Moving To/Living In London Megathread - ALL QUESTIONS TO GO HERE

Fukuyama

Spareroom.co.uk > Gumtree

BrokenArrows

brónaim cád?? wrote: »

I'd say no more than £130 a week. I was looking on spare room and there seems to be a good few around this price including council tax and bills.

One thing to be aware of is that not every landlord to advertises a weekly rate is 130 x 4 weeks. Some calculate it as a bit more due to there being more than 4 weeks in most months.

130 x 4 = 520
130 x 4.5 = 585 etc.

Also something ive just realised myself is that if you plan on having a car or motorbike in london it will be worth checking insurance quotes for the address you plan on renting before accepting the room.

Ive just moved from Windsor to Ealing and my motorbike insurance has over doubled to the equilevant of an extra £30 a month. So make sure you take that into account.

djpbarry

BrokenArrows wrote: »

One thing to be aware of is that not every landlord to advertises a weekly rate is 130 x 4 weeks. Some calculate it as a bit more due to there being more than 4 weeks in most months.

130 x 4 = 520
130 x 4.5 = 585 etc.

If weekly rent is £130, then monthly rent is exactly:

£130 x 52 / 12 = £563.33

This is regardless of your landlord - it's mathematically impossible for it to be any other amount.

I am genuinely amazed that people see this as an issue.

Fukuyama

Am I missing something here?

A zone 2 area with rents similar to Zone 3 or 4.

I'm finding single rooms (and even doubles) for around £125 a week. Couple that with savings in transport due to being so close to the city and you're on to a winner.

Anyone live here? Whats it like?

FTA69

What area lad?

Fukuyama

FTA69 wrote: »

What area lad?

Bethnal Green

Seems cheap for so close to the city....

Eg.

http://www.gumtree.com/p/flats-houses/2-doubles-5-mints-bethnal-greenwhitechapelshoreditchbrick-lanetescosainsburyshoxtonzone-12/1017289314

or

http://www.spareroom.co.uk/flatshare/flatshare_detail.pl?flatshare_id=2747420&search_id=125904286&city_id=&flatshare_type=offered&search_results=%2Fflatshare%2F%3Fsearch_id%3D125904286%26&

or

http://www.spareroom.co.uk/flatshare/flatshare_detail.pl?flatshare_id=2745311&search_id=125904411&city_id=&flatshare_type=offered&search_results=%2Fflatshare%2F%3Fsearch_id%3D125904411%26mode%3Dlist&

or

http://www.spareroom.co.uk/flatshare/flatshare_detail.pl?flatshare_id=2746262&search_id=125904411&city_id=&flatshare_type=offered&search_results=%2Fflatshare%2F%3Fsearch_id%3D125904411%26mode%3Dlist&

FTA69

Great spot, you'll be living just around the corner from where I work. You'll have Brick Lane, Hoxton and Shoreditch on your doorstep which are all great spots for a horrific drinking binge. I also go down to Bethnal Green for the boxing, York Hall there is the main London venue for the sport. You'll have a ball lad.

Any idea for work?

djpbarry

Dean0088 wrote: »

Am I missing something here?

A zone 2 area with rents similar to Zone 3 or 4.

I'm finding single rooms (and even doubles) for around £125 a week. Couple that with savings in transport due to being so close to the city and you're on to a winner.

Anyone live here? Whats it like?

I think you really need to know where you're going to be working before you start considering where you're going to live.

BrokenArrows

djpbarry wrote: »

If weekly rent is £130, then monthly rent is exactly:

£130 x 52 / 12 = £563.33

This is regardless of your landlord - it's mathematically impossible for it to be any other amount.

I am genuinely amazed that people see this as an issue.

I've responded to advertisments where the rent was advertised weekly but the landlord wanted the "weekly" amout x 4 paid per month.

So it is an issue.

Fysh

BrokenArrows wrote: »

I've responded to advertisments where the rent was advertised weekly but the landlord wanted the "weekly" amout x 4 paid per month.

So it is an issue.

In that case, you're doing well out of the deal

If you walk into any given viewing assuming that monthly rent = 52/12* weekly rent, you know you won't get any nasty surprises.

I continue to see no difficulty involved in understanding that, in a 52-week year containing 12 months, a payment model assuming 48 weeks in the year generally won't be relevant.

