This tool is designed to help people quickly find out what they can expect to pay in rent in London. It's useful for people moving to London for the first time and for existing renters asking the question "Am I paying too much in rent?" Read more
How it works
The model allows you find out what you can expect to pay either on a specific property (i.e. where you know the exact address and all its details) or a general property in a general area (e.g. a I think I want a 2 bed property in Clapham). The more you tell it, the more precise it can be.
When should I use it?
You can use it before you move to London, when you're about to sign a contract with a landlord or when you're already moved in an wondering "is my rent to high?" This widget is very powerful when combined with our other widget Where should I live?. Using the two together, you can figure out where the best part of London for you is, and then based on your preferences, find out how much you can expect to pay in rent there.
Can this help me combat fraud?
Yes. This tool could help to protect you from fraud. There is a very common fraud in the online property rental world where excellently located properties are advertised for very low rates (e.g. 2 bed flat in Knightsbridge for £500 per month). The excited would-be renter is then told by the “landlord” to deposit one month’s salary in their Western Union account “to show that they are serious”. The property is of course fictional, but the theft is very real. With our tool, you'll be able to tell what's realistic and what's not.
How does it work?
The first thing we have done is to compile a big database of rental values across London. We have done this using an array of publicly available sources like those provided by the Mayor of London as well as out own proprietary datasets. This gives us a feel for the distribution of rents across London and how they range by number of bedrooms. This will tell us that a 2 bedroom property in Clapham usually costs somewhere between £330 and £430 per week. But £100 is a pretty big range so we’ve taken it to the next level.
In order to figure out more precisely what rent you can expect to pay, we’ve conducted a number of detailed surveys which quantify the relative impact of an array of property characteristics on rental levels. These are a few of the questions we ask in the model, to pin down exactly what you should be paying.
- • How many bedrooms?
- • Roughly how big is it?
- • Is there a concierge or porter?
- • In what condition is the decor of the property?
- • How modern are the fixtures and fitting?
Of course you may not know the answer to any of these questions, but the good news is that. The more answers you give us, the more accurate we can be, but the only factors we absolutely need are the name of the area, bedroom count and house type.
