Guest Post: Tom Church presents uHouse

As you and I well know, living in London is expensive and finding an affordable place to stay can be incredibly difficult. There’s no doubt about it. A student from University College London (UCL) has created a website that he says will help make life a bit easier for anyone on a budget when it comes to flat hunting. And so of course I’ve invited him to write a guest post telling us more about his site and the story behind it. Meet Tom Church.

The first bedroom was more like a prison cell. 9ft long and 6ft wide, it was one of eighty-six identical rooms along a single corridor. “Welcome to your university accommodation”, smirked the security guard. There were two bathrooms and one kitchen shared between forty-three ‘flatmates’. And this kitchen only had one mini-fridge and microwave. The whole place was noisy, dirty, and quite frankly disgusting. But I loved it.

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Londoners can make anything fun, and that year I spent in university-provided accommodation was one of my best. Yet it was also one of the most expensive. Before moving in, I had been naively made to believe that £155 a week for that room was “about right” in London. Remember; no living room, no outside facing window, no sleep. Yet, with an interest-free student loan coming in, who was I to complain? The contract was signed, bags packed.

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Photo: Friday Night Blues by Karva Javi

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Five months later, sitting by a cash-machine, a homeless man asked if I had any change. It was the same man that always asked me for change, and this time, as I was checking my balance and taking out some cash, I would oblige. Then I double-blinked. The on-screen balance read £55.

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With a month to go until my next loan instalment, I was broke. I had to get two part-time evening jobs to pay the rent whilst studying, and it was here I learnt that I was not alone. This story is very, very common amongst London students – especially those from overseas. London rent is just too expensive.

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Photo: Courtain by s_mahela

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However, every problem has a solution. For the last two years I’ve been researching the London rental market and think that I have it. And through Stephanie’s great blog, I would like to present it to you. How can you make London rent cheaper? There are three answers:

1. Share the flat
2. Live further out
3. Look really hard

My solution combines all three, and here it is: uHouse.co (yes, .co).

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uHouse lists all the affordable properties to rent in London. It searches the listings of all the small estate agencies in London, and picks the few houses that are within a budget: £650 per month per person OR LESS. It allows you to contact the estate agent/landlord directly, so there’s no middle man, and it’s entirely free to use. There’s even a Facebook page so you can keep an eye on the best flats as they come up.

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Photo: The Streets of London by Gautier Houba

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uHouse is my thank you gift to the Londoners that made my stay very enjoyable despite some prison-like conditions. I hope that you will find it useful, and if you do find a place to live through it, don’t forget to thank Stephanie for allowing me to write this guest article!

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Find it, love it, live it.

Tom Church

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Listen to a Londoner: Cemay Ilgu

Listen to a Londoner is a weekly interview with a Londoner – someone who lives in this city, born here or elsewhere. If you’re up for being interviewed, email littlelondonobservationist@hotmail.co.uk.

Cemay Ilgu, 28

Cemay has just moved back to London after seven years in North Cyprus and is very excited about it! She can’t wait to introduce the delights of London to her husband Berat and son Onur, as well as the newborn they are expecting any day now.

LLO:  Which part of London are you most familiar with and what’s the best thing about it?
CI: I guess Hampstead High Street, which has a lot of great childhood memories for me. The best thing about it is the combination of little pavement cafes and cute little boutiques – it’s not the most affordable of places, but it has a certain ambience that I like every now and then.

LLO: I’ve got one night in London and want to stay away from the tourist trail. Where would you recommend I go to eat and drink?
CI: Ah, there are so many places! But I guess the one place I know that has it all is The North Pole Bar, in Greenwich. You start off in the main bar for a pre-dinner drink, then go up to the Piano Restaurant, and then if you have the energy after the gorgeous food (or you just want to work it off!) you can go down to the South Pole Club and dance the night away! It’s a complete night out in one venue.

LLO: You’ve got a small son and another one due this week! Where’s the best place in London to take the kiddies?
CI: We took Onur, who’s now 21 months, to the Science Museum last month and he adored it. It’s great fun for the kids but they also get to learn stuff – a perfect combination!

LLO: After living abroad for quite a while and coming back to us, where’s the best place in London to go to get a taste of the food you’d find near your other home in Cyprus?
CI: Absolutely without a doubt it’s Kervan Sofrasi Restaurant, on Hertford Road in Edmonton. Not only is the food affordable, but it’s just outstanding quality. If you like Turkish food, I could recommend no better place.

