Aisha and Jessica share a two-bedroom flat in Lewisham (Picture: Jerry Syder/Metro.co.uk)

Renting in London: It can be a bit of a ballache.

It’s pricey, tricky to find somewhere within reach of work, and you have to be happy with plenty of compromise.

Sure, I’ll give up a living room if that means I’m near a tube station.

Yep, fine, I’ll exceed my budget of £700 a month if it means I have a bathtub.


To get a better idea of the reality of those compromises, each week we take a look at a different person’s renting set-up for our series, What I Rent.

This week we’re hanging out with Aisha, who shares a two-bedroom flat in Lewisham with Jessica, who she met through SpareRoom.

They met on SpareRoom then found a place together (Picture: Jerry Syder/Metro.co.uk)

Hey, Aisha. How much do you pay for this place?



We pay £1,350 in total, with a £685/£665 split to balance out the size difference of the rooms.

Bills are around £130 each. We don’t know exactly yet as we moved in less than two months ago. It’s a third floor flat so we’ve not needed our heating on much yet – hopefully this will make it cheaper!

And what do you get for that price?

Two bedrooms and two bathrooms – one is an en-suite.

Do you like the area?

We love it, Lewisham has pretty much everything thing you need, including a six day fruit and veg market which is so cheap.

You also get more for your money compared to other areas and we love the proximity to Blackheath, Greenwich and Deptford.

Plus it’s only a 10 minute train to London Bridge so it’s super convenient.

Having both had some nightmare renting situations, they’re pretty happy here (Picture: Jerry Syder/Metro.co.uk)

Do you feel like you have enough space?

Absolutely, we both had tiny rooms in our places before so this is a major upgrade. Jessica is very happy to finally have space for a desk in her room.

How did you find the flat?

Through Rightmove, Jessica contacted the estate agents as soon as it went online and we had the first viewing the next morning. We snapped it up immediately.

We found each other on SpareRoom then looked for a place – we had our fair share of flat hunting nightmares so bonded pretty quickly.

How have you made the flat feel like home?

With lots of plants!

They’ve made their flat feel like home with plenty of plants and artwork (Picture: Jerry Syder/Metro.co.uk)

Are there any issues with the flat so far?

Nothing so far, it’s a lovely flat, everything is pretty modern and seems to work.

If we had one complaint it would be the size of the balcony – it would’ve been so easy to make it bigger.

Any plans to move again?

Definitely not any time soon, we love it here and plan to stay put for a couple of years at least.

And what about buying a place?

I’ve considered it, but realistically that won’t happen for at least another 10 years.

True, true. Shall we have a look around Aisha and Jessica’s place, then?

Here’s the living/dining area, which leads into the kitchen (Picture: Jerry Syder/Metro.co.uk)

Hope you’re counting the plants (Picture: Jerry Syder/Metro.co.uk)

The kitchen is spacious (Picture: Jerry Syder/Metro.co.uk)

The open plan helps (Picture: Jerry Syder/Metro.co.uk)

(Picture: Jerry Syder/Metro.co.uk)

Nice light, right? (Picture: Jerry Syder/Metro.co.uk)

And some snazzy teapots (Picture: Jerry Syder/Metro.co.uk)

There’s a small balcony out from the living room (Picture: Jerry Syder/Metro.co.uk)

(Picture: Jerry Syder/Metro.co.uk)

This is Jessica’s room. It’s slightly smaller so she pays less – £665 a month (Picture: Jerry Syder/Metro.co.uk)

(Picture: Jerry Syder/Metro.co.uk)

(Picture: Jerry Syder/Metro.co.uk)

She’s happy to have a desk that will fit (Picture: Jerry Syder/Metro.co.uk)

There are two bathrooms in the flat. One is shared, the other is Aisha’s en-suite (Picture: Jerry Syder/Metro.co.uk)

The ‘shared’ bathroom effectively functions as Jessica’s (Picture: Jerry Syder/Metro.co.uk)

(Picture: Jerry Syder/Metro.co.uk)

There’s a shower and a bathtub, which feels like a luxury in London (Picture: Jerry Syder/Metro.co.uk)

This is one of two toothbrush shots, dental care fans (Picture: Jerry Syder/Metro.co.uk)

Now on to Aisha’s room (Picture: Jerry Syder/Metro.co.uk)

It’s bigger, so Aisha pays £685 a month (Picture: Jerry Syder/Metro.co.uk)

How many plants have you spotted by this point? (Picture: Jerry Syder/Metro.co.uk)

And, as we mentioned, Aisha’s room has an en-suite bathroom (Picture: Jerry Syder/Metro.co.uk)

Here’s that second toothbrush shot we promised (Picture: Jerry Syder/Metro.co.uk)

We’re big fans of that cabinet (Picture: Jerry Syder/Metro.co.uk)

What I Rent is a weekly series that’s out every Tuesday at 10am. Check back next week to have a nose around another rented property in London.

How to get involved in What I Rent What I Rent is Metro.co.uk's weekly series that takes you inside the places people are renting, to give us all a better sense of what's normal and how much we should be paying. If you fancy taking part, please email whatirent@metro.co.uk. You'll need to have pictures taken of your kitchen, living room, bathroom, and bedroom, plus a few photos of you in your room. Make sure you get permission for your housemates! You'll also need to be okay with sharing how much you're paying for rent, as that's pretty important.

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