Renting a place in Leeds city centre becomes much easier when you pair up with a flatmate. That is the message from Zenko City Living, a specialist lettings agency based in the city.
The agency has broken down the numbers to show how much tenants need to earn to clear standard affordability checks. Most referencing agencies require an individual’s annual salary to equal at least 30 times the monthly rent.
For a single worker on the National Living Wage of £12.71 an hour, a full-time annual salary sits around £26,000. That qualifies a solo renter for a property costing roughly £866 a month. When two people on that same wage team up, their combined affordability threshold jumps to £1,732 per month, massively expanding their options.
Looking at popular central spots like the LS2 postcode, which covers places around The Calls, Millennium Square, and Quarry Hill, the average two-bedroom apartment currently goes for £1,312 a month. Split between two sharers, each person only needs an annual income of £19,680 to pass the checks.
“Although rents have increased in recent years, Leeds continues to offer good value for money compared with many other major UK cities,” said Tobias Duczenko, Managing Director at Zenko City Living. “Two people on relatively modest salaries can have access to a good choice of properties in some of the most popular parts of the city.”
With the average salary in Leeds currently sitting around £37,596 a year, a joint household earning that average can look at properties up to £2,500 a month. That budget comfortably opens up some of the highest-spec build-to-rent and private developments across the city centre.
Tobias added that many newcomers to the city are surprised by how far their money goes, especially those moving up from places like London, Bristol, or Manchester.
