The Last 5 Years

I arrived as a fresh faced youngster (ish!) in London in 2010 and found a room to rent in Maida Hill for £670 a month, all bills included. 

Granted it cost me 50% of my salary and didn't have any communal space other than the kitchen, which didn't stop me from trying to have film evenings - I just had balance a laptop on a chair,  turn up the volume louder than the sound of cooking and ignore any potential protests from my flatmates not taking part about not wanting to hear a Bollywood soundtrack whilst they were eating.

But it was a double room, in a lovely area, inhabited by an endless stream of unusual, friendly and fascinating flatmares from various EU countries and it was where I found my London feet.

5 years on and I'm curious to see what I would find in the area for £670 a month now.

So a quick check on SpareRoom shows me 23 listings as per this evening (28/3/15) for £670 a month.  Plenty of choice right?  Well all is not as it seems....

- Some are located in Queens Park  (will rule them out simply because I want to compare the same area, then and now)
 - One is a "room wanted" ad (Two Muslim sisters)
  - One is Monday to Friday let.  My 5 year younger self was often busy at the weekends exploring London but I still needed somewhere to return to and sleep.
- One ad looks like it might be a scam (£500 a month including bills for a room in a 3 story townhouse and a photo that looks like it's from a stock site)

Of the remaining there are 3 room shares:

1. £533 a month to share a room with "another lady" in a 6 bedroom flat, thought 3 of the 6 rooms are double occupancy. 

2. £511 a month "just for males" to share a "cozy" twin room.  That rules me out then.   Would be in the same flat as above.

3. £476 a month for a studio flat with 0 bedrooms! There's a mezzanine level for 1 tenant and then the main part of the flat for the other tenant to sleep.

And the rest are single occupancy rooms:

1. £600 a month to share a 5 bed flat near Warwick Avenue. 

2. £550 a month for a room in a 2 bed flat off Harrow Road, including bills. 

3. £585 + £100 a month bills (tips me over my budget limit)

4. £650 a month sharing a 3 bed flat with 2 flatmates and a family dog.  I've had canine housemates before but ruled out a family atmosphere when I moved to London as I was moving out of my Mum and Dad's place and was keen to have a bit of independence and not end up with someone else's Mum and Dad.

5. £650 flat + £30 bills, just creeping over my limit.

6. £650 a month for a room in a 3 bed flat, all bills included.  Bargain!

7. £650 a month + £60 bills + £200 agency fee for a contract that ends in 4 months time.  Doesn't sound like a bargain to me.

8. £650 in a shared flat in Westbourne Park.

9. £600 a month sharing with 3 others.

10. £620 for a rather small looking room in a 6 bed flat - would be a great way to meet a lot of people though.

11. Room for rent but Arab/Asian female or couple preferred.

12. £620 a month to share a 6 bedroom flat with 8 people.

So my conclusion is that there are still plenty of options out there for my younger self (though bills would push the price up).  But how many other youngsters would I be competing with?  No easy way to tell from a computer...

Rooms, Rogues and Renters

Interesting short documentary on BBC London yesterday about renting in the capital.

With elections looming you'd think that housing might be a bit more on MPs radars.  Until you learn thatup to 30% of MPs are landlords and are hardly going to to put any laws in place that might damage their main source of income.

Link to the show here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b05nv2zw