How much can trainees afford in rent?

[puggins]

Please feel free to re-allocate if this isn't in the appropriate area of the forum, but I was hoping someone could tell me roughly how much rent they paid per month as a first year?

I'm currently looking at flats to live on my own during training, and I am hoping that £600 will be affordable on a trainee salary. Can anyone please tell me if that has been possible in their own experiences, or am I hopelessly optimistic?

[ChrisCross]

I'd say £600 per month should be affordable on a band 6 NHS salary, though obviously it will depend on personal circumstances and your other outgoings. My partner and I split our rent between us, which is £750, but absolute worst case scenario I would still be able to afford that on my own (might not leave much room for savings mind, but it would be doable). I also don't drive though, which does make a difference I'm sure.

[olive]

It depends where you're living... but it's not a bad salary so you should be able to find somewhere within that budget most cities. (Somewhere like Liverpool/Glasgow can get nice flat in city centre for that, but obviously in London couldn't).

[puggins]

Thank you olive: I may not have worded myself well - I wanted to know if £600 is too large a chunk to lose from a trainees 1st year salary, rather than if it is possible to get a property for that price. I currently rent near London but shared with my partner, so I understand the difficulty there!

Thank you Chris, that's helpful to know! My hope is to be able to save whilst leaving on my own, and would rather not end up with no money left at the end of the month, but currently I don't like the look of a lot of properties I've seen, so might have to up the budget!

[firegal]

I was paying £545 a month and then bills on top for a flat on my own in my first year and managed to put money for savings aside most months without an issue £600 would still have been very doable, I think >£700 would be a stretch.
(For reference, I don't tend to go out a whole lot in terms of expensive meals/drinks out, but I do spend £20 ish a week on hobbies)

[hawke]

I managed living on my own in a studio flat in the centre of an expensive city on a band 4 salary, so definitely do-able on a band 6. It just depends what your other outgoings are and what quality of leisure you are used to. My standards have risen since then, but I'm still aiming to buy/rent somewhere on my own in first year. £500-600 plus bills is very reasonable for a studio / 1 bed flat, speaking as a southerner. Personally I prefer to pay more so I don't have to put up with anyone else's washing up!

[jayf111]

I live in a 1 bed terrace with a lovely garden that backs on to a meadow (in rural area) and it costs me £525 for rent only, adding all the bills comes up to around £750. My partner doesn't live with me at the moment so I have to be careful on my spending (I don't go out much or drink, so I save a bit).

I'm on around £20,600 per annual, my first 'real' salaried job which isn't so bad. It depends on what kind of lifestyle you're used to and how willing you are to compromise on some things.

[Randomswirls]

I bought my flat when I got onto training and I think I pay £500 in total. I do save more and have bills on top.

The salary is going up next month for trainees so I would say you could definitely afford it but think about things like will you be travelling home a lot, if you have a car how much does that cost and also are you a big spender. None of those apply to me but if they did I might question it a bit more.

[AnsweringBell]

I paid £500 a month for my first flat during training, and £625 for my next one; I have probably more bills than a lot of people would, and also don't scrimp on fun. £500 felt reallllly doable, £625 felt JUST doable without having to sacrifice lifestyle stuff at all.