SK101

Hi everyone,

I have been offered a job teaching in a school in Alperton.

Can anyone suggest a nice place to live? I do not have a problem commuting and I would be looking at a room share.

djpbarry

BrokenArrows wrote: »

I've responded to advertisments where the rent was advertised weekly but the landlord wanted the "weekly" amout x 4 paid per month.

So it is an issue.

Well, I would honestly have grave reservations about entering a contract with someone who had such a poor grasp of basic arithmetic.

djpbarry

djpbarry wrote: »

Well, I would honestly have grave reservations about entering a contract with someone who had such a poor grasp of basic arithmetic.

You're coming across as really patronising.

I tried to point out, numerous times, that plenty of people do work it out like that. It has nothing to do with 'basic arithmetic'. A lot of landlords just come up with the monthly price to ask for, divide it by 4 and hey presto, that's the weekly rent. When the rent is being paid monthly, that is a perfectly logical way to do it. That's how I've seen it done on plenty of Gumtree ads - they give a weekly rate in the ad title because that's (I think) what Gumtree ask for, but then the monthly rate given in the ad is just weekly rent x 4.

Clearly a lot of people, including myself, find the 'London rent' thing strange. That's not how it's done in most places. I've rented all over the world and I've never seen rent worked out like that before. I've helped plenty of perfectly intelligent people from overseas to find places in London and they were all equally baffled by this way of doing things.

I'm amazed that you don't see that working out how much you want to charge per month, then dividing it by 4 is perfectly fine. BrokenArrows' landlord isn't screwing himself over. He knows how much he wants on a monthly/yearly basis. It doesn't indicate 'a poor grasp of basic arithmetic' at all (how condescending is that?). It's just another, perfectly normal, perfectly common way of doing things. Whether his thinking is 'OK, I want £7280 a year in rent, so weekly that's £140 a week - the tenant will multiply that by 52 and divide by 12 for the monthly rent' or 'I need £606.60 a month, so I'll tell the tenant that the weekly rent is £152', the outcome is the same. His rental income is the same. I don't know what else I can say. Both ways are fairly common in London, in my experience, which is precisely why I warned people to check which way their rent is worked out and not just to assume is weekly rent x 4, like it is just about everywhere else. I have no idea why anyone would assume that a landlord doing weekly x 4 is some sort of bumbling idiot who doesn't know how many weeks there are in a year.

I think some people have been in London too long.

Jack B. Badd

Ok guys, time to move on from the seemingly-never-ending discussion about how landlords calculate rent. Moral of the story: check with your prospective landlord about both weekly and monthly amounts to cover all bases. End of.

Thanks,
Jack

spacelucy

I'm only new to London myself, but I've gone through Alperton a few times as I've used the Piccadilly line a lot. Ealing is very close and convenient and very nice? Or somewhere further along the line like Hammersmith is great - loads going on and lots of accommodation available. Both are easy commutes to Alperton.

JesC13

bluedolphin wrote: »

As someone living in a flat just off Rye Lane in Peckham since September, I'd like to point out a few things:

1. It's not that bad. Really.

2. Rents are a lot cheaper around here and you get a lot more for your pound than other areas because most people reject the area based on its reputation. But for the price you pay here, from Peckham Rye station it's only ten mins to London Bridge, 15 to Victoria and Mon-Friday there are also direct connections to Thameslink/Farringdon/King's X/Kentish Town in 30 mins, which is a pretty good deal for London. What's more, my monthly train travel card costs £55...versus...what for a TFL ticket!? Trains can get you pretty much anywhere and the odd time (e.g. at night) I take a bus. Bus connections are pretty good around here too. Not being on the Tube isn't necessarily a bad thing...just sayin'!

Being from Limerick, I understand the stigma that a lot of people associate with certain areas. And for both Peckham and Limerick, as long as you keep your wits about you, don't get caught up with local gangs and drugs, it's as safe as anywhere else. In fact, because of its name, you don't get lured into a sense of false security like you could do elsewhere in a "nice" area.

Don't rule out living in Peckham just because; if you see a good deal, have a look, and use your common sense to judge whether you feel safe or not.

