I was prepared to live in an Airbnb after being told I was number 79 for a viewing
First published on 20/09/23
We all know the impact of the cost of living crisis in London. But there’s another capital city in the UK that is a minefield for tenants trying to find somewhere suitable to rent in right now - Cardiff. The cost of rent in the capital that no-one seems to be talking about is astronomical. I chronicled my experience in 2023:
Based on a sample of 87,103 households from Rents Officers Wales, out of 228,600 households in the private rental market, the average rent in Wales in February 2023 was £614 per month. Cardiff had the highest average rent across local authorities (£819), according to the Welsh Government report, whereas Blaenau Gwent had the lowest (£453).
If you’re living alone, and are looking for a one-bed flat to rent, you’re looking at paying up to £1,000 a month with bills in the Welsh capital - and those are some of the most basic studios. If you’re a student or on a lower wage, that leaves you with just a few hundred pounds leftover to get you through the rest of the month for food, potentially travel costs and then whatever else you can afford.
But add to that the demand for rented properties that's coming alongside these prices, and things get complicated.
It’s a bleak reality for many. For me, I thought I was lucky enough to be able to look for a place with a friend d move out of a SpareRoom house share in Cardiff. House shares are great but after you’ve done a few, the thought of not having to get to know a whole new group of strangers again sounds appealing.
But I was naïve to think that being able to move in with someone I already knew would make the process easier. The market is crazy right now.
Understandably, with the current renting climate, it was easy enough to find someone to fill my room in my former house share on August 30. This was a few months ago, and I thought there was plenty of time for me to find somewhere else with my friend, so I promised the new person the room was hers, but little did I know how challenging the process was going to be.
Read the full piece here.