LLO: Where’s your favourite bakery in London and the best thing they serve?
CI: I am a sucker for Pain au Chocolat, and you’d be hard pressed to find a better one than they serve at Maison Blanc, on Hampstead High Street.

LLO: You’re about to move house. Any flat-hunting tips for people just moving to the city?
CI: Don’t stick to just one agency and try not to limit yourself too much in terms of area – London has a fabulous public transport system and you’re always within reach of somewhere with great transport links – the best properties are often found a little way off the beaten track.

LLO: A new home means decorating… What are the best London shops to deck out the new place?
CI: For us normal folks, you can’t go wrong with Ikea! I’ll be honest, that’s where I have done most of my shopping! But I mixed and matched with bits and pieces I’ve found in places like Camden market, and charity shops are also great for sourcing one off pieces – we once found a 70’s style padded cocktail bar for a bargain £20!

LLO: Best place in London to go on a romantic date (when you get someone to watch the little ones!)?
CI: One of my favourite places that appeals to the Princess Jasmine in me is Pasha, on Gloucester Road. It feels really decadent. The food is exquisite, mostly Moroccan/Middle-Eastern cuisine, but it’s just a lovely, romantic place – all soft lighting and belly dancing!

LLO: What excites you most about being in London again?
CI: Honestly? The diversity and vibrancy, the way that you could do something new, eat something new, discover something new every day for years on end and never get bored! Very different to North Cyprus!

LLO: Favourite London discovery?
CI: A little Italian restaurant called Polpo on Beak Street in Soho. It’s tiny – seats about 50 people, and it doesn’t take bookings so you just kind of turn up and wait, but the food is out of this world – served in small tapas-like portions so you can try a bit of everything, and it’s a really lovely place to socialise with friends, so different as it’s designed to be like a Venetian wine bar. A fabulous little find! Prices are pretty reasonable too for London.

Thanks Cem!

For more Listen to a Londoner posts, click here.

Completely London

In the midst of all the house-hunting the past few weeks, popping into estate agents and picking up their free booklets, I discovered a cool new magazine called Completely London. It’s put out by Kinleigh Folkard & Hayward, but it’s not your typical property magazine.

The first issue, which is the one I picked up, is the “secrets” issue. It has “143 London secrets” buried inside. The magazine offers a taste of different areas where you can buy or rent property in London by featuring interviews with local residents and includes suggestions for nearby pubs and restaurants. There’s a small calender listing a few events in the capital, a look inside some of the current properties on the market and different features available. An article shows off a few of London’s roof gardens, growing in popularity, and loads of colourful photographs.

Their website has a cool list of local London facts. You can read a few of the articles, and take a look at bits of the “Postcode Secrets” article.

To pick up a free copy of the actual magazine, pop into any KFH branch. The second issue will be out around February 16 with a theme of “change”.

Speed Flatmating

I was in the middle of house hunting last week when I decided it may be easier to find people rather than a place and start a completely new flatshare altogether. I met one person who answered a message I put up on an American expat site and we hit it off, but we thought it would be fun to find two more people to add to the mix. That’s when we discovered “speed flatmating”.

Spareroom.co.uk started this little phenomenon where they host an event at a venue in a specific area and everyone flat hunting in that area is welcome to come along and meet up face to face, in a much more personal way than the typical internet search would allow. This one was held at SoBar, a dim, cosy pub with lots of sofas, in Fulham Broadway last week.

Walking in, we saw a group of people standing there looking posh, drinking wine. We were in jeans and wondered what we were getting ourselves into, but later found out it was for the launch of a children’s book and the people we wanted to speak to were on the other side.

We had a kind welcome when we arrived, were given stickers on which we listed our name, area and budget. They were pink if you were looking for a room, white if you had one to let. After heading to the bar for drinks, we stood there looking at our options, feeling slightly awkward. Everyone was either deep in conversation or texting on their phones, but after a few minutes, we joined a conversation, met a few people and everyone was quite open to a chat.

By the end of the night, we found someone we really clicked with and decided we would all find a place together*. The event was supposed to be from 7-9, but we stayed until 11 having some amazing conversations and playing shithead. All in all, a great night. (Even saw Jamie from X-Factor hanging out in the corner with some friends.)

If you’re new to London and not sure where to start, I’d say it’s well worth checking out one of the speed flatmating events. Even if you don’t find a place to live, you might make some new friends. You can also bring friends along so you’re not alone.

All events are either free or about £2.

There’s some more info on the website and blog if you’re interested.

*Didn’t work out in the end, but fun was had by all in the meantime 🙂