A room in a London flatshare cost £915 a month on average in the second quarter of 2026, with bills included (SpareRoom Rental Index). A one-bedroom flat cost £1,760 a month on average in August 2026, without bills (ONS Price Index of Private Rents). Once you add the bills and council tax a sharer splits and a solo renter pays alone, living alone in London costs roughly £1,000 a month more than a room. On rent alone, a one-bed costs from about £300 a month more than the London average room in the cheapest outer boroughs to more than £1,700 more in Kensington and Chelsea.
This guide covers renting in London under the law in England. The figures are the latest available on 24 September 2026.
Why the headline gap understates the cost of living alone
The two averages measure different things. SpareRoom’s £915 is the average advertised rent for a room, and room adverts normally include bills. The ONS £1,760 is the average rent being paid for one-bedroom homes across all tenancies, new and long-running, and excludes bills. So the simple difference, £845 a month, compares a price with bills against a price without them.
The ONS average also sits below what a flat advertised today will cost, because it includes tenants still on older rents. Rightmove’s average London asking rent for all sizes of home was a record £2,791 a month in the second quarter of 2026, against the ONS all-homes average of £2,332 in August (Rightmove Rental Trends Tracker). If you are moving now, expect a one-bed to be advertised above the ONS figure. SpareRoom’s room figure is already an asking price, so the gap for someone moving today is, if anything, wider than the averages show.
The monthly sums, worked through
Take the London averages and add what a person living alone pays that a sharer does not pay in full.
| Cost | Room in a flatshare | One-bed, living alone |
|---|---|---|
| Rent | £915, bills usually included | £1,760 |
| Energy | Usually in the room rent | At least £26 in standing charges alone; about £144 on a typical-use bill |
| Council tax | Usually in the room rent in a house let room by room | About £115 (Band C at the London average, less the 25% single-person discount) |
| TV licence | Depends on the tenancy (see below) | £15 |
| Broadband and water | Usually in the room rent | Extra, varies by provider |
| Total | About £915 | About £1,916 to £2,034, before broadband and water |
The energy range comes from Ofgem’s price cap for October to December 2026: the standing charges alone (54.83p a day for electricity, 29.68p for gas on Direct Debit) come to £308 a year per home, whoever lives there, and a typical dual-fuel household on the cap pays £1,723 a year, about £144 a month (Ofgem, 26 August 2026). These are Great Britain averages; London’s regional rates differ slightly. A single person in a small flat may use less than Ofgem’s typical household, in which case the bill falls between the two figures. The standing charge is the part sharing saves most clearly: four flatmates split one.
Council tax is the other fixed cost. London’s average Band D bill is £2,068 for 2026/27 (MHCLG), and the example uses Band C; you can check your own home’s band on GOV.UK before you sign. Band C is eight-ninths of Band D by law, £1,838 a year at the London average, and someone living alone gets 25% off, leaving about £1,379, or £115 a month (GOV.UK: who has to pay). Your borough’s bill can be far lower or higher: Wandsworth’s Band D is the lowest in England, Kingston’s the highest in London.
The TV licence costs £180 a year from April 2026 (GOV.UK), £15 a month if you watch live TV or BBC iPlayer.
Moving in costs more alone, too. A five-week deposit on the £1,760 one-bed average is £2,031; on a £915 room it is £1,056.
Borough by borough: what living alone adds
The gap between a one-bed and a room depends almost entirely on the borough. The table ranks every borough the ONS publishes by its average one-bed rent in August 2026, shows how much more that is than SpareRoom’s London average room (£915, bills included), and shows the one-bed rent as a share of the median full-time pay of people living in the borough. SpareRoom does not publish room rents by borough, so the London room average is used throughout. It does publish separate figures for inner London (£979) and outer London (£794), so in the outer boroughs the gap to a local room is likely to be around £120 more than the table shows.
