London Living
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Living in London Guide
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Finding Accomodation
There are loads of ways of seeking accomodation be it a whole flat or house rental, house share or property purchase.
A good place to start is NetLettings as they have an excellent price guide to the areas around London. Up My Street is a guide to all areas in the UK and can also help when choosing an area.
One of the cheapest ways of living in London is to share a house. In the more suburban areas of London you will find large properties with multiple rooms for let. The following sites are a good place to start to look for rooms and flats to rent:
Of course you should also check local press and corner shop windows which often have flats or rooms to rent advertised.
Costs of Living in London
When agreeing on rent - check for what is included. The following is a list of additional costs not always (and not often) included:
- Council Tax (reduced for single occupation/students etc) - Up to £100 per month (per household)
- Electicity, Water & Gas - All metered generally - some places have pay-as-you go electricity and fixed charges for water.
- Telephone
- TV Services (Cable (Virgin Media) / Sky / Tiscali TV - Genreally aroud £20 per month
- TV License - currently £139.50 per year per household
- Internet
- Maintenance Service Charges (Usually included if renting) - can be up to £100 per month
- Deposit (normally 1 months rent) - by law this now has to be protected and deposited with a third party even with private landlords - check that this is the case
- If you drive a car bare in mind that petrol prices (around £1.05/l) currently convert to over $6.52 per US gallon and that you will need to pay the Congestion Charge if entering Central London.
Of course there are the other non-accomodation related everyday costs!
- Tube/Rail/Bus - Costs vary from Zone to Zone. Check TFL for full details to compare prices depending on where you are travelling to and from. For most people this will probably be about £8.10 per day (unlimited travel in Z1, 2 &3). Or - if you just travel by bus & tram £3.30 per day for all areas.
- Food & Drink - various shops like Boots offer a lunch meal deal. Expect to pay around £5 for lunch.
- Entertainment - West End Cinema £8 - £15 (2-4-1 on Wednesday with Orange) - off WestEnd about £6 - £8
- Beer - expect around £3 to £4 per pint/bottle - Happy Hours and Specials can obviously help!
- Breakfast - Milk - about 60p per pint. Box of Cereal around £2 to £3.
- Shopping - check the main supermarket websites to get an idea of prices. Tesco, Sainsbury, Asda. Frozen Food Specialist Iceland and the European Budget Brands Lidl and Aldi
Money Saving Tips
A good place to start is Martin Lewis' Money Saving Expert site which has unbiased information on how to save money on everything.
If you need a car - try Street Car or Whizzgo which, once you register, allows you to rent cars by the hour and you pick them up from various streets/car parks in London.
See Also
- CS London Emergency Information
- London CS London Wiki Tourist Information
- CS London Wiki Living in London Guide and Tips - You are Here
- CS London Frequently Asked Questions
- CS London Newsletter
- CS London CS Group
- CS London Events Calendar
- WikiPedia London Guide
