Length of time to find accomadation + cheap hotels

Penisland

Hi there,
I am moving over to London next month and I am planning on going over first to find accommodation and then come back to Dublin and fly back over later.

My question is how long does it usually take to find accommodation? 2 days? 3 days? more? I will obviously set up as many viewings as I can before I move over!

Also, can anyone recommend any good/cheap hotels? Planning on going over the week of Tuesday 4th October!

Thanks in advance!

LadyMayBelle

When my boyfriend first came over, he stayed with a relative for a week, but before he left Ireland he had already set up a few viewings, (gumtree and private landlords), and had paid his deposit the day after he arrived. Depends on how fussy you are, and where you want to stay while looking (as in, what area you want to stay).

djpbarry

Penisland wrote: »

My question is how long does it usually take to find accommodation?

That’s a very difficult question to answer. I could go out and put a deposit on a flat this afternoon if I wanted to. As was said above, it really depends on what you’re after. For example, do you know what area of London you want to live in? How many bedrooms are you looking for? What sort of transport links are you looking for? How much are you prepared to pay? Where will you be working?

I’d suggest having a look at sites such as www.rightmove.co.uk and www.findaproperty.com to get an idea of what’s out there. Although don’t get carried away based on what you see on those sites – agents often leave properties advertised that have long since been let.

Penisland wrote: »

Also, can anyone recommend any good/cheap hotels?

Whereabouts?

Penisland

Hey,
Thanks for the replys! Yes, I suppose I knew the answer to my question, I was just getting frustrated with the whole thing!! ha!

Waterloo is the nearest station to my work so I have lots of options but ideally I would like to be as close as possible. I will also definitely be room sharing! I have looked at those websites above but I have found spareroom.co.uk to be the best! Have a budget of 550pcm including bills so haven't got the biggest budget!

I booked a guesthouse that is central enough for three nights but I will be there for 4 full days so hopefully I can get somewhere by then! As you guys said it depends how fussy I am!

Cheers for the comments!

djpbarry

Penisland wrote: »

Waterloo is the nearest station to my work...

Ok, well apart form the general Waterloo area, I’d recommend looking to the south along the Northern Line, down as far as Clapham. Plenty of places for rent to be found along there and all pretty close to Waterloo. Apart from Waterloo, Kennington would be handiest as you wouldn’t have to change trains on the tube and it’s a decent area. You could actually walk to Kennington from Waterloo if you wanted. Don’t go looking for places in Elephant & Castle though – bit dodgy.

Penisland wrote: »

I will also definitely be room sharing! I have looked at those websites above but I have found spareroom.co.uk to be the best!

Ah, sorry. I assumed you were looking to rent outright.

Penisland

djpbarry wrote: »

Ok, well apart form the general Waterloo area, I’d recommend looking to the south along the Northern Line, down as far as Clapham. Plenty of places for rent to be found along there and all pretty close to Waterloo. Apart from Waterloo, Kennington would be handiest as you wouldn’t have to change trains on the tube and it’s a decent area. You could actually walk to Kennington from Waterloo if you wanted. Don’t go looking for places in Elephant & Castle though – bit dodgy.
Ah, sorry. I assumed you were looking to rent outright.

Cheers for advice! Ye was thinking Clapham/Kennington area! However, I'v heard the northern line is a bit slow/unreliable? Would this be your experience?

Ye I have heard Elephant and Castle is a bit dodgy! And yes I don't blame you for assuming...im wasnt very clear....head is wrecked with all this! ha

djpbarry

Penisland wrote: »

Cheers for advice! Ye was thinking Clapham/Kennington area! However, I'v heard the northern line is a bit slow/unreliable? Would this be your experience?

No, not particularly. I used to live in Earl's Court and I found the District and Piccadilly lines far worse than the Northern in terms of reliability. The Northern does get crazy busy during rush hour though (and you usually have to change at Kennington to get to Waterloo), so it's probably a good idea to position yourself somewhere that has alternative transportation, but it's unlikely you'll be too far from a useful bus route. A nearby overground station might also be useful, but it's crazy expensive, so don't use it on a regular basis.

bill_lehane

Hi there pen! At least i hope that is where the word break should go in your username, lol!

As someone who's just gone through what you're doing, I would caution that it might take some days longer than you think. I suppose you don't have to deal with a letting agent for a houseshare mind.

