I’m fed up with rents in London: Will we save money by moving to Leigh on Sea or Margate?

I’m already tired of paying rent in London and I want to try to live somewhere cheaper, so I can save money and pay a deposit to buy my own house.

It’s unlikely I’ll be able to buy in London, so I’d like to try somewhere else before buying there.

I wish I lived by the sea and had heard good things about Leigh on Sea in Essex and Margate in Kent and that they are both promising.

My girlfriend and I are currently paying £2,200 a month for a two-bedroom apartment in Finsbury Park in London, and we travel to central London for work.

We work in London and we both need to be in the office three days a week, so we would have to travel by train. Would we really save money if we moved? What are the things we should consider when solving it?

Ed Magnus from This is Money responds: It’s a sensible question to ask yourself, especially when you have to shell out so much money on rent each month.

Rents have increased rapidly. In the last three years alone, the average rental property in the UK outside London has increased by 27 per cent, from £853 a month to £1,084 a month, according to the HomeLet Rental Index.

In London alone, the average rent has increased by 37 per cent during that time, rising from £1,580 a month in April 2021 to £2,167 a month in April this year.

Rising rental costs will not only put additional pressure on many people’s daily budgets, but will also inhibit their ability to save to buy a home.

It’s no wonder some people are considering moving to cheaper places outside the capital.

But although the cost of rent in London is high, traveling by train can also be very expensive, especially if you have to be at work at 9 o’clock.

This means that any costs you save on rent by moving to a commuter town like Margate or Leigh on Sea must be weighed against the cost of travel.

But it may also be the case that your lifestyle is cheaper in another city. London is an expensive city to live in and the cost of meeting friends and going to events can increase.

You might find that you can reduce certain costs that may have been important in London, but are no longer possible elsewhere.

Will moving to Margate save money?

For anyone who works in London but wants to live by the sea, Margate could be a good option.

The coastal town of Kent has become popular with creatives and is now full of lively cafes, retro shops, art galleries, restaurants and bars, not to mention the sea and its beaches.

According to Rightmove, the average two-bedroom home in Margate is available for £952 a month. That’s less than half of what our reader pays in London.

However, you will have to be prepared for quite a long trip. Depending on which train you board, you could travel for more than two hours.

And the tickets are not cheap. Any time return costs £95.20, or there is a cheaper option of £80.90, but only for some selected journeys.

If you opt for the £95.20 ticket three times a week, it will cost you £285.60 each. Over the course of a month, this could cost you £1,142 each, which works out to £2,284 per month in total.

However, if you are 30 years old or younger, you should be entitled to a youth travel card. Unlike many other types of Railcard, these can be used at peak times.

In this case, a return at any time between Margate and London should be no more than £62.80, which would reduce monthly costs to £753, or £1,506 combined.

On that basis, you would lose a total of £262 each month if you moved to Margate, compared to renting in London.

Consult subscriptions

If you only work three days a week in the office, it is very likely that a subscription will not be profitable.

But in the case of Margate, it will be much better to purchase the monthly pass.

It costs £658.60 a month each (£1,317.20 combined), but you won’t be eligible for any further discounts even with a rail card.

Still, despite the savings made on renting in Margate, it will still be worse to move there, thanks to high travel costs.

In fact, staying in Finsbury Park in their £2,200 apartment will save you almost £69.20 each month.

The above calculations have not taken into account London tube travel, but we can only assume that you will have to pay whether you live in London or not, as you will have to arrive from the train station (Victoria, London Bridge or St Pancras ). to your office.

Will moving to Leigh on Sea save money?

Leigh on Sea in Essex could prove a more convenient alternative to Margate as it is closer to the capital with just a 45 minute train ride to London Fenchurch Street.

The average two-bedroom rental in Leigh On Sea costs £1,652 a month, according to Rightmove.

Not unlike Margate, Leigh is now home to a bustling community of designers and artists. There is a beach, several pubs and lots of fresh seafood.

A return trip at any time from Leigh On Sea to London costs £22.40. Metro travel is not included.

This would mean that over the course of three days you will pay £67.20 a week. Each month, that could mean you’re paying £268.80 on your trip. Doubled between the two of you, that could equal £537.60.

Taking into account your current rent in Finsbury Park in London and the additional costs of the train fare, you could save just £10 a month by moving to an average two-bedroom apartment in Leigh on Sea.

With a rail card, your collective monthly costs on train travel would equate to £354 a month, meaning in this scenario you would be saving £200 a month by moving to Leigh on Sea.

As they both work in the office three days a week, it won’t make sense to buy a pass as it is more expensive in Leigh on Sea, unlike in Margate.

But if either of them started going to the office five days a week, the monthly pass would cost them £411.30 each, not including tube travel.

What other places might you consider?

Ultimately, a lot will depend on the type of property you are looking for. If you can find a bigger, better property in one of these coastal cities for half the price of an equivalent flat in London, then you may consider it worth it, regardless of whether you’re saving or not.

Similarly, if saving is more important than the type of apartment you live in, then you may decide that moving to a smaller house or cheaper area of ​​London would be a worthwhile temporary sacrifice.

If your heart is set on living by the sea, there are many coastal towns within easy reach of London that you could consider, including Brighton, Southend on Sea, Hastings and Worthing.

The average rental property in Brighton is available for £1,587 a month according to Zoopla and is just over an hour by train to and from London.

Southend on Sea commands rentals of £1,119 on average and journeys from Southend Central to London take almost 1.30 hours.

Rental properties in Worthing, West Sussex, are available for an average of £1,153 a month. Train journeys from the coastal city to London take around 1 hour and 30 minutes, although they can take longer.

Rental properties in Hastings, East Sussex, are available for an average price of £1,021. Trips to London can take between an hour and a half and more than two hours.

Richard Donnell, chief executive of Zoopla, says: “When you’re looking to move and look for better value for money, it depends on what rental levels you can access at the train stations for commuting to work.”

‘Rents have risen rapidly in recent years as tenants have sought to get better value for money, so potential savings may not be as great as might be expected when travel and other costs are taken into account. of life.

‘It is important to be clear about how many days you will need to travel.

‘There is also a desire to get a little more house than you have now, which will reduce how much you can save.

“Try to research the market and strike a balance between a nice place to rent, that isn’t so expensive that you can’t save for a deposit.”