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http://www.teamliquid.net/blogs/viewblog.php?id=247860
I've been in London for almost a week now and are slowly losing my mind. I've arrived almost three weeks before the new semester starts and have a reasonable budget (about 520£ pm), but I haven't been able to find a place to stay yet. I'm doing little else apart from browsing property sites or commuting with the tube from one end of London to the other. I saw the _perfect_ flat on Saturday but hesitated. One hour later I decided to take it but someone else beat me to it by mere minutes. The property market is ridiculously competitive, and I've arrived before the rush of approximately 100.000 students, according to one of my agents.
I had to extend my stay in my hostel for another two days and my money dwindles very fast, even though I'm only shopping for groceries at Tesco and Sainsbury. I had known beforehand that London is very expensive, but that was an abstract fact which has now transformed into a coke, a sandwich and Walker chips for 3£, my usual lunch.
Honestly, I'm getting a bit desperate. If I don't find something till the next day after tomorrow, I have a big problem. I can't extend my stay yet another time and the only flats that would be available for me are either dirty !$%= holes or an hour away from my university. Btw, how bad an area to live in is Newsham?
This blog serves no other purpose than to give me chance to rant. I've experienced few interesting things so far anyway (apart from visiting Forbidden Planet, my nerd life is now complete), if I manage to find a longterm accommodation I hope I can write about more interesting stuff.
 
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520 pounds per month looks very small to me to live in london
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520 is probably not going to be enough - certainly not if you are hoping to be able to live near your university, which I assume is somewhat centralish as renting in London gets expensive very quickly, and the general cost of going out at night etc is also very high, so I'd recommend you find a job or an alternate way to get some more money.
As for Newsham, I'm not really sure where that is, I don't think I've even heard of it so I can't help you there.
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520 pm means flatsharing pretty much if you want to be close to the centre. Have you tried moveflat or spareroom co uk?
Newsham is not actually in London, so not quite sure why you're asking.
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520 pounds per month looks very small to me to live in london
yes indeed.
the rent for the single room i had two years ago was 400£/month, but i lived quite in the city (bethnal green). area 2-3 are a bit cheaper, you are not going to save much money from the rent anyway though. 520£ sure is a small budget for a month living in london, considering how expensive the transports are. i don't know how much you are willing to spend for your place, but i suggest you to not aim to low with the rent, or you are going to keep spending money for the hostel. just grab a place at the beginning, having a roof above your head that you can call home is the most important thing, and adapt to it. keep an eye to room ads, and as soon as you find something more comfortable, put an ad yourself for the room you are living in that moment. usually the owners won't complain too much about you leaving the place, if you find a substitute.
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The Uni your going to doesn't help you with finding accommodation?
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I lived in London for 3 years, studying at LSE, and accommodation was always expensive and quite a headache to search for. Best of luck to you. You will definitely need to share so look at Jinsho's links. Try the Waterloo area if you haven't yet, it's convenient to Westminster and cheaper than north of the river.
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I searched on a lot of different sites, among them moveflat and spareroom. Honestly though, I can only come and view a certain amount of flats on a day. I spend ridiculously high amounts of time just getting from one point to the other via the tube. And of course I'm looking for a flatshare, I've given up the illusion of a single room when I was still in Germany. So far, most landlords have been pretty... difficult to deal with. They can be picky, however, and they know it. I'm quite sure I would have a lot of problems if I tried to cancel my rental agreement prematurely.
This sucks so much. If I don't find anything somewhat suitable till tomorrow evening, I'll be forced to take a room I haven't even seen yet.
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Have you considered a single room where you share kitchen and things. Its not ideal but its generally much cheaper. I've had a lot of friends do it and as long as you meet the people before you move in it tends to pretty good. There are a lot of sites that help people find single rooms. A quick google search for instance spat our sites like http://www.intolondon.com/room-to-rent/ You will probably have to settle for zone 2-3.
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Friend of mine got a job with the BBC after graduating from Leeds with a FIRST.
Still meant he got to live in a shithole of a room in a shared house with no central heating. I'm afraid you may have to lower your standards! In London you have to expect to pay a weekly rent that others elsewhere pay as a monthly rent!
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It is so much easier to live with others... I live with 3 others, all of us came from the same university, in elephant and castle border zone 1 (not the best of areas but not as bad as people think if you dont live near the shopping center) we rent a house with 3 floors 4 bedroom, living room, 3 bathrooms and garden all for about 2200 a month shared between 4 although they are talking of increasing it by a bit at the end of the year.
Great thing is we all play starcraft together.
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EPT
