Reasonable rent as % of net income?

darkman

I'm curious to know what people consider a reasonable rent to pay, possibly as a percentage of income. I've seen figures like 30% as being reasonable, but is that % of gross income or net?

On a good month I clear 2K net. My gf and I are considering moving in together. Any advice on what we should be looking at?

poppy10_2

No more than 30% of net, unless you are in London Village. Loom for somewhere £650 or below - any Northern city centre will have tons of good new build 2-bed apartments at £500-£600.

Lazy_Runner

Surely it depends on the kind of lifestyle you want?
Your financial goals are part of this?

If you want to save/invest lots of money, then you would want to spend less.

If you were buying a property, and you could get such a mortgage, would you pay upto 50% of your net salary? I know people who have paid that much because they are owning their own home.

I have and continue to pay more than 30% because I wanted a 3 bed house (to rent).

You need to consider how much you want to save, the size of the bills, how much you need for the lifestyle you want to lead and then look at how much is left for accommodation.

Also I would take the rental and the travel to work costs combined. I used to work in central London and chose to live there as well. It meant my rent was high and I had to share the place, but it meant I had very little travel costs and time.

Lazy_Runner

Oh, if you have good and bad months salary wise, as you seem to indicate, perhaps it would be better to spend less on the accommodation and then when you get good months, just save the excess. When you move to the next property either you will have money for the deposit or you will be able to use the savings to pay part of the rent or mortgage.

PasturesNew

Sometimes you can't help but spend more.
I rent the cheapest place I could find in my whole town.

On a good month that works out at 35% of take-home pay.

That is just for rent.

On average I probably pay 40% of take-home on rent alone.

I have a small studio bedsit of about 21 square metres in size.

I looked at 1-bed flatlets, small still. But cheapest for rent and council tax were working out at 60% of take-home. Which I felt was too much. I'd rather have that cash difference in MY pocket.

Mr_Bear_2

well we are in a similar situation

rent and bills will cost up 45% of our combined salaries which we think is ok

disagree that 500-600 will get you a decent 2 bed in northern cities we are looking in manchester 650-675 is a minimum unless u want a really small place

chriz1000

I would say it all depends on what you want and your other expenditure. I’m sure by being on this site you must have a good idea how much money you spend to live your current lifestyle?
You then have 3 choices:
Spend all of what you have left over on rent, obviously budgeting for council tax and utilities too.
Go for a cheaper property, sacrifice not having as nice rented accommodation as you can afford, however you can then put money into a savings account for say a deposit for a house.
Curve your current lifestyle you then have the option of getting yourself a better house and putting some aside in a savings account.
At the end of the day you will know what’s more important to you out of the options I have suggested. We’re all different and have to make different decisions depending on what we want out of life. I think it’s unfair for people to tell you exactly what you can and can’t afford without knowing all your incomings and outgoings.