Many young professionals come to London from the rest of the UK to work. You might well be making your first significant career move and looking forward to having your highest salary yet. To make this salary to go as far as possible, and to avoid living somewhere downright horrible (!), it’s a good idea to start off with realistic expectations and have your calculator at the ready.

Best value places to live in East London

If you compare rents for East London postcodes, Bow (E3) offers the best value with an average price of £359 per week. This is, of course, just an average – you may be able to find other properties that cost more or less than this figure.

The highest average price is £604 per week in Docklands, E14. The other postcodes fall somewhere in between.

How much will you be earning?

When I do reference checks for prospective tenants, I look to see if they can afford the property they’ve chosen. Tenants should be earning 2.5 times the value of the rent. To use the Bow example, £359 per week x 52 = £18,668 in rent per year. 2.5 x £18,668 = £46,670 – that’s how much you would need to earn to rent the average Bow flat.

If this information is making you wonder if you could hack another year living with your parents after all, don’t despair. There are a couple of solutions being used by young professionals across the capital and they could well work for you too.

Flat sharing in East London

By sharing a flat with others, you can share the rent too. You can benefit from economies of scale and make friends at the same time! Bear in mind that one third of the rent on a three-bedroom flat is usually less than half the rent on a two-bedroom flat. Both are considerably cheaper than renting a one-bedroom flat on your own. When you rent with other people, you can also share bills and even the food shopping, so you’ll be far better off financially than if you rent on your own.

Get someone to act as guarantor for the rent

If you fail the financial check for renting the property you want, you need to either fine somewhere cheaper or ask someone else to act as guarantor. This is when someone else you don’t live with, e.g. one of your parents or a close friend who has a good credit history promises to pay the rent if you can’t. What usually happens in this situation is that you, the tenant, pay the rent every month and the guarantor role is just a formality. However, acting as guarantor is still a serious business and the person you ask must understand this. It may happen that you can’t pay the rent, in which case the guarantor must be ready and willing to step in.

Rent property in East London

There’s no denying that London is more expensive to live in than other parts of the UK. However, with a realistic expectations and a bit of forward planning, you’ll find a new home in the capital that you can afford.

Visit our Rent page to view Dockleys properties and find your first home in London!