Ealing, Hillingdale or other areas?

Hi All!

My husband is considering a transfer to his office in London. We talked with the HR dept today and the salary is 70k plus a potential 10% quarterly bonus (we have never not gotten bonuses here in over 6 yrs...). So - we are trying to make sure that this is enough salary to allow us to life reasonably well and be able to travel and enjoy Europe. We have 3 boys 11, 8 & 5 who I will likely homeschool for a myriad of reasons.

His office is near Hayes & Harlington train station. He has a coworker who rides his bike to work from Uxbridge. I have considered Ealing & Hillingdon as possible locations to live. Anyone's thoughts on those locations? I was budgeting 1500 to 1750 for rent, 200 for council taxes, plus another 300 to 350 for other expenses (water, gas, internet...) Does this seem about right for these areas or am I dreaming? Any other suggestions for areas to consider?

I'd also consider how your husband would get to work and the associated commute costs.  Trains can be quite expensive, but if he chooses to ride a bike or walk, then his commute costs would be relatively low.

How many bedrooms did you want? 3? 4? 5?

For Ealing, I've found that a 1 bed place (near either South Ealing or Ealing Broadway stations) is around 1,000pcm.  A 2 bed place starts somewhere around 1,200pcm.  I've not looked at anything larger, but if you want a 4 bedroom place, then it's probably going to cost you a bit more than you expect.  And it probably won't be as big as what you're accustomed to, so if you're homeschooling, you may need to consider getting an extra bedroom for use as the "school" room (Example).

Also, most places list the rate as weekly, but the amount you'd pay per calendar month is the weekly rate times 4.33. 

Aside from that, Ealing is a lovely area with all the needed shops, restaurants, local pubs, gyms, etc.  I often hear children playing in the backyards here too, so, while it is London, it is a relatively safe and family-oriented place.

He is considering biking in. He has a coworker that lives in Uxbridge that rides in (under 20 mins), so I assume that is fairly doable... Ealing has a straight shot to Hayes and Harlington if he decided to take the train - a season pass is 76 GBP. I am all for biking and saving the money:)

We have a three bedroom now and it isn't huge by american standards, but I am preparing myself for a potentially smaller space. 4 bedroom would be great, but I am assuming that might be a bit more than we have budgeted. That house you linked to is stunning, but we would never be able to leave it with that price, lol!

I have heard lovely things about Ealing, but nothing about Hillingdon yet. Hopefully someone else will chime in!! Thanks for the info!!

Hillingdon is a bit boring, IMO, and you will need to go into uxbridge for any type of shopping or activities. Also your utilities budget is likely overstated.

Regarding salary, appreciate you are in like the top 2% of earners in the whole of the uk. So yes it is a good salary.

Thanks for the statistic. It was actually helpful. In the back of my mind I always consider our income average since I stay home and don't contribute monetarily. So - even though he brings home a nice salary we support our family on an average salary for a family of 5, albeit average for 2 working parents...

My estimate for utilities was for renters insurance, gas, electric, water, tv, phone and internet all together. I figured it is better to estimate slightly high than too low:) Thanks for the input - I appreciate it!!

Thanks for the statistic. It was actually helpful. In the back of my mind I always consider our income average since I stay home and don't contribute monetarily. So - even though he brings home a nice salary we support our family on an average salary for a family of 5, albeit average for 2 working parents...

The average annual salary for individual workers is £26,000 per year and the average annual household income in the UK is about £33,000 a year... your husband is going to be earning more than double this amount.

- 90% of the UK population earns less than £45,000 per year
- 95% earns less than £61,000 per year
- approx. 98% earns less than £70,000 per year

My parents raised 3 kids in the UK (not in London) on about £35,000 a year. They own a 5-bedroom home in the suburbs (south-west England) and they have put all 3 of us through university, plus paid for all of my brothers' sports training and competitions over the years (one brother is a former international gymnast, the other is a badminton player).

My estimate for utilities was for renters insurance, gas, electric, water, tv, phone and internet all together.

