.

I did live in London for 4 years when I was a student, I just rented a room sharing rest of the facilities in a normal 3 bed house. if I were you take what your friends say with a pinch of salt, you don't really know whether people are spending their income effectively for the purpose they require. £1000+ a month is possible if you're renting an apartment and have expensive commutes to work. But time is on your side, you've got a chance to do the sums yourself and shop around so use it to your advantage.

As for jobs, seriously, I'm a graduate myself (nearly 10 years ago now) from what some may claim a good university in London. A degree is overrated these days (or rather employers are realising graduates may not always be the type of candidate their after), I have to keep up to date to stay relevant, otherwise my skills are just out of date. As for someone coming out to the workplace with good A-levels, I think you shouldn't put yourself down. No doubt you'll be quizzed, but just think of the positives you have gained from going straight into work e.g. wanted to understand a good work ethic, perhaps you needed more time to choose the right career path, etc. There are much opportunities and training programmes these days for A-level skills than their used to be. I've seen too many idiots at uni (and so have many industry have come to realise). If I was an employer, I think good A-levels for many jobs are good foundation for nurturing talent towards the right skills a company needs.

What can you do right now:

- Save as much you can (but please have a life!)
- Look for good job opportunities for people with A-levels
- Consider locations you and your OH would like to live, but if one of you or both you manage to secure jobs that'll make finding the exact location easier.

Good Luck, and keep asking questions!

This post was really helpful, especially the site - thank you.

Errata

Has your boyfriend ever had a job that paid at least NMW? In his 'field' or any other?
What posts has he applied for already?