How much rent should I pay?

[thayden]

This is going to seem like a stupid question, but I am about to move out and will be living on my own in a privately rented property. The thing is, how much rent should I be looking at paying without leaving myself broke & destitute? I only earn around �12K a year (after tax), so based on �1K a month, what is a reasonable figure to aim for? The council tax in this area is approx. �1200 a year, gas, electricity and water will be about �800. Any advice would be most appreciated, as I don't want to get into debt over this, nor do I want to find myself unable to afford my rent in a few months time.

[Cheekyteddy]

Are you renting a flat or a house? What area are you living in and is it furnished or unfurnished?

[Sammy Snake]

If you are living alone you will get a 25% discount onm your council tax.  As for the rent, you need to say what area as it varies enormously depending where you are.

[morg_monster]

cheeky I think you might have slightly got the wrong end of the stick, not sure but I think thayden doesn't mean 'what is a reasonable rent for a particular house', but rather 'how much of my income should I be spending on rent?'

Actually a good question and one I have been thinking about as I'm going to be in that position soon. Unfortunately I'm going to be moving to london and there �400-500 a month is pretty much the lowest you can go... dammit.

Only thing I can think of, is add up what you expect to pay monthly on food, bills, clothes, and petrol, car payments, gym membership (if this applies), subtract it from your monthly income and see what is left.  make sure to remember annual things like council tax and tv licence.  Then a bit more for fun, and some more for saving maybe (tho on 12k that will be tight) and what is left you can afford to spend on rent without going broke.

[Sasha13]

I always thought that you should aim to spend not more than one third of your income (after tax) on rent.

[twiglet4frog]

have a look in local papers and get an idea of what to expect for what u are hoping to spend, most people in your area wil charge approx the same for the same sort of bedrooms/features so it is just a case of looking and seeing the prices u can expect to pay and then work out what u can realistially afford.

I say this because most people here cant afford more than a small one bed flat for as low as 350 a month at best so if u think u cant afford much more than that then thats what u are looking to have.

[Hermia]

A woman I know who owns numerous properties she rents out says the rental industry says people should not spend more than 30% of their GROSS income on rent. She sits down with potential tenants and works this out with them. She is very reluctant to rent to people who will be spending more than this. I did work it out and 30% of my salary is what I could spend on rent whilst being able to meet all my other commitments.