London is an amazing city, in fact we think it’s the best place in the world. The trouble is a lot of other people think exactly the same thing so finding a great place to live that you can afford can be tricky, even for an experienced Londoner. To make matters worse London has evolved organically over time into a patchwork quilt of villages each with their own distinct character. Read more
This means it’s vital to have detailed local information about the London rental market in order to find the perfect area for you.
That’s why we created Discover London. It is a crucial resource for packed with London rental information which will unlock the city and allow you to enjoy your time as a Londoner whether it’s for a few months or a few decades or for life. While some people want to live as close as possible to where they work and don’t care about anything else, others want to live surrounded by open space and don’t mind a commute. There’s no such thing as the average Londoner and there’s nothing average about any part of London.
We started with a map. It cuts through the complexity to break London into easily recognisable villages. We made them into little boxes for two main reasons, firstly it makes London easier to understand and secondly it looks really cool. This view lets you see London as it actually is, a collection of small settlements with their own strengths weaknesses and personalities. We think that once you can hold all the information of the London rental market in the palm of your hand you can move forward with confidence.
With discover London you can start with the highest level view and see a hot spot map showing which areas are the most and least expensive for individual types of property. You can also see a hot spot map of crime and council tax rates as well as seeing which areas you have added to your profile so you don’t have to remember. But our library of London rental market information doesn’t stop there, we’ll also display the top 5 areas for the main types of Londoner including families, cities workers, open spaces, shopoholics, party animals and those looking for a village feel.
With our map you can drill down to access crucial information like how well connected the area is to the centre via public transport, what sorts of people live there and even cool things to do. When it comes to transport accessibility not everyone wants to go to the same place, for example a place in the east end might be fantastic for getting into the City of London but not so great for getting to Hammersmith. For that reason we’ve identified a handful of the most common central London destinations and show the travel time to the closest one. We also show which neighbourhoods are the most expensive and most affordable.
Once you’ve got a short list of your favourite area you can stack them up against each other and see how they compare. For up to 5 areas you can compare average rents, how rents have changed, council tax time to central London and the crime rate. We look at crime rate the rentonomy way – by only including the sorts of crimes that affect choosing a place to live, things like burglaries violence and robberies rather than financial crimes etc. When it comes to finding the best area for you you’ll always have to compromise on something and this allows you to do so with your eyes wide open.
If you want to take the Rentonomy experience go a step further then you can use our famous “Where to live in London” tool which will ask you a few detailed questions about your self and match you with the perfect area for you. You can also use our “Am I paying too much rent” tool to see if you’re getting a fair deal. It’s also very useful if you’re looking for a quick idea on what the type of property you have in mind will cost. With both these tools, the more you tell us, the more specific we can be.
