Question about living in London area

[BernardandMissBianca]

DH's company has put a possible transfer to the London area back on the table. I need to know about how much it would cost for a family of 5 to live in the area per month. The office is located in Chiswick (Turnham Green Station) and were looking for no more than a 45 minute commute by tube. We are really interested in the Clapham area. Thing I need to know are- cost of electricity, housing, and food ($800.00 USD/month). Do public schools require uniforms and if so how much is that for 2 boys. We are trying to see if it is more cost effective to live there for a year or for Ray to continue to commute to Europe regularly.
He is meeting with the boss on Tuesday, May 3, and hopefully they will make up their mind once and for all.
TIA for any advice and info.

 

[Dimplenose]

As you've had no responses yet I thought I'd give you some idea although all your questions are of the "How long is a piece of string" variety as all depend on the size/location of your house. I live about 30 minutes outside London in a fairly small 3 bed house so here goes. (All figures are from memory - which isn't too reliable)

Electricity - £150 per 3 months
Gas _ £100 per 3 months (winter bill - we only use gas for heating and hot water)
Phone - £50 per 3 months (no international calls!)
Council tax - £150 per month - varies considerably from area to area and is based on size of house
Water Rates - £250 per year again depends on house size

If you're renting then the council tax and water rates may be included in the rent.

I'm not sure how much renting would be.

Public schools are known as State schools over here. Some have nursery classes from age 3 but most start children the Spetember before the 5th bithday (again this varies from county to county). Uniforms also vary a lot but most primary schools require a sweatshirt, polo shirt and skirt/trousers in set colours - so not too expensive unless you end up at one that requires blazers, ties etc. and some don't have a uniform at all. I find it's the black shoes that are the most expensive part for my children. Senior school (from age 11 or 12) uniforms are a lot more involved and expensive.

I hope this helps a little.

Libby

 

[Miffy2003]

I'm not sure how much it is to rent in America but the price of houses over here just now is through the roof.

I don't live in London but my sister did and a modest 2 bedroom flat last year cost £800 per month to rent. This was in a non swanky area and included no bills!

Sorry this probably isn't much help!

 

[BernardandMissBianca]

Thanks Libby and Miffy,
As you can see I'm not even sure what the company is looking for. We would need at least a 3 bedroom house although I would rather it be a 4 bedroom. Ray wants a mews, not a flat. We would rent because the job would only be for about 1 year. We don't want to sell our house here but we live in an area that isn't very populated so renting it out is questionable so we still need to pay for it.
We won't take anything with us because all of our electronics will be useless so I guess we are looking for a furnished place. Ray found one he loves in Clapham for 2816 GBP per month for a furnished 3 bedroom mews. Does this sound reasonable? I don't know what that includes. We have a 2 bedroom detached house for that I pay $1100.00 USD per month.
We are trying to get the company to add on a cost of living allowance because it is so expensive to live there. They don't seem to realize that it is more expensive to fly Ray there and pay for a hotel regularly. We don't want to go broke doing this, it is so Ray can be home more. Right now he is gone 40-42 weeks a year.
The trouble we are having is the guy who is helping us lives in Chiswick and he is single. He is also comparing this move to a temporary move that he did to San Francisco which although is expensive it was still less than living in London.

Sorry I'm rambling I'm just so confused.

 

[mrsv98]

I was a student when I lived in England so I can't really help. However, I did find this website that looks to have good info.

Cost of living in the UK

HTH!

 

[Miffy2003]

Wow that is a frightening amount of rent to have to pay!!!

To be honest that may be excellent value for money but I can't tell you if it is or not as I'm not very well versed in London rents. I'll let someone else advise

Good luck!

 

[BernardandMissBianca]

Thanks everyone,
I'm going to try to do some more research but I'm always open to suggestions. This has become one of those once in a lifetime opportunities and I would hate to pass it up. We moved to Hawaii when Ray was in the Navy, it was expensive but it was an amazing experience. However we now have 3 kids to consider.

Thanks for the site Rebecca, I'm forwarding it to Ray to look at.

 

[Fantasia Sam]

Clapham is a very sort after location and therefore their prices are quite high. Personally if I had the choice I'd rather rent closer to where your DH is working say Richmond or Chiswick itself, it's a beautiful area but Richmond can also be expensive they also have some great schools in the area - all three of my cousins went to State Schools in that area.

I used to live in Southfields very close to the Wimbledon tennis and not a 10 minute drive to Clapham and for my one bedroom ex-local authority (ex-project) apartment I paid £750 a month fully furnished and that was 8 years ago sooo I would definitely expect to pay around £2,000 for the size home you are talking of.