Renting a Flat - What %age of Salary?

[Fuzzy Wuzzy]

Simple question really, first time renting a flat for myself, wife and baby.

How much should I be looking to spend of my salary (percentage wise)?

Obviously other factors will affect this, but as a general rule, what percentage should I put aside for rent each month.

Appreciate any answers relevant to the question.

Cheers,

Fuzzy Wuzzy.

[215cu]

Historically, it's been around the 20% mark and under.

Realisticially, you should look at 25-35%.

[Simond001]

Doesnt it depend on what you can afford, and what you want to spend and what flats are to rent in your area.

ffs

Edited by Simond001 on Tuesday 5th August 15:53

[The_Burg]

215cu said:

Historically, it's been around the 20% mark and under.

Realisticially, you should look at 25-35%.

More like 40-50% in most areas i would think.

[oyster]

215cu said:

Historically, it's been around the 20% mark and under.

Realisticially, you should look at 25-35%.

20% is way out of date.
In just an average suburb of London a 2 bed flat will cost £1K a month, so by that logic you'd need to take home £5K a month which is nearly a £100K salary.

[missliv]

Fuzzy Wuzzy said:

Simple question really, first time renting a flat for myself, wife and baby.

How much should I be looking to spend of my salary (percentage wise)?

Obviously other factors will affect this, but as a general rule, what percentage should I put aside for rent each month.

Appreciate any answers relevant to the question.

Cheers,

Fuzzy Wuzzy.

The rent on my house is 36% of my annual pre-tax salary but I sublet a room in it to someone else which brings it down a fair bit.

[HundredthIdiot]

20-30% of net monthly income.

London prices would appear to be coming down. A lot.

http://www.rentright.co.uk/london/london/00_rrpi.a...

eta: those data may be bks. Apparently you can now rent in Richmond-upon-Thames for free.

Edited by HundredthIdiot on Tuesday 5th August 15:56

[Stuismyname]

The_Burg said:

215cu said:

Historically, it's been around the 20% mark and under.

Realisticially, you should look at 25-35%.

More like 40-50% in most areas i would think.

Are we talking gross or net? Certainly it's probably 25-50% of net in zone 1-2 london, depending on income and indeed, the flat.

Pretty subjective question though - my preference is to try and keep it as far under a third as possible, in order to save money for a deposit on a house

[Neil_H]

oyster said:

215cu said:

Historically, it's been around the 20% mark and under.

Realisticially, you should look at 25-35%.

20% is way out of date.
In just an average suburb of London a 2 bed flat will cost £1K a month, so by that logic you'd need to take home £5K a month which is nearly a £100K salary.

Why would you rent a 2 bed flat if you were alone? In that case I'd share and pay £500 each which I'd consider a normal/ low amount to pay for London for a single person sharing.

ETA: I just noticed it's a wife and baby as well - in which case I wouldn't be renting a flat. Your poor neighbours....

Personally I wouldn't look at it as a percentage, I'd look at what I can get for my money and pay as little as possible, while saving for a house deposit. Some of the younger lads I work with are happy paying a grand or more a month, which I think is a collossal waste of money, but they want to live in trendy, impressive-sounding areas to impress people....

Edited by Neil_H on Tuesday 5th August 16:37

[Busamav]

Simond001 said:

Doesnt it depend on what you can afford, and what you want to spend and what flats are to rent in your area.

ffs

snap

[1066]

What a ridiculous question! ffs, questions like this really annoy me.

[HundredthIdiot]

Neil_H said:

Some of the younger lads I work with are happy paying a grand or more a month, which I think is a collossal waste of money, but they want to live in trendy, impressive-sounding areas to impress people....

Hmmm. When I worked in London a handful of years ago, I was spending £1750 a month on rent for a 2 bed house (Richmond).

I figured that I'd never be able to afford to buy family home there, so I may as well enjoy it whilst I was young.

When I decided to buy a house, I used my credit cards for the deposit

Them were the days...

[Maxf]

How much do you want to spend? If this amount gets you a bedsit in stab alley then up the % until you find somewhere you a) want to live or b) you can only just afford.

[spitfire-ian]

As others have said, it is all down to what you can afford and where you want to live.

[walm]

1066 said:

What a ridiculous question! ffs, questions like this really annoy me.

I am not sure why this question annoys as it seems fairly legit to me.

I have always gone with a one-third of net income rule and generally ended up paying a little more to start with. Then as my salary rises more than rent over say 2 years it evened out.

So for example on £1,500 take home pay, I would try to spend £500 on rent. If you have £5k to play with each month, spend £1,650 and then you could have a room for the baby as well, not just the shared hallway with the noisy antipodeans living 4 to a room upstairs.*

*If you want to live in London.

[okgo]

I spend 40% on my half of a 3 bed house in a London borough

[Neil_H]

HundredthIdiot said:

Neil_H said:

Some of the younger lads I work with are happy paying a grand or more a month, which I think is a collossal waste of money, but they want to live in trendy, impressive-sounding areas to impress people....

Hmmm. When I worked in London a handful of years ago, I was spending £1750 a month on rent for a 2 bed house (Richmond).

I figured that I'd never be able to afford to buy family home there, so I may as well enjoy it whilst I was young.

When I decided to buy a house, I used my credit cards for the deposit

Them were the days...

You sir are quite, quite mad.

£21k a year in rent - makes my eyes water.

[okgo]

Neil_H said:

HundredthIdiot said:

Neil_H said:

Some of the younger lads I work with are happy paying a grand or more a month, which I think is a collossal waste of money, but they want to live in trendy, impressive-sounding areas to impress people....

Hmmm. When I worked in London a handful of years ago, I was spending £1750 a month on rent for a 2 bed house (Richmond).

I figured that I'd never be able to afford to buy family home there, so I may as well enjoy it whilst I was young.

When I decided to buy a house, I used my credit cards for the deposit

Them were the days...

You sir are quite, quite mad.

£21k a year in rent - makes my eyes water.

I have dealt with some truly mad people when it comes to rentals..

Placed a gentleman in KT13 who was happy to be spending 20k a month on rent

[Fuzzy Wuzzy]

I'm sorry if I have caused annoyance through my question, wasn't my intention at all.

I just wanted an idea of how much I should set aside of my monthly net income towards rent, the maximum amount I suppose.

I'm currently looking at 1 to 2 bedroom flats in the west London area, it seems that the range of prices means I will be spending 40 - 60% on rent, this is before utility bills and council tax! I have about 10 months worth of rent in savings, but not sure if that makes a difference to the sort of price I should be aiming at.

May have to hold off for a while and save up a little more, looks like early 2009 is the earliest I could really afford to move out.

[anonymous-user]

Why mad! If the person can afford it and the principal of renting is right for them at that time then it's very sensible!