London Living Costs

[Saint]

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.

of course I dont live in London, it's not economical vaiable for me to and is not for the average earning city worker to live in the Carary Whary area, let alone someone coming from Singapore

[Plavt]

We have read your posts, it is you who insists on being misinformed. I live on my own in a council flat and recieve a 25% discount on the community charge. He will have to pay full whack which will be added to the rent per person plus tax and utiilites. Sorry mate but you are dreaming.

Plavt.

[Mannish Boy]

Guys, Guys,

Peace and Love. No arguments please, its the New Year!

Thanks Saint, Plavt and Ringo for the information. I guess I will need to be prepared to pay between 600 to 800 Pounds for a shared flat.

I will be looking for a place within easy commuting distance (less than 30 minutes by train) to Canary Wharf but also relatively reasonable in montly cost of rent (if any). I do want to experience of living life in London so dont really want to live in the sticks.

Thanks

[Saint]

Just want to make sure you get the true picture and don't end up with some nasty surprises

You also need to factor in monthly travel cost which between 85 quid (Zones 1-2) and 100 quid (Zones 1-3)

[ringo100]

I am not misinformed. No one informed me of rents in London. Like I said my quotes came from living in shared accommodation in London for years. As I asked before, have either of you actually lived in a shared accommodation in London. Just curious because you seem to be so sure of your facts.

To the poster have a great time in London and you'll find you will be able to survive very well in London on the salary you mentioned. But do not pay 800 or you’ll have miserable time with no money. You'll easily find somewhere for about 400-600.

[Plavt]

I am not misinformed. No one informed me of rents in London. Like I said my quotes came from living in shared accommodation in London for years. As I asked before, have either of you actually lived in a shared accommodation in London. Just curious because you seem to be so sure of your facts.

To the poster have a great time in London and you'll find you will be able to survive very well in London on the salary you mentioned. But do not pay 800 or you’ll have miserable time with no money. You'll easily find somewhere for about 400-600.

[img]

Carry on dreaming if you must, the flat next door to me is privately rented and will cost the figures that Saint and I quoted. I have lived in privately rented accommodation and was recently considering moving into private accommodation in order to get away from where I live so I am well aware of what the rents are. Bye the way the flat next door to mine is standard ex-council stock from the 1960's so something up market will cost more. I looked at the link you quoted and all that did was confirm what we had been saying. I don't know how long ago you lived here but prices increase rapidly, the value of a friend’s house doubled in the space of one year!

Plavt.[/img]

[ringo100]

Do you not understand what the guy was asking for? HE DID NOT ASK ABOUT RENTING A FLAT. HE WANTED A FLAT SHARE.

So you are saying the flat next door to you is being rented for 1,600 a month.

I lived in London a year ago and a number of my friends do now. The property market in the southeast has been static over the past year and is certainly not anywhere near the 100%. The rental market is about the same.

The point is, yes a flat does cost 800-1,000 and that is why a FLATSHARE costs about 400. A house is even better. A question, how do the thousands of students survive in rent accomodation when they have to pay 800 a month in rent.

[Plavt]

Do either of you read the post?

Do you? Obviously not.

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.

Well done by your own calculations you have arrived at the same figures quoted by Saint and I: try adding transport costs, food and the cost of other necessites - not far off £800. BTW- who wants to live in East London the place is a s***hole and the west part of London will cost more.

Note: The flat next door to me is one-bedroomed.

Plavt.

[woodsdevil]

Hi everybody,

Enough of the bickering. I hope I can help clarify your queries, Mannishboy. I am a Singaporean who has been living here in UK for 8 years now. My husband is working in Canary Wharf and rents a flat there while I live here in Suffolk. You were asking about rent. It depends where you wanna live. As you said you wanted to live in Canary Wharf? Are you working there? My husband lives up in Stratford and commute time is 20 minutes door to to door and he pays £15 (5 day commute). He lives in a one bedroom flat for £800 (include council tax and yes 25% discount for single person) which is a great deal. It is not in a shity area. Yes East London is well known for that, but since winning the Olympic bid, the area is enjoying a mass of regeneration money and is looking way better. Of course there are some areas that are still not as nice. Anyway so if you are look for a flat share, you can get a decent one for around the same price I guess but you know you will pay around there if you don't mind a slight commute in any directions and if you want to be smack in Canary Wharf, you can pay an arm and a leg for the location.