In terms of where to live, I wouldn't rule out the overground trains at all. If you take them twice daily and get a monthly subscription it's only about six pounds a day or something like that, and you can ride the tube and bus for free all week as well. I live out in Lewisham where some of the trains go to Waterloo East and many others to Charing Cross, London Bridge and Cannon st, all of which are probably within 20 mins walk of your office. Just a thought anyways! Best of luck with it all.

Golden3333

Hi OP,

I have just moved over with my boyfriend this week and similar to what you're planning, we booked a hostel for a few nights last week to hunt for permanent accommodation. And to be honest we had a tough time finding something as students had literally taken everything decent!! What we have decided to do is book a short-let studio flat for a month until we find our feet. The rent for these is quite dear for what you get but it is the right choice for us as it gives us an address (which my boyfriend needed for his new job), a place to store our belongings and a solid month to find an area that suits us both and a flat we like.

If you don't find anything you like in the few days you are over I would suggest something like a short let flat or even a hostel (we stayed in YHA London Central which was basic but very clean) for a few weeks to give yourself a bit of time to find something that suits you instead of signing up to a long lease somewhere that you're not too keen on. That's just my 2cents worth though. Best of luck

BrokenArrows

difficult to answer.

I found a place the first day i moved over.

Im looking to move again but have been looking for a few months. Difference is how picky you are.

djpbarry

bill_lehane wrote: »

In terms of where to live, I wouldn't rule out the overground trains at all. If you take them twice daily and get a monthly subscription it's only about six pounds a day or something like that...

I guess it depends on what your options are. £6 per day would be at the upper end of what I'd be paying, even without a long-term ticket.

bill_lehane

djpbarry wrote: »

I guess it depends on what your options are. £6 per day would be at the upper end of what I'd be paying, even without a long-term ticket.

Yeah, that's true. The trick is that rents are discounted outside zone 1-2, but if you are just in zone 3 with a train line it's no slower than the tube to get into the city and the transport basically comes out of the would-be rent bill. For just renting a room I would say you are right though, closer in would be better.

cranky bollix

Golden3333 wrote: »

Hi OP,

I have just moved over with my boyfriend this week and similar to what you're planning, we booked a hostel for a few nights last week to hunt for permanent accommodation. And to be honest we had a tough time finding something as students had literally taken everything decent!! What we have decided to do is book a short-let studio flat for a month until we find our feet. The rent for these is quite dear for what you get but it is the right choice for us as it gives us an address (which my boyfriend needed for his new job), a place to store our belongings and a solid month to find an area that suits us both and a flat we like.

If you don't find anything you like in the few days you are over I would suggest something like a short let flat or even a hostel (we stayed in YHA London Central which was basic but very clean) for a few weeks to give yourself a bit of time to find something that suits you instead of signing up to a long lease somewhere that you're not too keen on. That's just my 2cents worth though. Best of luck

moving over in a few weeks myself with my partner, and we'll be looking for short term accomodation - can anyone recommend a good website for this

Golden3333

cranky bollix wrote: »

moving over in a few weeks myself with my partner, and we'll be looking for short term accomodation - can anyone recommend a good website for this

We looked on Holidaylettings.co.uk initially and found Welby.co.uk through them. We were also in touch with Foxtons but as with their long-term lets I'd advise to avoid them. All the studios they showed us were at least £500 a week and your one was fierce pushy!!
We ended up getting a studio flat in Belsize Park with Welby and it's grand. Pricey for what you get but that seems to be the same with all short-terms. It's clean and well kept with everything you need for a few weeks. Hope that helps!

kraggy

How much would a one bed apartment be in a decent but no posh area, say about 30 mins from centre of London?

To rent that is.

And what's the work situation like? Is it possible to get casual bar/warehouse/labouring work?

I'm a primary teacher so would eventually try to get primary work there if we moved over. But would be prepared to do anything to pay the bills while I found teaching work.

Anyone here teaching in London?

djpbarry

kraggy wrote: »

How much would a one bed apartment be in a decent but no posh area, say about 30 mins from centre of London?

It really depends on the area. I’m south of the Thames, not too far from the centre of London (although the “centre” of London is pretty big and the absolute centre will vary in location depending on who you ask) and I live in a one-bed garden flat with the missus. Rent is just under £1,400 per month. Council tax is about £1,000 per year and bills (electricity, gas, TV, broadband, water) come to about £120 per month (but that will obviously vary from property to property) - London is an expensive city to live in. I still can’t help but laugh when I go back to Dublin and listen to people complain about the cost of renting there. I really want to stab them in the face.

kraggy wrote: »

Anyone here teaching in London?

