Starting your first job in London usually means finding somewhere to live in a hurry, working out what will actually fit in it, and getting your belongings there without burning your first month's energy on logistics. This guide covers the three things that catch most first time movers out: the speed of the rental market, the size of the rooms, and the send ahead or carry decision.
The timeline from viewings to keys
London lettings move faster than anywhere else in the UK. Decent rooms in shared flats are often let within a day or two of being listed, and it is normal to be asked for a decision at the viewing itself. Plan for this rather than being surprised by it.
A realistic sequence looks like this:
- Three to four weeks before your start date: book viewings in batches of four or five across one or two days. Travelling to London repeatedly for single viewings wastes time you do not have
- Offer stage: if you want the room, say so at the viewing. You will usually be asked for a holding deposit, which is capped at one week's rent under the Tenant Fees Act 2019
- Referencing: typically two to five working days. As a first jobber you will not have payslips yet, so have your signed offer letter ready. Many agents accept it; others will ask for a UK based guarantor instead
- Deposit and contract: the security deposit is capped at five weeks' rent for most tenancies, and it must be protected in a government approved scheme within 30 days
- Keys: often only a few days after referencing clears. From first viewing to moving in, two weeks is common
The practical consequence: do not book your belongings to arrive before you are certain of a key date.
What a London room actually fits
Temper expectations before you pack. The legal minimum for a single bedroom in a licensed shared house in England is 6.51 square metres, and plenty of London rooms are not far above it. A typical room in a shared flat holds a double bed, a wardrobe or a clothes rail, a small desk and not much else. There is rarely a loft, almost never a garage, and hallway or kitchen storage is shared with housemates who have exactly the same problem.
A useful rule: if you cannot picture precisely where an item will live in a room the size of a parking space, do not send it.
What to carry with you
Keep these with you on the day you travel, whatever else you do:
- Passport, tenancy paperwork and anything with your signature on it
- Laptop, phone, chargers and headphones
- One week of work appropriate clothes
- Medication, glasses, toiletries
- A towel and one set of bedding, because your boxes should not need to beat you to the flat
Everything on that list fits in a large rucksack and one suitcase, which is a comfortable load on the train.
What to send ahead
Send the things you need in week two rather than hour one: books, the rest of your wardrobe, spare shoes, kitchen kit if your flat needs it, hobby gear, and your main duvet and pillows if you carried a temporary set.
Here is how the timing works with us. We collect from your home postcode area on its weekly run day, everything travels via our Oxfordshire hub, and London deliveries run on Wednesdays. So if you get keys on a Saturday, a collection from home that week puts your boxes at your new front door on the following Wednesday. You spend your first weekend settling in with the essentials you carried, and the rest arrives once you are in.
Two service levels cover most situations. Kerbside, from £199, means you bring your packed items to the door when the van arrives. Assisted, from £349, means we carry from inside the property, which matters more at the London end if your new room is at the top of a Victorian conversion. Sending five to ten pieces prices each one at £15, and eleven or more drops the per piece rate to £12. A furniture item is £45 and a bike is £59, and either of those brings a two person crew.
What not to bring at all
Most London rooms come furnished, so leave or sell beds, wardrobes, desks and sofas unless a specific piece genuinely matters to you. White goods stay behind; the flat has them. Think hard about a car too: between the congestion charge zone, emissions zones and permit parking, many people starting out in London find life simpler without one.
Your first fortnight, sorted
Book collection from home for your area's run day, travel light on moving day, receive your boxes the following Wednesday, and spend the saved effort on the job you actually moved for. Register with a GP near the flat, set up a post redirection from your old address, and update your bank before your first payday. The move itself is the easy part if you let the heavy things travel without you.