Food costs, it is defintely more costly in UK. Beer here is even cheaper than food, coz of the culture. You can easily spend £50 a week on food and other necessities, esp for a lone single man grocery shopping. Unlike woman , we look for deals, man just grab what they need on their shopping trip.

Entertainment is dearer too, cinema ticket costs £10 or more in London. I agree with the previous posters in leaving outwith of London, but as we know, the transport is crap there, if you can live with the daily grind of commuting, you can save abit to leave outwith of London. My husband and I tried that for 2 years living in Hertfordshire but we have since quit that lifestyle.

Taxi is ridiculously expensive. Stick to public transport (tube/DLR), either travelcard(if you buy annually, it's way cheaper) or just stick to the oyster card (it's like Transit Link card we have) which costs £1.50 per trip, if you buy a single ticket without oyster, it is £3 per trip. So the oyster card is good for just minimum daily travel.

Anyway, I am getting longwinded. If Mannishboy you need any help or have questions, feel free to PM me and I will be glad to help, as I work from home and having lived here for that many years, I know a little / or enough to help. It's just good to be able to help a fellow singaporean!!!

Cheers,

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.

[Plavt]

Thank you woodsdevil, you have confirmed what Saint and I were saying.
You are only too right about the taxi's but an extra burden here as you no doubt notice is they get stuck in traffic all the time thereby pushing up the fare considerably. That's one thing I like in Singapore - affordable cabs and a good freeway to the airport.

Once again thanks for your contribution.

Plavt.

[Saint]

A great post Woodsdevils with a certain woman's touch to it with first hand experience.

Agree with the daily grind of commuting into London (I work in the City) is not everyones cup of tea, but I've been doing it off and on for 17 years now so I quite immune it to

[woodsdevil]

Thanks Saint,

I thought I should butt in, coz like you said I have first hand experience. My husband just couldn't cope with the commute that is why we have now resorted to living apart during the week. Luckily we earn enough to have a nice country house and he have a flat near Canary Wharf.

I am just amazed that you can get immune to it. I used to have to drive 1 1/2 hours into North London for work.

Just thought I could help that's all!!! Plus I know all the numbers involved with life in London, coz I am in charge of the purse strings!!!!!

Cheers,

A great post Woodsdevils with a certain woman's touch to it with first hand experience.

Agree with the daily grind of commuting into London (I work in the City) is not everyones cup of tea, but I've been doing it off and on for 17 years now so I quite immune it to

[Saint]

Just thought I could help that's all!!! Plus I know all the numbers involved with life in London, coz I am in charge of the purse strings!!!!!

Spoken as a true Singaporean lady

The wife (Who's also Singaporean) has quite managed that yet otherwise I'd have a house full of even more shoes and handbags

[Plavt]

Not a problem I suffer from-still single or maybe women just can't stand me.

Plavt.

[ringo100]

I totally agree with what you posted, as you can find a flat share for 800 (you can also find a flat share for 2,000) and to rent a whole flat will also costs about 800.

However, you can equally find a good flat share for 400, which was what I posted at the beginning and everyone seemed to disagree with.

Please try www.moveflat.com just one of hundreds of flat share sites.

Today I had a quick search and found (within 5 minutes):

26 flat share adverts in the range 200 – 300
135 flat share adverts in the range 300 – 400
218 flat share adverts in the range 400 – 500
145 flat share adverts in the range 500 – 600
129 flat share adverts in the range 600+

They don’t even have a category for flat shares at 800+ because they are so rare.

It is a great website you can choose the number of flat mates, location, tube line etc.

And they are not all shit holes.