London Living Costs

[Mannish Boy]

Hi,

Before anyone blasts me, I have already done a search for this topic in this website and the information is a few years back.

Ok, so here I go.

Im moving to London in June this year and I wanted to know what is the average living costs for a single person. Of course, I know it really depends on the individual but if you can kindly help out with the cost of the points below.

- Share Flat (near or short commuting distance to Canary Wharf.
- Electricity/Gas/Water Bills
- Food Costs (grocery and takeaway)
- Entertainment (beer, entrance fee to a club, etc)
- Taxi
- Any other information you can provide

I need this information as Im currently negotiating my salary with my employers. I will be working for an international bank as an IT Business Analyst. I did some research on this and apparently for this job, it pays 38,000.00 to 45,000.00 Pounds depending on the experience, is this correct?

I know some of this information can be obtained from the net but I'd like to people actual personal experience.

Thanks.

[singapore_xp]

Try to negotiate above the 40,000pounds barrier. You'll be fine on that salary... if you don't party too much, you should still have some money left over for a few RyanAir trips across Europe on weekends.

As for rent... it really really depends on how big/nice you want your apartment to be. There are plenty of cheap* places around Canary Wharf. You should probably budget up to about 700 pounds per month if you want a furnished share apartment.

For food costs... it's expensive! A reasonably cheap dinner will set you back between 6 and 8 pounds. Supermarket shopping isn't much better.

So, like I said, 40,000 should get you by.. you won't be living in luxury, but you'll definitely be earning enough to have fun and save a small amount of money.

* Cheap for London standards.

[Mannish Boy]

singapore_xp,

Thanks for the information. Greatly appreciated.

[Plavt]

Hi,

Before anyone blasts me, I have already done a search for this topic in this website and the information is a few years back.

Ok, so here I go.

Im moving to London in June this year and I wanted to know what is the average living costs for a single person. Of course, I know it really depends on the individual but if you can kindly help out with the cost of the points below.

- Share Flat (near or short commuting distance to Canary Wharf.
- Electricity/Gas/Water Bills
- Food Costs (grocery and takeaway)
- Entertainment (beer, entrance fee to a club, etc)
- Taxi
- Any other information you can provide

I need this information as Im currently negotiating my salary with my employers. I will be working for an international bank as an IT Business Analyst. I did some research on this and apparently for this job, it pays 38,000.00 to 45,000.00 Pounds depending on the experience, is this correct?

I know some of this information can be obtained from the net but I'd like to people actual personal experience.

Thanks.

The news for the above I am afraid is rather grim; private flats in the suburbs are around £800 per calendar month. Canary Wharf will be much more as that is where a good many 'yuppies' live.

Electricity/Gas: best bet if possible is to have a budget account whereupon you pay a fixed monthly fee then you can run it at your leisure.

Food Costs: can be a little hard to say, you will definitely pay more in the central London areas as rents/rates are higher but then of course you can still find supermarkets e.g. Tesco, Sainsbury's, Asda, Iceland - probably around £50 per week including items such as dishcloths, shaving cream, soap etc.

Entertainment: depends what and where, again Central London is more expensive than anywhere else but you may become a member of a club or go to simple meeting within a pub.

Taxi: where possible - forget it the fares compared with Singapore are astronomical from Heathrow to Central London is around £60 -£70 to where I live in the suburbs the best part of £100! Best to use the Heathrow express to Paddington and then use public transport if you can.

Whether you will actually get that figure for the job you are looking at I do not know, by advice is be cautious companies here sometimes advertise a figure much higher that you will ultimately get.


Hope this helps.

Plavt.

[Saint]

My advice is, don't live in London

I work in London (The City) but live out in Hampshire and takes me about an hour and 10 mins to get to work door to door. Ok the travel costs are higher (Not sure what a yearly tube ticket is, Plavt best person to ask ) but you might end up spending the same amount of time travelling on the tube ever day!

The advantages of living outside of London is that housing is far far cheaper, as well as food, drink and entertainment in general. But the biggest advantage for me and Mrs S (A Singaporean) is that it's so much quieter and relaxing We are only a 2 minute drive from open countryside (and loads of golf courses 8) )

I personally have no desire to live in London, but then that just me

[ringo100]

On 40k as a single in London is fine and much more than average.

A flat share will be about 500-600. Drinking is much cheaper than here and I there is so much more choice.

I would definitely live in London if you are going for year or two. There is no point going all that way and missing the lifestyle and sight seeing opportunities.

By the time you factor in travel costs it is cheaper and less time consuming to flat share in London.

The worst thing is the tax and NI.

[Plavt]

A flat share will be about 500-600.
The worst thing is the tax and NI.

£800 upwards I think you will find is more accurate these days for something decent and that tends to be repeated throughout the country.
obscene I know but what can you do?


Plavt.

[Mannish Boy]

Thanks for the advise guys! Greatly appreciated.

[ringo100]

No way, he just wants a flat share not a studio. A three/four house 1,500-2,500 per month about 500-600 per person. Go to www.rightmove.co.uk for loads of choices. You just need to select a post code.

I rent out my whole flat in the commuter belt for 550 a month.

[Saint]

No way, he just wants a flat share not a studio. A three/four house 1,500-2,500 per month about 500-600 per person. Go to www.rightmove.co.uk for loads of choices. You just need to select a post code.

I rent out my whole flat in the commuter belt for 550 a month.

http://www.moveflat.com/My/Canary_Wharf/

650 + @100 tax + at least 50 bill = 800

Rightmove is ok if you already know another 3 people which I don't think is an option for Mannish

[ringo100]

He wants to know the cost of a 1) flat share 2) cost of electricity/bills

For point (1) 500-600 rent easy.
(2) 70 tops

In the paper/websites it is easy to find a group looking for house share. Rightmove will help him get an idea of the state of the rental market and what you can get for your money.

[Plavt]

I have just had a look at the website you mentioned and about the only flats in that price range have only bedroom and as Saint mentioned there is the additional prices on top. It is highly unlikely you would find a flat with an overall price of 500-600 for 3-4 people. Certainly not in London unless it was one would call a real dump. Do show me if you have found a flat that matches the criteria he wants, I would be very suprised and interested.

Plavt.

[Plavt]

Just had a look at the following link;

http://uk...com/content/have ... N=73905873

Rents around 500-600 but that's exclusive of additional prices as mentioned by the other poster above so the eventual price will be around £800 per month.

If I remember rightly foreigners too pay the community charge (poll tax) and that adds a considerable amount.

Plavt.

[Saint]

If I remember rightly foreigners too pay the community charge (poll tax) and that adds a considerable amount.

Plavt.

Community charge tax is based at property level so doesn't matter if local or foreign, you haved to pay it I'm afraid

Agree with Plavt, you wont get any change out of 800 quid all in, could be more in the Canary Wharf area

[ringo100]

Do either of you read the post? The guy wants to FLAT SHARE. There are hundreds of 3-4 bed flats/houses in East London for 1,500 and 2,500. So what generally happens is a group rents a house and splits bills. Elect + council tax will be about 300 per month for 3-4 bed house.

So to answer the guys question he can pay easier rent in a FLATSHARE for about 500-600 (nice place) (300-400 for crap place) per month with addition bills of 70-100 per month.


I really don't know why you are disagreeing with my budget. Out of interest do either of you guys house share in London? I did for 3-4 years prior to coming to Singapore (1 year ago) and all my friends do now.

And who wants to live in Canary Warf anyway there are so many close places (in London) that have more character.