Moving to UK How much to get set up?

trishawisha

Think really strongly about heading over in the new year, Iv done a quick google to see was there any work in my field, and the quick search showed its not that bad. Dont know what part yet, maybe London or Brighton.
Question is how much money would I need to have for me and my boyfriend to get set up (house, rent, maybe a month while situation is sorted)
Hopefully employment will be secured before we go.
Any other boardies recently do this?

Ouchette

I did this almost a year ago now with my boyfriend and I was looking at London or Brighton too. Ended up finding a job in London so we moved there.

Rent for a 1-bed flat or small 2-bed would be very roughly about £1000/month in Brighton or average bits of London. Then you'd probably need a 1 month or 6 week deposit, so lets say £2.5k total for deposit and a month's rent. Unfurnished flats are pretty common here, so you might want extra so you can furnish one.

Then for bills, I suppose about £150 per month for the 2 of you but that depends a lot on council tax, which varies a lot. Mine's just over £50 a month because I live in the cheapest London borough. I think about double that would be typical for a small flat. You'll want to check the council tax before renting anywhere.

Food, probably about £60-80 per week so about £315 per month, but you could certainly survive on less or spend a lot more.

If you're going to be living in Brighton and commuting, that's going to be seriously expensive but a lot of companies offer season ticket loans to their employees. If they don't offer the loan, maybe as much as another £400 (but check that) for travel expenses for the first month and then get an annual season ticket later. I can't really say how much to allow for commuting across London because it'll vary too much.

That's about £3,500, and then I'd want a bit for going out, other stuff you need to buy and then something for emergencies. Maybe £4,000/4,800 euro, plus removals company if you need it and a ferry ticket?

annoyingbeast

Be careful where you move to, i went over for a month just for the craic like a year ago, before i started college, and i went for a cheap enough place, internet said the place was a thriving arts center and had a big student population and was buzzing etc. when i got there it was a mostly afro carribean area and my house was almost broken into like 10 times, a real deprived area, no disrespect to afro carribeans or whatever, but i was told there was an irish student population.

Ouchette

Where was that? Guessing maybe Canning Town, Stratford, Leightonstone area in the east? There are definitely a few areas there I wouldn't want to live!

I think vibrant is letting agent code for violent :cool:

trishawisha

Thanks for replies, I had 3-4k in my head, so its nice to hear another persons perspective. We moved from a small town two years ago to Cork City because of the job situation, now it looks like an even bigger move. Im scared and excited! We both have cars, probably wouldnt need them in London, but maybe we'd get by with one in Brighton. Do either of ye miss home unbearably(spelling) or is it totally worth it?

Fysh

trishawisha wrote: »

Thanks for replies, I had 3-4k in my head, so its nice to hear another persons perspective. We moved from a small town two years ago to Cork City because of the job situation, now it looks like an even bigger move. Im scared and excited! We both have cars, probably wouldnt need them in London, but maybe we'd get by with one in Brighton. Do either of ye miss home unbearably(spelling) or is it totally worth it?

I moved over with the other half around 3 years ago and we each had €5K, which worked out as plenty to cover the move, deposit etc comfortably. Ouchette's breakdown of costs is pretty much what we found when we came over.

If you're in London it'll most likely not be worth the hassle of bringing cars with you (especially not two) as parking can be difficult to get in some areas, and the public transport infrastructure is generally good enough that it's easier and probably a bit cheaper to use that instead of keeping a car running. I don't know if the same applies in Brighton, though.

Ouchette

I don't miss home unbearably because I'm actually from south-east England originally and had just been living over in Dublin a while I do miss friends from there a bit, but they've mostly moved on now too.

Have you visited Brighton before? I love it there.

I've never felt the need for a car in London, although I am planning to get a motorbike (much more practical for parking and no congestion charge ). In Brighton I think you could definitely get by without a car especially if you're fairly central but it would be nice to have one anyway so you can get out into the countryside a bit.