Inexpensive housing in London

October 5, 2007 2:24 PM

Is it possible to find inexpensive housing in London? I'd like to spend six months to a year in London researching and writing a book. I have a very limited pension income, plus occasional unpredictable freelance writing assignments. I'm thinking shared housing, a room, a house-sitting arrangement is my only hope. Does anyone have experience or suggestions to share--including how to look for housing from the USA?
posted by NorthCoastCafe to travel & transportation (7 comments total)

Here are some links:

for sharing Gumtree

General classifieds Loot

Sabbatical Homes is good for finding all sorts of housing including a single room Sabbatical Homes

The other London UK folks will be posting more material. But there is plenty of askmefi links just search for London or UK as the terms and much can be had.
posted by jadepearl at 2:50 PM on October 5, 2007

The Victorian Research Web has many, many suggestions.
posted by thomas j wise at 3:47 PM on October 5, 2007

What's London enough for you? Could you live elsewhere in the southeast and commute in for research, or is living in the center of the city (say, Zone 1?) essential?
posted by mdonley at 3:48 PM on October 5, 2007

I'm guessing that this should be the Sabbatical Homes link.
posted by Gomez_in_the_South at 4:03 PM on October 5, 2007

Can you define "very limited" please? Given the low value of the US dollar (your location is not given in your profile, so I'm just going with American here...) this is going to be critical.

You can certainly get a reasonably priced houseshare in a London suburb on a train line to the city. £370 per month including bills is doable and quite cheap by sub-London standards.

Please remember you will need travel insurance as you will not be covered by the national health service!
posted by DarlingBri at 4:27 PM on October 5, 2007

MoveFlat is another good London flatsharing website. The University of London housing guide is a useful guide to popular areas for students to live, including this postcode map showing rents per week. Living further out is cheaper, but transport is a bit more expensive. If you can get away with only using buses and not the tube, travel passes are cheaper.
posted by penguinliz at 5:01 PM on October 5, 2007

Transport is quite expensive relative to that in any US city, and it varies a lot based on what area you live in. So please be sure to research transit costs at the same time you research rents.
posted by sparrows at 9:58 PM on October 5, 2007