| Borough | One-bed average | More than a £915 room | Share of local pay |
|---|---|---|---|
| Havering | £1,217 | £302 | 34% |
| Bexley | £1,229 | £314 | 33% |
| Sutton | £1,239 | £324 | 34% |
| Hillingdon | £1,252 | £337 | 36% |
| Croydon | £1,265 | £350 | 35% |
| Bromley | £1,312 | £397 | 32% |
| Redbridge | £1,368 | £453 | 38% |
| Barking and Dagenham | £1,377 | £462 | 43% |
| Kingston upon Thames | £1,379 | £464 | 38% |
| Harrow | £1,394 | £479 | 38% |
| Waltham Forest | £1,400 | £485 | 38% |
| Enfield | £1,422 | £507 | 39% |
| Lewisham | £1,457 | £542 | 40% |
| Barnet | £1,500 | £585 | 40% |
| Greenwich | £1,563 | £648 | 42% |
| Brent | £1,577 | £662 | 49% |
| Hounslow | £1,583 | £668 | 48% |
| Ealing | £1,629 | £714 | 48% |
| Newham | £1,630 | £715 | 50% |
| Haringey | £1,639 | £724 | 46% |
| Merton | £1,639 | £724 | 43% |
| Richmond upon Thames | £1,732 | £817 | 42% |
| Southwark | £1,876 | £961 | 49% |
| Lambeth | £1,882 | £967 | 49% |
| Wandsworth | £1,938 | £1,023 | 49% |
| Tower Hamlets | £1,992 | £1,077 | 52% |
| Hammersmith and Fulham | £2,000 | £1,085 | 54% |
| Hackney | £2,001 | £1,086 | 52% |
| Camden | £2,054 | £1,139 | 55% |
| Islington | £2,178 | £1,263 | 54% |
| Westminster | £2,548 | £1,633 | 61% |
| Kensington and Chelsea | £2,640 | £1,725 | 62% |
Two things stand out. In six outer boroughs (Havering, Bexley, Sutton, Hillingdon, Croydon and Bromley) a one-bed costs less than £400 a month more than the London average room, and takes about a third of local median full-time pay. That is the part of London where living alone is realistic on an ordinary salary, as long as the commute works for you. In the seven most expensive boroughs, from Tower Hamlets to Kensington and Chelsea, a one-bed takes more than half of local median pay before any bills, and in Southwark, Lambeth and Wandsworth it takes just under half. On a median salary, sharing is the realistic way to live in those boroughs.
The pay figures are from ONS ASHE 2024, the year used for every borough on the London Rent Index; ONS’s provisional 2025 figures show London pay a few per cent higher, which would lower each share by a point or two. They are gross, before tax; take-home pay is lower, so the real share of income is higher. Each borough’s own figures, with their history, are on the London Rent Index on FTR London.
What FTR London’s own listings show
The same pattern shows up in the homes advertised on FTR London. Among listings with a London address posted in the 12 months to 24 September 2026, the median asking rent for a room was £1,000 a month (46 listings) and for a one-bed flat £1,650 (23 listings). These are small samples and a snapshot of our own listings, not a market average, and our listings do not record whether a room’s rent includes bills. They sit close to the market figures above: a room a little above SpareRoom’s London average, a one-bed a little below the ONS one.
Can you afford to live alone?
Landlords and letting agents are allowed to check that a tenant’s income can cover the rent, often through a referencing company, and each sets its own income test. If a rent takes half your gross pay, expect to be asked for a guarantor. Offering several months’ rent up front is no longer an option: since 1 May 2026 no rent can be taken before you sign, and no more than one month’s rent between signing and moving in, with no exception for tenants who fail referencing. Our guide to passing tenant referencing in London explains what is checked.
A useful rule of thumb from the table: if a one-bed in the borough you want takes more than 40% of your gross pay before bills, living alone there will be tight, and sharing or a cheaper borough is worth pricing up. The London-wide median full-time pay, by residence, was about £3,698 a month gross in 2024; the London one-bed average is 48% of it.
