London Town
What town near London offers a combination of reasonable house rentals, good schools and a viable commute?
I have been offered a job in London and am going to relocate with my family – 2 kids under 3 and French wife. We are looking to rent a 2 bedroom flat/house and needs to be within 1 hour of London by commute – is it possible and where do you recommend?
I have to be honest, this isn’t easy! What you want, i.e. a decent rent, 2 beds, decent schools, and this is the hardest bit, a one hour commute, is kind of what everybody wants. considering the commuting times in Central London, it can take take a couple of hours to get from one area of London to another at rush hour, which doesn’t even really count as a commute as it’s still in London, I think what you mean is a commute to outside London in the home counties or somewhere? So I can make a few suggestions based on my 25 years experience of working in London
Central London is way overpriced, but if you have children you may want to pay more so you have more time with them and your wife, as commuting will dig into this time heavily. It may sound like a fortune but it will save you hours of frustration on the trains and tubes. You can probably get a 2 bed flat for maybe 1200 a month in an area next to a ‘nice’ area – don’t even think about a ‘nice’ area, with 2 kids you probably can’t afford it so maybe consider on the edge of nice. Example, Hackney in the Islington borders is okay, but don’t go into Central Hackney, maybe Stoke Newington or Newington Green? Not on the tube so prices lower but reasonablly frequent buses and cabbable from central London if you’re desperate or drunk..
further out of town maybe try lewisham on the Blackheath borders, again not central lewisham but somewhere between the heath and Lewisham centre. It’s a pain of a train journey but takes less than half an hour, assuming you can fit in a carriage and there are no delays. If you are nearer the Blackheath station or even if not, it’s worth a walk to this station as even though it’s a zone further out and costs more, you can often get on a train at rushour before it reaches Lewisham when it’s almost impossible.
Further out even more, into Surrey and Middlesex, somewhere around Richmond, forget Richmond itself no-one bar rock stars can afford it but go to the slightly dodgy areas around there, Whitton just outside Twickenham maybe, and you may find something and there are lovely parks etc round there for weekends – the commute isn’t bad, maybe half an hour into Waterloo if you can squeeze on a fast train rather than one that takes ages, again assuming no delays, and also add on your journey to the station which will maybe be a bus ride as accommodation prices near stations are impossible but it’s also more expensive as you’re looking at zone 4 or maybe even 5 so you’re now faced with time commuting (you have to build in delays) away from the family AND higher travel costs.
Going further out, in a different direction, maybe Hertfordshire. Depends where in Central London you work as you have to consider travel at both ends to and from the station, in fact that is sooooooo important it will probably decide where you live. If you work near Euston or Kings Cross then Hertfordshire isn’t a bad bet. Look at somewhere like Kings Langley which is about half an hour from Euston so mabye if you have to travel at the other and and in Central London it may take an hour(without delays). The rents WERE quite low here but recently as commuters are moving further and further out to try and find exactly what you are looking for, the prices have risen a bit. Evidence of this is they have extended the platform and number of trains as commuters are rising so much in this area. Property builders have sussed this out and are building like there no tomorrow and prices are rising quickly. this is what happens when a new ‘find’ appears on the horizon, you have to be quick before it goes off the scale of affordable like everything else.
The only other thing I can suggest is that you rent a nice house too far out of London to be effected by all the commuter hell, where your family can be based and where your kids can go to a nice safe school, if it’s more than 90 mins from London then prices probably half. And you rent a weekday bedsit from which to work and stay in monday -Thursday. It sounds awful but I know a lot of people who did this when families came along, it was either that or moving out of London for good, which was the preferred option. you wil lonly see your family 3 nights on a weekday but you’ll be a lot less frustrated and you will have a lovely house with a bit of space and safety to go back to.
sorry if that all sounds negative, but there is no answer to give you want if there was we’d all be there!! I hope this is useful
Blake.
Man Like Me – ‘London Town’
