Is it just me or are rents skyrocketing?

otter1_2

beingjdc wrote: »

SW1?! Christ have you won the lottery or what? I see the cheapest 1-bed in Pimlico is currently on for £275k, so around £1300 a month interest. Similar to rent is £290 a week, so I guess yeah, it's a fairly close thing in Pimlico but I'm not seeing 1.5x more than repayment, I guess it might be for larger properties where there are more to buy than rent.

We have a significant-sized deposit as neither of us have ever been big spenders and we have therefore been 'saving' (living within our means) for the last 10 years. We are buying ex-la, which means we are getting more space for our money, but in my earlier post I compared the rental costs with another ex-la block in the area.

ruggedtoast

The problem with London is that so much of it is such an absolute dive people will pay through the nose to live in the nicer bits. They'll also pay a premium to live near work.

I lived in Tokyo for a while and getting to and from work on the metro there was effortless, congested yes, but in 18 months there was only one delayed train - it was two minutes late and they apologised over the tannoy every 20 seconds. Very cheap too so you can live far out and it doesnt cost.

Using the tube every morning is like being trapped in a diorama of Kafkaesque incompetent misery - each morning I stand sweltering crammed against my fellow travellers waiting for a "failed train" caused by some screw-ups failed brain, listening to the announcer at Bank going through their daily litany of abject incompetence which seems to affect half the lines at one go.

Its so expensive as well I actually dont think we could afford to move outside the travel card zone.

God almighty I hate London.

Austin_Allegro

ruggedtoast wrote: »

The problem with London is that so much of it is such an absolute dive people will pay through the nose to live in the nicer bits. They'll also pay a premium to live near work.

I lived in Tokyo for a while and getting to and from work on the metro there was effortless, congested yes, but in 18 months there was only one delayed train - it was two minutes late and they apologised over the tannoy every 20 seconds. Very cheap too so you can live far out and it doesnt cost.

Using the tube every morning is like being trapped in a diorama of Kafkaesque incompetent misery - each morning I stand sweltering crammed against my fellow travellers waiting for a "failed train" caused by some screw-ups failed brain, listening to the announcer at Bank going through their daily litany of abject incompetence which seems to affect half the lines at one go.

Its so expensive as well I actually dont think we could afford to move outside the travel card zone.

God almighty I hate London.

LOL I know the feeling! The trick is to commute by bicycle. Same overall journey times as the tube, sometimes even quicker, but without the delays. Costs next to nothing, keeps you fit, and what's best, not a penny goes to Red Ken and his cronies!

As for cost of lodgings going up. Wouldn't this normally be limited to the government rent-a-room tax free level? (£4250pa) Assuming people didn't fiddle their tax returns...:cool:

I think more lodgings is a good idea. My objection to the 'surly couples' was the way they advertised themselves as a 'flat share' when you were obviously expected to keep yourself to yourself. To me a 'flat share' means a joint tenancy agreement, not a landlord and lodger arrangement.

SimPaul

rents have gone up massively in London from what I can see.

my 3 bed in Notting Hill was £650 per week 18 months ago. We renegotiated after a year to £750 per week (LL was asking £850 p/w). going rate for a similar flat now is £900 p/w.

Seems to be similar increases in 1 and 2 beds as well....it's actually worked out cheaper for me to buy!!!

ruggedtoast

SimPaul wrote: »

rents have gone up massively in London from what I can see.

my 3 bed in Notting Hill was £650 per week 18 months ago. We renegotiated after a year to £750 per week (LL was asking £850 p/w). going rate for a similar flat now is £900 p/w.

Seems to be similar increases in 1 and 2 beds as well....it's actually worked out cheaper for me to buy!!!

Where on earth did you get a 3 bed in NH for £650???!!!

liz545

I think part of the trick is finding a nice pocket in one of the "absolute dives" - rents are always going to be higher in the posher bits. I live in Southwark (SE17) and I'm paying under £900pcm for a roomy 2-bed period conversion. Ok, so I don't have an organic deli on the doorstep, but the neighbours are friendly, I live on a quiet street, I have a professional LL, I'm walking distance to the City, and there's plenty to do around Borough & Bankside. Greenwich has a surfeit of BTL's who've driven up prices because the area's desireable and close to the Olympic development. A short way down the road towards Deptford and prices fall considerably. A bit further afield, East Dulwich and Forest Hill are both posh enough to have plenty of Victorian conversions with decent gardens, but not so close as to be too expensive. London tends to be noisy and yes, some bits are a bit scummy, but that's just the reality, and I for one would find somewhere like Chelsea stifling!

Addy1

ruggedtoast wrote: »

Where on earth did you get a 3 bed in NH for £650???!!!

There are quite a few on Rightmove

ruggedtoast

Addy1 wrote: »

There are quite a few on Rightmove

No there isnt it comes up with one 3 bed house share for £95 per week. If you go up to £2000pcm it gives you two choices.

Are you communicating to us from 1994?

Horasio

We rented a lovely but dated place in 1994 for 3 years for £750 per month outside Edinburgh. Places in central Edinburgh haven't gone up a lot to rent - we rented a double upper in 1997 for £1110 a month and would probably be around £13-1500 now. We looked at a penthouse flat and it was £1200, so I don't think the rental is much higher. We go for unfurnished places as we kept our furniture from our house sales.

I do find trying to find a decent place for around £700 quite difficult - to me most places are about £200 more than they are worth to me. You can get so much more if you spend another £200 a month - so a place for £900 is far better than a place for £700, yet the places for £500 aren't much worse than a £700 place.

People are renting instead of buying just now, so the demand is higher, hence the higher rents

We have found a huge dated place with basement granny flat to rent, unfurnished in the New Forest for £950 a month - we can only have it for around 6 months tho.

neverdespairgirl

We;ve found that rents in WC1 are going down, not up - rental places are sticking, and have reductions marked. 5 places down by £50+ a week in the last few days.