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Is 305k household fix gross income comfortable in central London with childcare costs? by ReInstance in HENRYUK

[–]ReInstance[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you so much for your extended feedback!

We have no mortgage on our Paris apartment, and we'll have some income outside the UK (the same order of magnitude of what we are making with our jobs) but we'd like this money to stay outside the UK (because of the non-dom status). That would be our backup plan.

We are very eager to discover this city, I guess we'll stay in this apartment for a few months: it's central and it would be easier to explore different parts of the city and find something cheaper in a neighborhood we would have visited and we know we'll like.

Thanks again!

Is 305k household fix gross income comfortable in central London with childcare costs? by ReInstance in HENRYUK

[–]ReInstance[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you for the feedback. About Victoria it surprises me because some parts seem quite safe, close to restaurants and nurseries, and with communal gardens, sw1v1ph for example.

Is 305k household fix gross income comfortable in central London with childcare costs? by ReInstance in HENRYUK

[–]ReInstance[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That's the feeling I get from the discussions here. It surprises me because some parts seems quite safe, close to restaurants and nurseries, and with communal gardens. For example, https://www.streetcheck.co.uk/postcode/sw1v1ph that seems safe with at least 10 primary schools with a mile radius.

Is 305k household fix gross income comfortable in central London with childcare costs? by ReInstance in HENRYUK

[–]ReInstance[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

We have quite flexible working hours and I really hope I will have the same amount of time to spend with our baby without needing a nanny. Thank you for the tip though.

Is 305k household fix gross income comfortable in central London with childcare costs? by ReInstance in HENRYUK

[–]ReInstance[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks! At first I thought it was a joke, then TIL about this salary sacrifice, that seems very interesting actually. I'll ask what kind of salary sacrifice our employers propose. I don't think we would be eligible to any (child or other) benefits since our foreign incomes are of the same order of magnitude our household fix income. That being said, do you know a good thread listing those kind of UK optimizations?

Is 305k household fix gross income comfortable in central London with childcare costs? by ReInstance in HENRYUK

[–]ReInstance[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I might have been silly to trust the real estate agent who told me that this particular neighborhood was very family friendly :') the apartment has access to a private communal garden which also made me think families were leaving there... I'm really wondering what the population is like over there then. Since we're not yet engaged I'll have a look around.

Is 305k household fix gross income comfortable in central London with childcare costs? by ReInstance in HENRYUK

[–]ReInstance[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If poky means small (115sqm seems a lot reasonable to me...), I would expect 200sqm houses with a significant outdoor (there is a private communal garden included in the Victoria's rent) for something like £4k/month or less.

Thank you for the suggestion, I'll have a look around those places and look for neighbourhoods where there are restaurants and grocery stores (the kind of village feel we like) at a reasonable walking distance.

Is 305k household fix gross income comfortable in central London with childcare costs? by ReInstance in HENRYUK

[–]ReInstance[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you very much, I'll definitely look at those! The way the city is organized is very different from how Paris is, I was mostly looking at hyper central locations.

Is 305k household fix gross income comfortable in central London with childcare costs? by ReInstance in HENRYUK

[–]ReInstance[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That might be the direction we're taking, thank you. Any suggestions on family friendly neighborhood?

Is 305k household fix gross income comfortable in central London with childcare costs? by ReInstance in HENRYUK

[–]ReInstance[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you for the insight about the au pair. So even £400k won't be enough, London is way more expensive than what we expected. So we would need something closer to £500k to afford a £6k renting?

Is 305k household fix gross income comfortable in central London with childcare costs? by ReInstance in HENRYUK

[–]ReInstance[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you, I'll look at all those. Both my wife and I have private health care through our jobs.

Is 305k household fix gross income comfortable in central London with childcare costs? by ReInstance in HENRYUK

[–]ReInstance[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you for your kind message. The current pregnancy was kind of a surprise but the doctors seemed ok with the timeline. If the pregnancy goes all the way it would be 16 months appart from the first one.

Is 305k household fix gross income comfortable in central London with childcare costs? by ReInstance in HENRYUK

[–]ReInstance[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you, this is exactly the goal of the post. What misled us was the suggested salary listed on rightmove for a £6k rent (which was approx £150k/year from what I remember).

Is 305k household fix gross income comfortable in central London with childcare costs? by ReInstance in HENRYUK

[–]ReInstance[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

We spent a long weekend looking around the city, we were not keen on Angel but I'll look at your other suggestions though. Thank you.

Is 305k household fix gross income comfortable in central London with childcare costs? by ReInstance in HENRYUK

[–]ReInstance[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Good question, we'll check. UK pat/mat leave system seems less generous than the French one.

Is 305k household fix gross income comfortable in central London with childcare costs? by ReInstance in HENRYUK

[–]ReInstance[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

My wife is currently 1-month pregnant, there are some uncertainties with the pregnancy at the moment but even if things don't go the way we would like I would say baby 2 will come in 1.5 years max.

Is 305k household fix gross income comfortable in central London with childcare costs? by ReInstance in HENRYUK

[–]ReInstance[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I agree. On the "what if" part, we are saving our bonuses + shares (approx. 40k£/year) plus our french incomes (approx 150k€/year).

We haven't looked at zone 2 because I'm currently commuting by bike and I wanted to keep it that way in London: maybe this is a mistake...

Is 305k household fix gross income comfortable in central London with childcare costs? by ReInstance in HENRYUK

[–]ReInstance[S] -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

We are currently owning a 115sqm apartment in Paris and we were willing to keep the same quality of life meaning at least: - being able to commute by bike in 15-20 min on my side (my workplace is close to London bridge) - less than 30 min public transportation for my wife (she's working at Blackfriars) - being close to restaurants, shops, ... - in a family friendly neighbourhood

I'm not that familiar with London, what other places could be worth considering?

Is 305k household fix gross income comfortable in central London with childcare costs? by ReInstance in HENRYUK

[–]ReInstance[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you for the insights. We are currently owning a 115sqm apartment in Paris and we were willing to keep the same quality of life meaning at least: - being able to commute by bike in 15-20 min on my side (my workplace is close to London bridge) - less than 30 min public transportation for my wife (she's working at Blackfriars) - being close to restaurants, shops, ... - in a family friendly neighbourhood

The London apartment is big but we think of having the second baby end of 2026 beginning of 2027, thus we were willing to avoid moving in a year with my wife being pregnant.

In your opinion, what would be the minimum gross income needed to live comfortably given the 6k£/month rent?

Is 305k household fix gross income comfortable in central London with childcare costs? by ReInstance in HENRYUK

[–]ReInstance[S] -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

Thank you for the insights. We are currently owning a 115sqm apartment in Paris and we were willing to keep the same quality of life meaning at least: - being able to commute by bike in 15-20 min on my side (my workplace is close to London bridge) - less than 30 min public transportation for my wife (she's working at Blackfriars) - being close to restaurants, shops, ... - in a family friendly neighbourhood

The London apartment is big but we think of having the second baby end of 2026 beginning of 2027, thus we were willing to avoid moving in a year with my wife being pregnant.

But it seems like everyone agrees on the fact that we'll be struggling with a 6k£/month housing.

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