My missus worked as a supply teacher for a bit and is considering full-time primary teaching as a career.

kraggy

djpbarry wrote: »

It really depends on the area. I’m south of the Thames, not too far from the centre of London (although the “centre” of London is pretty big and the absolute centre will vary in location depending on who you ask) and I live in a one-bed garden flat with the missus. Rent is just under £1,400 per month. Council tax is about £1,000 per year and bills (electricity, gas, TV, broadband, water) come to about £120 per month (but that will obviously vary from property to property) - London is an expensive city to live in. I still can’t help but laugh when I go back to Dublin and listen to people complain about the cost of renting there. I really want to stab them in the face.
My missus worked as a supply teacher for a bit and is considering full-time primary teaching as a career.

Bloody hell. 1400 pounds per MONTH?!

Is that the norm or can you get cheaper? Jaysus, there's not way I'd move somewhere if the norm was that much.

So you and your girlfriend pay 800 euro each on rent per month? Plus 70 euro each on bills. Plus 50 euro each on council tax.

So you pay the guts of 1000 euro per month each before food, drink etc.

Feck me.

Fysh

kraggy wrote: »

Bloody hell. 1400 pounds per MONTH?!

Is that the norm or can you get cheaper? Jaysus, there's not way I'd move somewhere if the norm was that much.

So you and your girlfriend pay 800 euro each on rent per month? Plus 70 euro each on bills. Plus 50 euro each on council tax.

So you pay the guts of 1000 euro per month each before food, drink etc.

Feck me.

It depends on where you choose to live, but if you want to be reliably within 30 mins or so of central London you'll be lucky to find anywhere half decent for much less. 1-room flats when we moved over 4 years ago in the Kilburn/Queens Park area were mostly starting at £1040 per month, and rents have been slowly but surely moving upwards since then. Somewhere like Camden which is also in that 30-mins-into-town band is generally more expensive than that because it's a trendy area.

It's definitely something to bear in mind when considering what your salaries will be. If you don't want to be commuting for an hour or more each way and you're working & living within Zones 1-4, £25kpa is your absolute minimum. (This is the figure I was given by one of the recruiters I spoke to shortly after moving, though another recruiter tried to convince me that £19kpa was a good offer and I should be grateful for it, which is another thing to bear in mind...) Don't be afraid to argue or haggle over rent, though, and if need be just walk away, especially if you're dealing with agents, because the majority of them are mercenary gits who will screw you as hard as they possibly can. For example: rent for a 1-bed apartment with a garden round our way should be somewhere between £250 and £400 per week, depending on the size and location, but according to upmystreet.co.uk some complete nutjob is asking for £850 per week for a large 1-bed with a garden a couple of streets away. "Chancers" doesn't begin to describe some landlords or agents in London.

djpbarry

kraggy wrote: »

Bloody hell. 1400 pounds per MONTH?!

Is that the norm or can you get cheaper? Jaysus, there's not way I'd move somewhere if the norm was that much.

It is something that a lot of people who move here are totally unaware of until they actually arrive and start looking for a place to live – I’ve encountered many an aghast individual when first confronted with the cost of housing in this city. While the cost falls pretty quickly as you move out of the centre, the cost of commuting to/from the centre increases pretty drastically as you move further out, so you need to balance these two variables.

You can find cheaper, but as Fysh says, there are a lot of variables. There’s definitely room for negotiation in almost all cases and the quality of accommodation on offer within a certain price bracket will vary considerably. You quickly appreciate why this is when you begin to deal with agents – they are complete shysters of the highest order. And complete morons too. I mean honestly, they are among the most incompetent group of people you will ever have the misfortune of dealing with.

Fysh wrote: »

For example: rent for a 1-bed apartment with a garden round our way should be somewhere between £250 and £400 per week, depending on the size and location, but according to upmystreet.co.uk some complete nutjob is asking for £850 per week for a large 1-bed with a garden a couple of streets away. "Chancers" doesn't begin to describe some landlords or agents in London.

Yeah, we saw a place down the road from us that was half the size of our current flat and minus a garden, yet the asking price was exactly the same.

who the fug

Just to back up what Fysh and Djpbarry are saying , for the third year in row we have increased the rents , and there has been no shortage of takers