How sharing works legally since 1 May 2026
How you share decides what happens when a flatmate leaves, so check which arrangement your agreement creates before you sign.
A joint tenancy
If you all signed one tenancy agreement for the whole flat, you are joint tenants. You are each responsible for the whole rent, not just your share, and one person leaving can end it for everyone: GOV.UK’s guidance says that if a joint tenant wants to leave, “one tenant will usually be able to end the joint tenancy without the agreement of the other tenants” (GOV.UK: assured periodic tenancies). Those who want to stay then need the landlord to agree a new tenancy with them. A notice period shorter than the usual two months needs every joint tenant to agree, and a flatmate can be swapped for a new one only if all the tenants and the landlord agree. One TV licence usually covers a joint tenancy.
Your own tenancy for a room
In a house let room by room, each of you has your own tenancy of your room and shared use of the kitchen and bathroom. A flatmate leaving doesn’t end your tenancy, but you have no say over who replaces them. Since 1 May 2026 these are assured periodic tenancies like any other, with no fixed end date and the same limits on rent increases. The landlord, not the tenants, is usually liable for council tax in a house let this way, so it is often built into the rent. Each tenant needs their own TV licence to watch in their own room.
Living with your landlord
If the person you rent from lives in the home, you are a lodger. Lodgers are outside the assured periodic tenancy rules, so the protections above don’t apply in the same way. Shelter’s guidance for lodgers explains your rights.
Licensing
A home rented to five or more people from more than one household who share a kitchen, bathroom or toilet needs a mandatory HMO licence from the council, and many London boroughs also license smaller shared homes (GOV.UK: HMO licence). A licence comes with conditions, including minimum bedroom sizes: 6.51 square metres for one adult (Licensing of HMOs (Mandatory Conditions of Licences) Regulations 2018). Before you sign for a room in a large share, ask whether the house is licensed; our guide to HMO licensing in London explains what to check.
The options in between
Split a two-bed with one other person. London’s average two-bed rent was £2,232 a month in August 2026 (ONS), £1,116 each before bills, which then split two ways instead of four. Before bills that is already about £200 more than an average room with bills included, for more space and one flatmate instead of several. If you both sign one agreement it is a joint tenancy, with the risks that come with one.
Co-living. Purpose-built co-living gives you a private studio-style room and shared kitchens and lounges, with bills in one price. Whether it costs more than a room in a flatshare depends on the building; our comparison of co-living and a flatshare in London sets out the costs and trade-offs.
Who should live alone, and who should share
Live alone if a one-bed in a borough that works for your commute takes well under half your gross pay, if you work from home and need the space, or if you have lived with flatmates and know it isn’t for you. The outer boroughs at the top of the table are where this is realistic on a median salary.
Share if you want to live in inner London on an ordinary salary, if you are new to the city and don’t yet know which area suits you, or if the £1,000 or so a month would do more for you saved than spent on privacy. Choose the arrangement deliberately: your own room tenancy protects you from a flatmate’s decisions, and a joint tenancy ties you to them.
Looking for a room? Browse rooms in shared flats advertised by their landlords, or compare one-bedroom flats to rent across London. Landlords letting a room or a small flat can list it on FTR London and deal with renters directly.
How we researched this: room rents from SpareRoom’s Rental Index (Q2 2026); one-bed and two-bed rents from the ONS Price Index of Private Rents (August 2026); pay from ONS ASHE (2024); bills from Ofgem’s price cap (October to December 2026), MHCLG council tax (2026/27) and GOV.UK; FTR London listings queried on 24 September 2026. Legal points checked against GOV.UK on 24 September 2026.
Correction, 24 September 2026: this guide was rewritten. Earlier versions gave room and flat rent ranges without a source and an unsourced forecast to 2029, and said sharers face rent rises whenever a flatmate changes; since 1 May 2026 rent can rise only once a year through a Form 4A notice.