r/MovingToLondon

For those living in London, what salary do you think you realistically need to live comfortably excluding rent/mortgage?

I’m thinking specifically about a married person with children and being able to give your family a genuinely comfortable lifestyle, rather than just covering the basics.

For example:

• Putting the kids in a decent nursery when needed
• Taking them to activities, classes, soft play, swimming, etc.
• Going on family days out regularly
• Buying them nice clothes, toys and things they enjoy
• Having a decent car and being able to afford the running costs
• Food and household shopping without constantly worrying about the cost
• Eating out/takeaways occasionally
• Going on holidays
• Paying for unexpected expenses without it causing stress
• Still having a decent amount left over to save every month

Obviously this is excluding rent/mortgage, as I’m more interested in the salary needed for the actual cost of living and giving your family a good quality of life.

Would you say £40k, £50k, £60k, £70k, £80k+?

What salary would make you feel like you can comfortably provide for your family in London without constantly having to watch every penny?

Hi everyone, me and my partner are looking to move out in the next month and get closer to central London. We’ve spoken about how we plan on spitting rent and living expenses, but I’m curious what other couples tend to do. This is our first time renting together and London is very pricey! But fortunately we are very lucky which what we make. I’m on £40k while he earns just over £110k, and we’ve decided to pay as a proportion of what we earn (so I would be about 35% and he would pay the rest). I’m curious how other couples split their rent and living expenses, does this seem like a good plan to tackle rent in London?

Hi everyone,

I’m thinking about moving to East London with my partner and would like some honest opinions on whether we’re being realistic or completely delusional.

We’re both 21 and currently live in Wales. Our combined take-home income would be around £60,000 a year after tax.

We’re looking at Tower Hamlets, particularly:

Shadwell
Stepney
Limehouse

We’d be looking for a 1-bedroom flat. We both work from home and work for marketing companies, so we don’t need to commute every day.

We already spend a lot of time in East London and come to London around 10 times a year because, honestly, we find there’s very little to do where we currently live. We really like East London and are considering moving rather than continuing to travel down so often.

We have around £40,000 in combined savings and would like to think we’re fairly good with money. We’d be happy spending around 55% of our combined take-home income on rent if it meant living somewhere we actually enjoy.

I’ve never rented before, so I’m not really sure how realistic this is from a landlord/letting-agent point of view, especially as we’re both only 21.

Does this sound realistic, or are we making a bad financial decision?

Would also be interested in hearing from anyone who lives in Shadwell, Stepney or Limehouse about what it’s actually like day-to-day.

I moved to London recently and found a nice 1 bed flat in Whitechapel for £1750, fully furnished. The letting agent told me that it was an ex-AirBnB, which is now being given on rent. Paid the security deposit and one month’s rent in advance.

Letting agent tells me property is not managed by them and is managed by another property management company. On Monday, I meet the letting agent to get and the keys, and the keys are nowhere to be found. Few phone calls later she figures out that the landlord has given the property for rent and not informed the property management agency.

I speak to both the letting agent and the property management company and both of them promise they will resolve the issue as soon as they can - property management also tells me to extend my hotel stay till they sort it out and that they will reimburse me.

It’s been more than 48 hours now and then letting agency says that they were hired to just rent the property and that I should deal with the property management company. Property management company does not answer any of their emails, but pick up my calls from time to time and say that they’re working on it.

I’m now running out of accommodation and don’t have money - anybody been in a similar situation before? What’s the best way forward?

So I found a flat near Finsbury Park, 5 mins away from the station, on Seven Sisters main road and it is exactly what I want. I went there twice for viewings during the day and it seems totally fine, maybe a bit run down but no different than Wapping or Dalston where I’ve spent lots of time as well. However, online I hear people saying the area is not safe.

I’m a tall guy and never had any problems in London but just want to get your thoughts. It seems very gentrified now, there’s a Gails, an M&S, a Gym box etc. The street itself seems busy but looks like local people just living there, very diverse and definitely quite a few people who may not be doing to well, but seemed no different than Dalston or Wapping.

The flat itself is 3rd floor and I couldn’t hear anything from outside, can’t even see the road as it has ceiling windows.

I love the connectivity, the value is great and tons of supermarkets and restaurants around. Just don’t wanna have to be scared to get mugged all the time! But it didn’t give me that impression

Hi everyone, how are you all doing?
I’m a 23 year old girl from Spain, and I’m turning 24 in a couple of months. One of my dreams is to take my English to a completely different level, ideally with a British accent or something similar. I absolutely love accents, and I’d really like to get rid of my Spanish accent when I speak English.
What can I do to achieve this? I’m doing all of this because I want to act in films, so I’d really appreciate any advice you might have.
I’ve been thinking about moving abroad, but I honestly don’t know where I should go. I’m completely willing to move somewhere if that’s what it takes. Do you think it’s too late for me?
I speak Spanish and Arabic fluently. My English still needs a lot of work, obviously. I’ve been learning it at school my whole life, I always watch movies and TV shows in English, I consume a lot of English content, etc., but I feel like it’s still not enough.
I feel like I’m already behind and that I should have started much earlier.
Thank you so much for reading, and I hope I’m not bothering anyone!