Rebecca Culleton and Gaby Levine have moved to Brighton
(Picture: Adrian Lourie)After years of renting around London, Gaby Levine had had enough. Partly it was the money — her “tiny little box room” in West Hampstead cost £875pcm, with bills adding another £175pcm — and she was also fed up with awkward flatmates and all the stress and claustrophobia that comes with life in the capital.
“I have lived in London my whole life, and I never thought I would move out,” says Gaby, a freelance graphic designer. “But it just started to get too much. Then two of my best friends started talking about moving to Brighton and I thought: “Why not?’ and joined them.”
Gaby is now settled a few minutes’ walk from the seafront, her rent is cheaper and her stress levels have plummeted.
According to a recent study by Pocket Living, one in four London renters aged 25 to 45 are considering a similar escape, either to the far-flung suburbs or out of the capital altogether to avoid its spiralling rents.
“A situation where young talented people are now being forced to leave the capital because the prospect of owning a home here is so bleak is one of the clearest indicators so far that London faces being gradually levelled down,” says Marc Vlessing, chief executive officer at Pocket Living.
Gaby was an early adopter of the great London exodus. She and her friends left London last September after finding a flat on Spareroom.com. Because of the logistical difficulties of viewing homes, they made an offer on their three bedroom flat without having seen it.
“It was the best decision I ever made,” says Gaby, 27.
“We have a gorgeous flat, the nicest landlord I’ve ever had and because we’ve signed a two-year lease he’s said he’s not going to put the rent up.”
Gaby’s spacious room now costs her £750pcm, with her share of bills coming in at £125pcm. Over the course of a year she can expect to save more than £2,000. “The quality of life is also so much better,” she says. “Everything is much calmer here and living by the sea is amazing.”
‘London is where I’ve built my life but it’s on pause for now’
While Gaby has embraced her new life, however, Gabrielle Raw-Rees is a more reluctant exile.
Having been brought up by the sea in Wales she thought she was done with small-town life when she moved to London.
She works as a TV production secretary, has made great friends and until a few weeks ago, was living in a three-bedroom, £2,100pcm rented flat in Turnpike Lane with two flatmates.
The flat was far from perfect but Gabrielle, 24, was happy enough with it to be willing to stay on after its lease ran out in November. Unfortunately, her landlord had other ideas.
“Both my flatmates had decided to move home, so I found two new people to rent their rooms and called the agent in August to say that we wanted to keep it on,” said Gabrielle.
“He said, ‘I was actually planning on serving you with your notice next week’. I was shocked. Our lease ran out in November but they wanted us out in October so that they could re-let it.”
Gabrielle reapplied to rent the flat, offering the asking price which had risen to £2,300pcm. Another desperate renter offered £2,900pcm.
That was mid-September and Gabrielle tried her best to find somewhere new to live but in London’s overheated market she struggled.
Gabrielle’s brother and sister both live near Grantham, Lincolnshire, and during the summer her mother had decided she wanted to join them.
Gabrielle decided that her best short-term option would be to team up with her mum and at the start of November she packed her bags, her two pet rabbits and moved into a rented two-bedroom cottage, which costs £1,000pcm (including bills).
“We are about 15 or 20 minutes’ drive from Grantham and I don’t have a car,” says Gabrielle. “There is not a shop, pub or anything. If I want to go anywhere I have to ask my mum for a lift, which hasn’t been a situation since I was about 15.
“My friends are in London, my boyfriend is in London. It is where I have built my life but it is on pause for now.”
Gabrielle’s company has a one-day-a-week-in-the-office policy, but luckily her manager has reacted understandingly to her predicament. Gabrielle hopes to return to London in the new year. “I am hoping that by then things will have improved,” she says.
‘I had the worst landlords in the world’
If moving out of London is a step too far then money can also be saved by zone-hopping.
When Sanya Saleem, 26, landed a job as a mental health adviser helping train doctors she thought she’d had a massive stroke of luck when a well-priced one-bedroom apartment in Finsbury Park came up.
She moved in last summer, where her rent, plus bills and council tax, cost £1,350pcm and she began enjoying the nearby open spaces and endless restaurants and pubs in her new neighbourhood.
Unfortunately, Sanya, originally from Wolverhampton, rapidly discovered there was a catch. “I had the worst landlords in the world, there is a special place in hell for them,” she says.
Problems ranged from a persistently broken toilet and her landlords spying on her with CCTV cameras to the upstairs neighbour, a relative, regularly moving furniture around in the early hours.
The police got involved, Sanya had to take time off work with stress and by spring she was desperate to get out.
While searching online Sanya came across Folk at The Palm House, a purpose-built co-living development in Harrow. Her rent is £1,300pcm and includes not only all bills, which protects her from rising prices, and wifi but also extras like an on-site gym, which saves Sanya £80 per month, a cinema, roof terraces and a shared workspace.
“Before, I used to café-hop when I needed to work, so this really saves me a lot of money,” she says. “I am definitely better off.”
Although Harrow & Wealdstone station is way out in Zone 5, fast Tube links mean Sanya’s journey to work takes just over 20 minutes door to door. From Finsbury Park, in Zone 2, it took about 35 minutes.
Socially the move has worked out great for Sanya, who has made friends with her new neighbours. And while Harrow can’t be described as hip it certainly has plenty of everyday shops and green space. “I have finally found my place,” she says.
Cut your rent with these smart moves
Renters can make significant savings if they are prepared to expand their postcode horizons without compromising too much on journey times into central London.
Exclusive research by lettings platform Goodlord has found that the most affordable locations within a 15-minute commute of central London include Lower Sydenham, where the average rent is £1,012pcm; Hither Green, where it is £1,135pcm; and Grove Park at £1,208pcm.
For those prepared to commute for half an hour the best value options include Letchworth Garden City in Hertfordshire, with average rents coming in at £968pcm.
A 45-minute commute will take you to Bedford, where average rents drop to £676 pcm.
And within an hour of London you could consider the Lincolnshire market town of Grantham, where you will pay an average of £531 for a rental property.
