Looking for a good area to live!!!????

yackandandah · Joined: 11 Jun 2008 Posts: 10 Location: london

hey, im pretty new to london/uk and in july my friend is coming over from melbourne (aust) and we will be looking for a place to live.

we really have no idea about which areas are good or not so any help anyone could give would be great.

we are looking for a 2bedroom place. our budget is around 300GBP per week, hopefully including utilities and council tax (but highly unexpected from what ive seen).

i just need some ideas about where to look.

-yack

Bluey · Community Moderator Joined: 21 Mar 2006 Posts: 4815

yackandandah · Joined: 11 Jun 2008 Posts: 10 Location: london

wow great. lokos like ill be living in a box.

would still like some ideas about ok areas though

thanks guys

-yak

QMS · Joined: 28 Feb 2006 Posts: 2914

yackandandah · Joined: 11 Jun 2008 Posts: 10 Location: london

k thanks. where abouts in north london do you live. i really have no ideas about areas, i think thats the main problem.

Cov · Joined: 03 Aug 2007 Posts: 2186 Location: London

To get to know London a little better, it would be a good idea to look up some info about the different Boroughs.

Every Borough is different in many ways. Google can help you.

http://www.london.gov.uk/london/links.jsp

I have lived in Kilburn (Camden), Willesden Green (Brent), Wembley Park, St John's Wood (Westminster), Pinner (Harrow), Perivale and Acton (Ealing). All these places are very different. In regards to the people living there, the securiy, the service of the council, the shape of the area ... only one thing do all have in common: the rent for housing is rip off everywhere.

In order to get value for your income, the rent needs to be cut by 50% in my opinion. (And the property prices too)
Well, that is another subject ...

Maybe someone else can give opinions (positive & negative) about some boroughs, but then again a lot is down to personal taste, isn't it ?

yackandandah · Joined: 11 Jun 2008 Posts: 10 Location: london

i really appreciate your help. thanks very much.

and if anyone else does have any personal opinions about any specific areas i would really appreciate the feedback.

just another thing too. how do i work out what the council tax will be?

rob444 · Joined: 27 Aug 2007 Posts: 65

Council tax for London boroughs is published on the web. I have the list pinned to the wall but can't remember the website, sorry.
I found it using Google.

slummymummy · Joined: 04 Jul 2008 Posts: 2

Hi - just seen your message about finding a good place to live in London, etc. I'm a bit late with this, but if you have found somewhere by now (or at least have an idea of a place) I can tell you that we used a company which gave us loads of information when we were moving from one side of the country to the other, and which may be of help to you. They are called goodarea.co.uk, and they did us a really good report to help us find the best place to live. We were moving with kids (one of which has special needs) and they were able to find out all kinds of facts for us about the area we were looking - including local facilities for our son. It was a real eye opener, and actually made us change our ideas on location. We now live in a great town and feel we really were able to make an informed decision before we put an offer on this house. They make a charge for the reports, but in our opinion they are well worth it.

Mr_X · Joined: 18 Jan 2007 Posts: 112

slummymummy · Joined: 04 Jul 2008 Posts: 2

Hi - yeah, there are websites out there that do this, but there are a couple of problems: 1) the information you find online isn't always up to date, 2) you have to spend ages looking for stuff - its impossible to find one site that does it all, and 3) you need to know what you're looking for. Our first thoughts were on the basics like crime, schools, etc, but the report you get covers loads more than that - things that were really helpful and interesting, like is the house likely to flood, are there any phone masts, where is the nearest takeaway, where the car parks are, etc, etc, etc. It comes in a folder so you can look at it whenever you want (which you need to do - it takes a while to think about and process the information you get - it gave us loads of food for thought on whether we were making the right choice). Like anything, you're paying for a service which gives you more than you could achieve on your own probably, and leaves you time to get on with other stuff (like house hunting, and work, and kids!). And like you said - there are "various" websites - you can spend ages looking for the kind of things they find out for you - that's assuming you even think to search for it in the first place!!

Mr_X · Joined: 18 Jan 2007 Posts: 112

Oh, Ok.
Nice one then