I live on my own in a 2-bedroom house (about 120 miles north of London) and my current monthly expenses come to:

Rent: £450
Council tax: £75 (it is only paid 10 months a year though)
Renter's Insurance: £5 (covering house contents worth up to £5,000)
Electricity and gas: £50
Water: £20
Broadband internet (10 mb), phone line and satellite TV (with HD box and equivalent of TIVO): £40
Food: £120
Transport: £50

Total = £810 per month.

Obviously, in London and with a family of five, you'll be spending more than this, but I can't see your basic utilities (electricity, gas, water) being all that much more, so it's really going to be your rent/council tax that hikes it up.

Well - that does make me feel a lot more confident that we can afford it, if not a little like a jerk:) But the housing prices in London are what is throwing me off. There seem to be plenty of houses/flats to rent for 3 & 4k per month or more. How do people afford these kind of rents in London? Certainly we can't be in the top 2% in London?? Thanks, I at least do feel better about being able to afford to travel and enjoy our time in the UK.

How do people afford these kind of rents in London? Certainly we can't be in the top 2% in London??

I suspect people that can afford those kind of rents are city traders, doctors, high level managers, actors/actressess, investors, internationally renowned artists, etc.

House pricing in London is ridiculous, IMO.  I recall a somewhat recent article where Shelter was reporting that most London families earn £35k or less and housing prices are signficantly beginning to become unsustainable for the typical London family and that it wouldn't be unimaginable to say that a family would need to make £52k or more to be able to get good properties in London.

Well - that does make me feel a lot more confident that we can afford it, if not a little like a jerk:)

Don't feel like a jerk - it's a common assumption to make, considering the difference in salaries between the US and UK (in general, a job in the UK will probably pay as much as half of what you would get for the same job in the US).

There seem to be plenty of houses/flats to rent for 3 & 4k per month or more. How do people afford these kind of rents in London? Certainly we can't be in the top 2% in London??

Short answer: unless they are celebrities or high-flying executives, they don't.

It sounds like maybe you're actually looking at some of the most expensive houses. In general, more than £2,000 a month for rent is a lot of money and £3,000-4,000 would probably be at the top of the scale (where I live, you can rent a 4-bedroom house for less than £1,000 a month).

I just did a search on www.findaproperty.com for 4-bed houses in Uxbridge and there are several coming up starting from around £1,500 per month.

There have been a few people here on the forum who have been transferred to London for work (earning a similar salary to your husband) and their housing allowance from their company has been closer £2,000-2,500 for rent (which is a pretty generous allowance).

I suspect people that can afford those kind of rents are city traders, doctors, high level managers, actors/actressess, investors, internationally renowned artists, etc.

House pricing in London is ridiculous, IMO.  I recall a somewhat recent article where Shelter was reporting that most London families earn £35k or less and housing prices are signficantly beginning to become unsustainable for the typical London family and that it wouldn't be unimaginable to say that a family would need to make £52k or more to be able to get good properties in London.

There are a lot of DINKYs ("Dual (or Double) Income, No Kids Yet) in London, if you both make £30-40k which is not an atypical salary in London for a career person (if you do a quick round up of my friends for instance) in their late 20s/30s then suddenly your dual income is £60-80K a year, if both of you are high earners suddenly your joint income for two people is more than £120K a year. 

You do generally get paid more in London and there are a lot of companies so you can salary hop up the ladder much more easily than in other parts of the world, competition is high, particularly for tech roles so companies want to keep their staff, there's a lot of start-ups with a lot of VC money to throw at you if you're good and willing to work hard.

As soon as you decide to have kids, one of you may stop earning or ear significantly less, and you might become a SITCOM (single income, two kids, oppressive mortgage) I think that acronym is meant to be a joke but it just happened to a friend of mine and his girlfriend (well they have a toddler, she's given up work and he's the sole income, earner their previous nice dual salary has  halved and they're +1) 

So yeah, family wise, it's not the friendliest city in the world for your pocket, but Uxbridge isn't that expensive as London goes as it's so far out.

This has been very informative! You guys have given me a broader perspective on the UK. I knew London was pricey, but I assumed the rest of the UK was not too far behind... My husband I agreed that we will make sure our cc & student loan are completely paid off before jumping over to give us a little more wiggle room. I still want to keep our rent around 1500-1750 so that we maximize our funds for traveling.  I suppose we are lucky his office is near Heathrow and not in central London:)