Moving to London | Housing

Hi!

I'm so excited to announce a couple of my friends just moved to London, and a couple more are on their way in the 'Autumn' (no one calls it 'fall' here).

We gave all our soon-to-be ex-pats pals some tips and advice on housing, and how to find a nice, yet affordable, spot to live. I thought I would compile all the information in one place for easy reference - especially as I start convincing more and more of you lovely people to make the hop over here to live!

Without further ado, here are a bunch of random thoughts, hopefully some helpful, that are meant to assist anyone looking for housing (in this scenario a 'flat') in London.

(I am by no means an expert, I urge you to take what you like, drop what you don't, and make your move all about you and what you need)

When choosing a neighbourhood 

*This is really subjective, of course, and what I like may not appeal to other people, and vice versa*

I'm living in Clapham Junction, which is in the Southwest and Zone 2. I'm biased and absolutely love my neighbourhood. There are 3 giant parks (or "commons" as they're called here), all within a 20 minute walk from my flat. We're a 5 minute walk to an overground station, and I highly recommend finding a place near a tube or overground/railway station. Buses are plentiful and many run 24/7 (because tubes and trains don't), but having to use buses exclusively might slow you down quite a bit due to traffic. 

Other really great neighbourhoods in the Southwest are Battersea and Vauxhall, both closer to the water and still affordable while having beautiful spaces. Peckham and Southwark are closer to South Bank and have lots going on. Many cool bars in Peckham, and Southwark is a bit more low key but really close to Borough Market, Tower Bridge, South Bank, etc. 

Whitechapel and Shoreditch are in the East End and have some cool flats. A friend of mine lives in a  converted church in Whitechapel and it's very decently priced. Shoreditch is more gentrified, Whitechapel is more edgy. I haven't been to any flats in the following, but friends tell me they are very cool/nice places: Bethnal Green, Fulham, Marylebone, Camden Town, Hackney. 

The low down on low-life agencies

A lot of flat hunting is done with agents, which makes life a lot easier. But beware all the agency fees! We had to pay somewhere to the tune of £300 each - almost £700 for the two of us (this included reference checks, inventory checklist, contract writing fee, and one or two other things I've forgotten about). And that was in addition to our first month's rent, and six week deposit. Standard deposit is 6 weeks, and prices are usually advertised by their weekly price.

Apps to make hunting easier

We also found 2 really great phone apps for rentals (or 'lettings) - spareroom and move bubble. Check those out and they'll give you a good sense of locations, cost, etc. A lot of listings are still managed by agencies, though, so it's useful to ask agents what the fee structure looks like.

TFL (Transportation for London, the city's transit organisation)

I think getting used to the TFL transit zones was most important when flat hunting. London is divided into something like 9 zones, based on proximity to city centre (not downtown! I keep calling the city centre "downtown" and get saucy eye rolls from Londoners). Rent is more affordable the further you get, but your monthly travel card cost goes up accordingly. My month pass for zone 2-zone 1 travel is around £125 and I think it's an extra £100 for zone 3-zone 1.