Renting a room in London hits £995 – how to cut costs

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Where should I go if I want to rent in London?
How to save on renting costs

Rents in London have risen by a whopping 37% over the past five years, new data has shown.

Renting a single room in London now costs an average of £995 a month, up from £728 at the end of 2020. That makes it over £300 more expensive than the rest of the UK on average.

Here’s a full table of London’s postcodes and their average rental costs, provided by flatshare website SpareRoom, which helps people find a room to rent.

Where should I go if I want to rent in London?

According to the website, the cheapest place to live is a postcode in East London – E12, which is the Manor Park area – where rents have fallen to an average of £721, making it almost £300 cheaper than the capital’s average.

East Ham, also in East London, has average rents of £759.

How to save on renting costs

There are several ways to bag yourself a cheaper room if you’re looking to rent.

First, it’s always worth attempting to negotiate your rate with your landlord or property manager.

You may be able to get a better monthly deal if you are able to commit to a longer lease, or can offer an extra incentive, such as being willing to do minor maintenance work to the house in exchange for a cheaper rate.

It may also be cheaper to rent unfurnished, if you’re able to provide your own furniture. You may find that buying secondhand furniture is cheaper than committing to a higher monthly rent.

Cut down on other costs, too – you may not have control of your rent, but you can control other factors like your energy usage, water bills and subscriptions by being as efficient as possible.