Oh, and I'm female as well and living with one other female who, incidentally, has lived in Peckham for 18months now. And somehow survived. :rolleyes:

Not sure if this thread is still on?
I'm a female from limerick wanting to move to london aswell not sure where to go about flat hunting?
Lived in hackney for couple months with uncle last yr but want to go back on my own so any advice would really help?

JesC13

hi,

i want to move too.. but not going until after Christmas. I'll be looking for flat or sharing i'm not sure where to go but want to go islingtion, holloway or hackney but rents are very expensive.

i lived in hackney last summer for couple months and loved it ragin i came home, So wanna try and go back but trying to find accomdation and don't know where to start

Thanks jes

brónaim cád??

Why did u come home?

JesC13

Was working and living in pub, the Manager was leaven and new one taking over so i had no where to stay so had come home den

Jimbobjoeyman

Hi,
i've been offered a full time summer job in london on the west end.
Where in your opinions would the best place to live be ?
taking rent and distance into consideration.
This will be my first time living in London so all help is appreciated.

And what do I have to sort out in regards to legallities ?
I know I need to get my hands on a NI number once I get over there,
Butwhat else has to be done by me tax-wise ?
Any one else here in the same boat looking to move over for the summer, possibly looking to share a place

Nika Bolokov

To live, maybe look at mile end if you are on a budget.

Nothing to do bar get a NI number. Your employer will look after the rest. No other legalities to worry about.

Finding a place can be very tough though, especially as you only need it for 3 months.

Jimbobjoeyman

Nika Bolokov wrote: »

To live, maybe look at mile end if you are on a budget.

Nothing to do bar get a NI number. Your employer will look after the rest. No other legalities to worry about.

Finding a place can be very tough though, especially as you only need it for 3 months.

Whats the area like ?
Any other reccomendations ?
If im moving over it will be next week.
Very short notice kind of thing

Jimbobjoeyman

Looking at a place called chalk farm.
Whats the area like and what would the commute to the west end be like

Lapin

Chalk Farm is a good spot but it can be a pricey area to live.

Its located at the top end of Camden Town, within walking distance of Regent's Park and Primrose Hill and less than 15 minutes by tube from Leicester Square in the heart of the West End.

Renting in nearby Kentish Town will probably be cheaper.

Lump

Yea, if it's actually Chalk Farm, you'll find it pricey, if you're looking at somewhere cheap in Chalkfarm, it's probably not going to be a great flat. Lovely area to live in though.

Nika Bolokov

Jimbobjoeyman wrote: »

Whats the area like ?
Any other reccomendations ?
If im moving over it will be next week.
Very short notice kind of thing

Cheap and not too far from the centre of things by tube.

That's about it really.

Strawberry Fields

I'm hoping to go over staying in Brixton for 1 to 2 weeks on a spare.
Hoping to line up interviews for the week I'm there but I'm penniless.
Can this be done with only a couple of hundred quid?
Told a reasonable prospect by recruiter if I get there. Also willing to do bar work for funds while looking.
It's seed money that's worrying me, on dole here.
Any advice appreciated.

enda1

Strawberry Fields wrote: »

I'm hoping to go over staying in Brixton for 1 to 2 weeks on a spare.
Hoping to line up interviews for the week I'm there but I'm penniless.
Can this be done with only a couple of hundred quid?
Told a reasonable prospect by recruiter if I get there. Also willing to do bar work for funds while looking.
It's seed money that's worrying me, on dole here.
Any advice appreciated.

If possible then get a one way sail-rail ticket so you can bring a bike. Having free transport will make your money stretch a lot. Brixton is a good place to be cased for cyclable access to London and has very cheap food. You can buy provisions in the markets and shops there or else dirt cheap fried chicken and the like.

You should be able to pick up a job in for example a Pret a Manger easily enough or else the countless bars in Brixton, then hopefully you can get into a real job in your area, whatever that is. The issue could be when you're looking to rent somewhere and get a deposit, hopefully you can get some cash quick from work cause that could be a difficulty.

Strawberry Fields

Cheers is it likely to be cash in hand as obviously that's my main concern.
I've heard of the streets lined with chicken bones.:D

djpbarry

Strawberry Fields wrote: »

Cheers is it likely to be cash in hand as obviously that's my main concern.

Is what likely to be cash in hand? Bar/cafe work? Very unlikely.