Renting on an income of £300 per week

TyreLever

Is it reasonably possible to rent a small flat on an income of just over £300 per week? Obviously not in London but I wouldnt live in the centre of any city. Do you have to earn mega bucks to live on your own and not struggle?

sparky130a

Yes it is.....

IAmWales

How about you start by looking at how much rents are in your area?

ProDave

£300 per week is £1200 per month. Depending where you are of course, there are plenty of places to rent for £500 or less per month.

When I bought my first house, half my income went to pay the mortgage, so it should not be so different.

PasturesNew

It all depends where you live. As a rule of thumb, an agent would look at the £300/week and make that into an annual figure (£15600) and would be prepared to say "maybe" on a rent of about £520/month for a self-contained flat/let.

How does £520 seem in your area? Are they £400/month, or £800? If I were you, with that £520 figure in mind, I'd be looking for £450-£500 tops... studio being preferable to 1-beds as they're cheaper to rent and cheaper to run, while you get established.

TyreLever

Havent yet specifically looked into rent prices (dont plan on moving just yet), but I have been told that renting from council is about £90 or so per week for a flat. Really wouldnt like to go much over £400 monthly as other costs of living are substantial. Fortunately the £300 per week figure excludes overtime, however I will base my budget on my basic pay. Just looking for general advice on the issue and what others experiences were. If I ever move out, I will be living on my own.

PasturesNew

TyreLever wrote: »

Havent yet specifically looked into rent prices (dont plan on moving just yet), but I have been told that renting from council is about £90 or so per week for a flat. Really wouldnt like to go much over £400 monthly as other costs of living are substantial. Fortunately the £300 per week figure excludes overtime, however I will base my budget on my basic pay. Just looking for general advice on the issue and what others experiences were. If I ever move out, I will be living on my own.

Renting from the council, for most people, is a pipe dream.

Nearly 40 years ago I was on the council's list ... and after 10 years or so I asked them "how long?" and they said "could be another 20 years before we can get you into a shared house".

Yes, private renting is expensive, especially for one, but you have to suck it up mostly and just stay in all the time.

moneyistooshorttomention

That sort of rent figure means a cheaper part of the country basically - there would be some of the rental places available to you for instance here in West Wales and probably in the Valleys. There would probably be places available in north of England.

There would be absolutely nothing available whatsoever in my home city that I moved from. I had to resign myself to bedsits when I was young (ie still renting) - as I had decided on a one bedroom flat and couldnt afford any of them:mad:

So it very much depends what part of the country you're in. The choices where I used to live boiled down to a single person to bedsits or having to get married (even if one hadnt found The One). That translated in that era into darn nearly every marriageable person "coincidentally" found either Someone or The One and got married. I have cynical suspicions at the level of people who got Someone. I chose bedsits and waiting for The One (who never did show up...).

Fosterdog

It really does depend on what area of the country you are in. Our last rental was a large 3 bed end of terrace with very good sized garden for £385 a month. Okay it wasn't immaculate and needed some modernisation but it was certainly fine to live in for a few years while we saved for a deposit on our own place.

Most 2-3 bed houses around here would rent for between £350-600 pm depending on exact location, size of the house and how new/modern/good the interior is. Flats would tend to go for £250-£500 again depending on the above, there are not many flats around here and the few I looked at a few years ago were more expensive than any of the houses I've rented and not really anything special to be worth the extra, I guess the only up side was the running costs were less.

sparky130a

Funnily enough i was speaking to a neighbour yesterday.

The poor !!!!!! is paying £550PM for a bedsit. A 1 bed flat down the road he's been quoted at £700PM.

My mortgage is £240PM. Yeah i have the cost of being a "homeowner" but that's insane.

He's early 30's, works all the hours God sends and doesn't stand a chance.

The status quo isn't tenable. And nor should it be.