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Renting Alone

I have to move out this year due to personal circumstances but at the moment I am alone on this.

I earn £21K a year and am worried I wont be able to afford it.

I currently live in SE London in Zone 4 and need to commute to central London for work.

Any ideas / opinions?
«1

Comments

  • pinkshoes
    pinkshoes Posts: 20,607 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    Can you not live in a house share? MUCH cheaper than renting on your own, especially in London!

    Or live elsewhere further outside London near a train station, and work out how much a yearly train ticket will cost compaired to the rent you'll save.

    Apply for a job in a cheaper part of the UK that pays a similar amount?

    Ask for a pay rise at work?
    Should've = Should HAVE (not 'of')
    Would've = Would HAVE (not 'of')

    No, I am not perfect, but yes I do judge people on their use of basic English language. If you didn't know the above, then learn it! (If English is your second language, then you are forgiven!)
  • pollyanna24
    pollyanna24 Posts: 4,391 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    I reckon you will be able to do it. £21K is a half decent wage and as long as you are careful, you should be okay.

    We are kicking bf's brother out of our house soon and he is on less than that and he will have no choice, but to survive!

    We live just outside Zone 6 and I have seen house shares with bills included for as little as £250-£300 a month in our area (I also commute into Central London every day).

    Just look around for how much places are, and make yourself a strict budget.
    Pink Sproglettes born 2008 and 2010
    Mortgages (End 2017) - £180,235.03
    (End 2021) - £131,215.25 DID IT!!!
    (End 2022) - Target £116,213.81
  • PasturesNew
    PasturesNew Posts: 70,698 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    I rent alone. I rent a studio flatlet. These are cheapest.

    Yes, renting alone and living alone is very expensive. With 2x the rent on my studio flatlet, a couple could be renting a huge, modern, flashy place.

    £21k is a LOT of money by many people's standards. Maybe you should look at how you're spending your money now because if you've not had to live alone before you will need to cut right back.
  • lucy_w86
    lucy_w86 Posts: 827 Forumite
    Thanks everyone..

    I think a flatshare is the best thing, just very nervous about it!
  • lucy_w86
    lucy_w86 Posts: 827 Forumite
    I rent alone. I rent a studio flatlet. These are cheapest.

    Yes, renting alone and living alone is very expensive. With 2x the rent on my studio flatlet, a couple could be renting a huge, modern, flashy place.

    £21k is a LOT of money by many people's standards. Maybe you should look at how you're spending your money now because if you've not had to live alone before you will need to cut right back.

    Can anyone recommend good sites they have experience using?
  • chappers
    chappers Posts: 2,988 Forumite
    Look at a flat share as an oppertunity I shared houses for many years and whilst I have no desire to ever meet some of the people I lived with, I also made some lifelong friends.
    Try Gumtree for local house or flat shares and remember its just as important for you to want to live with those people as it is for them to want you
  • teabelly
    teabelly Posts: 1,229 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture
    Ask around at your place of work and see if anyone wants a lodger or there is anyone looking to house share. You can at least check them out with their colleagues and find out what they are like first :)
  • Try find a flatshare where the owner lives there. A lodger can give notice (whatever it says in the contract), mine is set at 2 weeks so if we really don't get on we don't have a 6 month contract to fulfil. If you flatshare and the owner does not live there then you can be tied into a contract and have to pay it in full.
    There's nothing worse than communicating with flatmates via post it notes for months (bloke at work did that for months), on the otherhand you could get a hole bunch of new friends and never want to move out.
    Work is not such a good place to find flatmates - you would not believe the stories:rolleyes:
    Lets get this straight. Say my house is worth £100K, it drops £20K and I complain but I should not complain when I actually pay £200K via a mortgage:rolleyes:
  • PasturesNew
    PasturesNew Posts: 70,698 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    I had trouble finding a flatshare due to my age. Nobody wanted to share with an old git. They wanted to share with more young, trendy people. And I didn't want to share with noisy beggars.

    Age and lifestyle is something you'll have to live with, so choose carefully. Find out what the others do. If they work in bars they'll come home late. If they work in kitchens they'll get up early. Also think about whether there will be a problem getting in the bathroom at the time you want to get up in the morning, or try to get an en-suite room, although obviously there are less of these and they're a bit pricier, if you can find one it's got to be worth the extra for the 0 stress of trying to get into the bathroom when you're a bit late or out of your normal time-cycle.
  • barnaby-bear
    barnaby-bear Posts: 4,142 Forumite
    Try find a flatshare where the owner lives there. A lodger can give notice (whatever it says in the contract), mine is set at 2 weeks so if we really don't get on we don't have a 6 month contract to fulfil. If you flatshare and the owner does not live there then you can be tied into a contract and have to pay it in full.
    There's nothing worse than communicating with flatmates via post it notes for months (bloke at work did that for months), on the otherhand you could get a hole bunch of new friends and never want to move out.
    Work is not such a good place to find flatmates - you would not believe the stories:rolleyes:

    I'd say these were the one's to avoid; there's always a power imbalance i.e.. they dictate how clean/how much/too much noise/how much heating/how many people round. They also generally only have you there to pay their mortgage and resent the intrusion - plus usually think they have the right to intrude. I'd avoid work colleagues too unless a big company wiht a grad notice board so you don't actually work with them.
    I've had some fab houseshares with instant social life but even the one's with awkward people have been useful as you learn a lot about interacting with people and give and take. Try and find one wiht a lounge a lot in london use it as an extra bedroom but communal socialising space and somewhere to sit other than your room is better.
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