Commuting into London?

My husband and I will be moving to the London area as I just got a job near Regent's Park; however, I've been told that living in central London is prohibitively expensive.

I don't mind living a bit further out and commuting in; however, I would ideally like a relatively easy commute that's only about 30-45 minutes long, preferably via public transport of some sort. 

My husband lives near Bristol, and as I'm from the US, we both are at a bit of a loss as to where to start looking.

Any good recommendations for places to live outside central London that provide a good reliable commute in?  Where abouts would a 30-45 minute commute put us?  Outside the M25?  Just inside the M25?  My husband believes that rent for a flat outside central London is around 800-1000 pounds/month - is this realistic/reasonable?

 

I'm so lost, many thanks in advance!

Shame you aren't sticking close to Bristol, Aquila.  I'll be officially a resident as of next Thursday.  We could have gotten together!!!!

As for relocating closer to London, I have no idea.  I do know it is expensive the closer you are (just like NYC) but I'm sure someone here can give some pointers.

Good luck! 

My husband believes that rent for a flat outside central London is around 800-1000 pounds/month - is this realistic/reasonable?

A one-bedroom in Richmond (about 35 min commute from Regent's park) for example averages closer to £1300, but less desirable areas like Slough maybe would be much cheaper.  (nothing against Slough, of course!)

A 30-45 minute commute will not always put you inside or outside the M25.  Sometimes you will be inside and the commute will actually take longer than being outside, depending on the rail route.  

Check out this site, it should help tremendously: http://commutefrom.com/

I've been studying the cost to rent in London because there is so much to do there and I wouldn't need to have a car and I get free public transportation.
 
Go on Rightmove and put in St Johns Wood and type in £750 min to £1,300 maximum. You can justify the hugh rents by not having to have a car and that should balance that out.

Look at this one:

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-to-rent/property-26061181.html

I would also consider a reasonable commute from Maidstone, so you may check that out because of the rents being much lower and it seems like a nice city.

I just moved to west ham. Renting a nice 2 bedroom for 845 per month, and I would say it takes about your time frame to get to central london. I have never clocked it to regent's park, but to get to oxford circus, it takes me about a half hour. I would recommend this part of east london, but watch out, as some areas are a bit dodgy. Other areas around here are canning town and stratford. Good luck! I hate flat hunting. :-p

I've got a one bedroom, unfurnished flat in Clapham for £975/mo. I work at the LSE, so I'm about 25 minutes on the tube and 15 minutes total walking to Clapham Common and from Temple, so 40-45 minutes in total commute. Staying under £1000/mo is possible, but not easy. When looking at Rightmove and Findaproperty, just keep in mind that almost surely the properties you're seeing are no longer available. The pricing is fine, but they're let before they even make it on the site. You'll have to be talking to estate agents regularly to find out what they have available.

Thanks for the tips everyone, I'll be sure to check out your recommendations. 

emily - I won't be moving to London right away, so I'll be in the Bristol area for a bit while my background check is being completed.  Perhaps we can still meet up one day. 

but less desirable areas like Slough maybe would be much cheaper.  (nothing against Slough, of course!)

hey hey !!  you can't go around saying that! this IS the centre of the universe after all!!

Actually, i see what you mean about desirability might be less here, except theres different ways of looking at desirability. With the construction going on here for CrossRail, the fact that Slough & Windsor & maidenhead area is amongst the top 5 most highly priced property in the UK and Windsor being the most priciest property and 'desirability' outside of 'London' - theres plenty going for the area. Convenience, Commutability, closeness to greenery, closeness to London and heathrow, the 2nd biggest trading estate in Europe (used to be the biggest until a few years ago) excellent employment prospects - you can't say its one of the less desirable places!

I currently rent out my 2 bed rental property for £730 per month plus bills - but come this January, as I haven't raised the family last year, I'm going to increase it to around £775. There's adverts in the next block at £800-820, so I'm still giving them a break! - a lack of decent and quality apartments is pushing rents up   this will also be the case for London as the Olympics gets closer and council tax will rise, hence landlords pushing London rents up even more than what they are already..

Cheers, DtM! West London & Slough - THE centre of the universe as we know it, Slough!

Ha Dennis - I knew you'd have something to say about that.  I was actually in Slough today and its not THAT bad  

Coming into Marylebone opens up commuting from the north.  Places like Aylesbury would be about 35-45 minutes and well within your budget.  Some people hate Aylesbury, but we sort of liked it when we visited, although we just saw the centre.

South of the river, a lot of the rents would be in your budget, but not all of them have great links to that area.  It's not hard to figure out how easy it is to commute from an area.  South London, in my experience, is cheaper than north London, but YMMV.

I live in Hitchin, Hertfordshire and my husband commutes to London everyday. When his office was in central London, the commute was about 40 minutes (train +tube + walking), and he said it wasn't bad. Lots of people in the town commute as it is halfway between London and Cambridge (without being Stevenage ).

In some areas around London it takes you about 40 minutes to Central London anyway, so living in one of the surrounding counties can be just as easy for commuting anyway. We live on the oldest street in the center of town and our rent is about £620/pcm for a brand new renovation 1 bedroom flat. It is possible to have a house with a garden for under £800/pcm.

Coming into Marylebone opens up commuting from the north.  Places like Aylesbury would be about 35-45 minutes and well within your budget.  Some people hate Aylesbury, but we sort of liked it when we visited, although we just saw the centre.

I stayed int the Amersham area about 5 years ago and it was definitely an easy commute to London via Marleybone. I only have been to Aylesbury for an afternoon and it seemed ok.

The bad thing about commuting to London:  my husband's job moved to south London, and now his commute is over an hour each way. During the recent tube strikes it was taking him 3+ hours to get to the office. Now we are looking around North London so we can halfway between both our offices, and he can bike to work when there are tube issues.

It would be great to meet up when you're in the Bristol area.  Just drop me a private email here with your possible dates when you know and us two Americans can get together.

Good luck with the search!

I agree with the others who suggested Berkshire/Hertfordshire. You should look at a train map and use Paddington, Marylebone, Kings Cross or St Pancras as your base and work it out from there.

http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/passenger_services/maps/London_South_East.pdf

My boyfriend lives in Borehamwood, Herts and we are looking at houses in Barnet.  It takes me about 45 minutes via bus and tube to get to Picadilly Circus (I play tourist a lot when I visit).  I quite like the area he lives in, although he thinks Borehamwood is like Bosnia. 

My husband and I will be moving to the London area as I just got a job near Regent's Park; however, I've been told that living in central London is prohibitively expensive.

If you can hold on a while, rents will be dropping. This government will be reducing rents for benefit claimants in April and as most landlords raise their rents to LHA (housing benefit) level, this will have a knock on effect for the better, for all renters. The drop in housing benefits is expected to hit landlords in London zones 1 and 2 most of all, plus some areas of Bristol and Cambridge.

The new rules for housing benefits that come in April are:

• No person or family can claim more than 400pw for housing (that hits London zones 1 & 2)
  
  All housing benefit rates in the UK, drop from the 50th percentile to the 30th percentile.