And is that reasonable?

No, I think it's robbery, to be honest.

In London, it's really, like, competitive.

You have to, like, interview the interviewer.

Yeah, it gets really crazy.

I've never rented in the UK.

I've only ever lived in my car.

Living in Brighton's hard, though, I will say.

I live in my van.

I don't want to just, you know, earn money to then just pay rent and that's it.

For the price that we got, it was amazing.

I don't really like the idea of it.

You're paying money all the time and you never really get anything back for it if you're renting all the time.

I think we both quite enjoy living down south, but, yeah, up north is a lot cheaper.

What would be your tip to people who are looking to rent in the UK?

Find a partner, because it saves costs.

Stack up, basically, yeah.

Hiya, welcome to a new episode of Easy English.

Today I wanted to ask the people visiting and living in Brighton about rent.

I want to hear how typical rental properties look like and how much people are paying for them and, most importantly, if they're paying too much in a saturated market.

I also wanted to interview people who are actively choosing not to enter the rental market and, lastly, get any hints and tips that these people might have for if any of you guys are thinking of renting in the UK.

Before we get started, don't forget to become a subscriber to Easy English to get notified when our videos are published.

Here we go.

Whereabouts do you live?

We live in Camp Town at the moment.

We moved there about six months ago, something like that.

I live in my van, so, yeah, so I've got a camp van that I'm converting at the moment.

Oh, really? Yeah.

How long have you been converting it?

I only just started it, yeah, so it's in the start process.

Whereabouts is it that you are living?

I live just up the road by the clock tower.

Okay. Yeah, yeah.

Pretty central? Pretty central.

Whereabouts do you live?

So, at the moment, I live up in Hayworthy.

Whereabouts do you live?

Do you live close by?

I live in Brighton as well, just a bit further up.

It's near Western Road, so it's, again, we both live fairly centrally.

I work somewhere.

It's like a work exchange, so I get a deal.

But I used to work in London as well.

And what was your place like in London?

How big was it?

Where was it?

Right, it's a shared apartment with three other people.

Okay.

In North London, and we share a rent.

And what kind of property is it?

It's a one-bed flat.

One-bed flat.

A studio?

No, not a studio.

We've got a kitchen that kind of backs onto the living room, but it's not quite a studio.

Okay, and so how many rooms in total is that?

Or do you not even know the square metres of it?

Square metreage is probably about 70 square metres,

I'd say, something like that.

Okay.

It's just a flat apartment.

A flat, okay.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

And how many rooms, if you could describe?

Just three or four.

Three or four?

Yeah.

That includes the bathroom and...

Yeah.

It was a proper big house.

I had my own room.

Yeah.

We had a sauna in the garden as well.

What?

Yeah, it was really nice.

For the price that we got, it was amazing.

You got a sauna?

Yeah, you had a sauna in the garden.

But I'd say it's a really nice sense of community.

So at the moment we live in a two bedroom flat, which we do rent.

Okay, and how many rooms would that be?

Or how many square metres?

Do you know the square metres?

So it's around about 90 square metres.

Okay.

And you've got around about four rooms.

Okay.

If you count the cupboards.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Could you tell me how much you're paying?

Our rent costs £1,275 a month.

Okay, and would you say that's...

Plus bills.

And is that reasonable?

No, I think it's robbery, to be honest.

It's about £1,400.

Okay.

It's gone up recently, so we now pay £1,250 a month.

£700 a few years ago?

Yeah, each.

Are you living with your parents or are you...

Yeah, yeah, with my parents, yeah, still saving.

I've never rented in the UK.

I've only ever lived with my parents.

And did you all rent a similar price as well?

Yeah, I flat share.

Okay.

But yeah, it's, again, the amount of space we both have in both of our houses, it's a decent price, but it's, well, decent in this current situation.

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Do you think that's a good amount for the area you're living in?

Oh, I think so, yeah.

Because it's slightly outside London, yeah, outside of Zone 1.

So it's still easy to go to Towsetter, or people to go to work.

Watching the renting costs, just every year they get higher and higher.

So yeah, I think £1,275 a month for a one bedroom flat is robbery, to be honest.

But is that reasonable for the area, do you think?

As in not reasonable, but is that-

That's the going rate, I'd say.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yeah, that's about the amount you'll pay for a one bedroom flat.

I feel like if you go in the route of renting, it's very hard to then save the money for a house in the future.

Yeah, while you're renting, you have to save at least £3,000 or £4,000.

You have to be earning that much in order for you to want to be able to have your own house one day.

It seems like it's sort of the only way forward now, but it seems so hard to own a house rather than like the old days when my parents bought a house for like £50,000 or something.

It's just impossible now.

It feels impossible for a young person growing up anyway, I'd say.

Does the rental market have an impact on why you're choosing to be a van lifer?

Yeah, so it's very expensive.

And also, I don't really like the idea of it, is that you're paying money all the time and you never really get anything back for it if you're renting all the time.

Whereas a profit, it's money I make, I keep, and then it's just petrol, fuel, and stuff like that.

What would be your tip to people who are looking to rent in the UK?

Find a partner, because it saves costs.

It saves costs.

Shack up, basically, yeah.

Exactly, yeah, best way.

So a lot of my friends have either moved in with their girlfriends or their partners, just purely because it's a little bit cheaper as well.

I think that probably the easiest thing to do at the moment here in this country is to go in a spare room and house share with people.

Get a nice sense of community, get people together, different backgrounds, and it tends to be a lot cheaper as well than renting your own place.

That seems to be the way forward for young people at the moment.

How would you go about finding someone?

Spare room.

Spare room.

Spare room, okay.

Yeah, so that's where you find other people to share houses with and stuff like that.

So when I first moved to London,

I just went on spare room.

Okay.

Yeah, spare room.

Then you just use criteria, like where do you want to live?

What's your budget?

How many people do you want to live?

Do you have pets and stuff?

And then just send a bunch of mails to people to reach out.

Found a really nice place here in the center of Brighton, really affordable.

And yeah, met with the landlords, had a meeting with the people that lived there and ended up living there.

It was a really nice community, and I don't regret it at all.

It was a really nice experience.

In London, it's really competitive.

You have to like go to interview, they interview you.

Yeah, it gets really crazy.

Oh, that's quite scary, yeah.

And then they kind of screen you and see if they like you or not.

And then if you're lucky, in six months, you find a place in London.

Many people struggle to find places to stay in London.

What kind of tips would you give for when people are sort of entering into the rental market?

In order to save money, find a place.

Talking about hidden costs and charges when you're leaving a contract.

So just double check if there's any sort of cleaning fees, things like that, because they can mount up.

I've heard that before in student lettings.

I think we both quite enjoy living down South, but yeah, up North is a lot cheaper.

That's a good tip.

To rent or to buy?

Everything as well, yeah.

Drinks are cheaper.

Do you have like a plan, eventually you will just skip the whole renting process and try to own somewhere at one point?

Yeah, I'd say that's the plan, but I don't know if that's even possible at the minute anymore.

I probably would rent, but it would have to be somewhere that,

I wouldn't just rent and be there for a year or something and find somewhere else.

I'd want somewhere that's my home.

Is there like an end goal to eventually save enough money to buy a house, or do you think you could pursue your life in a van?

Probably, yeah, definitely.

Yeah, probably.

I love the lifestyle of just being in a van.

That's great.

I don't really like the idea of living in a big house or doesn't really appeal to me.

That's great.

It's a freedom.

Thanks for watching this week's episode.

Let us know your thoughts on the rental market in the UK and any tips and tricks that you might have to finding cheaper properties.

And as always, we'll see you next time.

Ta-ra.

Ta-ra.