How to Find a Cheap Room to Rent in London
Looking for a flat-share or a house-share in London can be scary. The prices of properties are high, and flat-sharing has become a necessity for many.
We know finding a place to live can also be a stressful time, but the good news is that we know quite a few tips and tricks to make it as smooth as butter. So let’s jump right into it. This guide we mean, not the butter…
Check out the 900+ rooms available now in London on ideal flatmate
In this post, we’ll walk you through the best way to find a cheap (but nice!) room in London with the least hassle possible.
Here are the 5 steps to not only find a really nice room to rent in London, but also at a decent price.
1. Find a nice area
If you already know which area you want to be close to, you can go straight to step 2.
If you don’t already have a specific area of London in mind you’d like to live in, there are some ways to do so. There are so many places to choose from in London. From Clapham to Walthamstow, you want to make sure you pick the right area for you.
We have actually done some research by surveying a thousand people and used their answers to create the Modern Living Index. You can choose which area is best for you by selecting ‘Area within London’ and you can then pick an area based on these categories:
Most popular with young professionals
Most up and coming
Best nightlife
Most fashionable
You can then see a list of the top areas based on your criteria. This will help you choose your favourite areas, and you can start looking at cheap areas close by to your favourite area using the method outlined in step 2 below.
2. Find a cheap area, near a nice area
Some areas in London are cheaper than others, and this usually depends on the zone. Zones in London range from 1 to 6. Zone 1 being the most central, and zone 6 being the furthest.
Usually the more central you look, the more expensive it is. That said, London is quite spread out compared to other cities such as Paris. In London, every nice area is expensive but next to it you will find a range of other areas more moderately priced.
Take our example: we’re based in Hackney, which is an up an coming area, and it’s right next to one of our favourite areas: Shoreditch. In Hackney, rent prices are still reasonable whereas, in Shoreditch, house-shares are more expensive. So Hackney would be a great option to consider should we want to live around here.
So what we recommend doing, is finding a range of cheap areas to live in, next to a nice area that you want to be close to. You can use the gov.uk’s London Rents Map to find which boroughs have the lowest rents.
3. Use ideal flatmate’s filters
There are hundreds of properties in London you can choose from. Once you have searched for London or your specific area, you can use the filters to find a cheap room by selecting your budget range or by sorting properties from Price low to high.
You can check out the cheapest rooms available now, here.
You can also choose many more filters to help you find that perfect flat-share, from vegetarian flatmates to LGBT friendly flat-shares, you’re guaranteed to find the right fit for you.
4. Chat with Alfie, the virtual assistant
Think of Alfie as your personal little flatmate-finding helper.
He’s a virtual assistant that we have created on Facebook Messenger to help you find a room or advertise a room to let out.
Alfie sends personalised property recommendations and tips on messenger, to help you find that perfect flatshare in your area of choice.
5. Negotiate the price with several properties
Once you have found a few properties you like, it is very often possible to bring the rent prices down by negotiating the price with the owner.
However, you will need to have leverage. Which means that to be in the best position possible, we recommend you get in touch with as many property listings as possible (ideally 30 to 45).
Once they get back to you (this will probably be only half of the people contacted), make them offers to rent their room out for 25% less than the advertised price. For example, if a room we liked is advertised for £700 per month, we would make a first offer of £525. In some cases, you will get a rejection, but in others, both parties will be able to agree on a price somewhere in the middle (£613 in this case).
That’s it, folks! These are the steps to take in order to find the best & cheapest possible room for you to rent out.
We also have a blog on Questions to Ask when Viewing a Flatshare if that helps.
Happy flat-hunting!
