Safety in North London

[irrbloss]

Hi there,

I'm new here and looking for some advice.

I have recently moved to London and am looking at flatshares. I have seen a nice room in a lovely house in South Tottenham (N15 postcode) that I would love to take, but the crime stats according to UpMyStreet are quite scary (lots of burglaries etc.) and I have heard from a fellow student that the area around Green Lanes is not very safe. Also South Tottenham and Tottenham more generally are often cited as not very nice/safe areas to live in.

I am female and not very street-savvy. Would I be ok living in the above area? I wouldn't be getting home past midnight but I would want to feel safe walking from the tube/bus stop to my house and not constantly worry about getting burgled. I know that lots of students live in the N4 area (Green Lanes) and feel fine with that. Also Finsbury Park is full of student tenants whereas I have been told by non-students that FP is not the safest place to live.

If anyone living in Tottenham/South Tottenham could advise me please I would be very grateful. Thanks!

[MichelleAlison]

Originally Posted by irrbloss

Hi there,

I'm new here and looking for some advice.

I have recently moved to London and am looking at flatshares. I have seen a nice room in a lovely house in South Tottenham (N15 postcode) that I would love to take, but the crime stats according to UpMyStreet are quite scary (lots of burglaries etc.) and I have heard from a fellow student that the area around Green Lanes is not very safe. Also South Tottenham and Tottenham more generally are often cited as not very nice/safe areas to live in.

I am female and not very street-savvy. Would I be ok living in the above area? I wouldn't be getting home past midnight but I would want to feel safe walking from the tube/bus stop to my house and not constantly worry about getting burgled. I know that lots of students live in the N4 area (Green Lanes) and feel fine with that. Also Finsbury Park is full of student tenants whereas I have been told by non-students that FP is not the safest place to live.

If anyone living in Tottenham/South Tottenham could advise me please I would be very grateful. Thanks!

Hi and welcome to the forum.

I know the areas you mention very well, so much so, that I wouldn't live in any of them if you gave me a house free of charge. Maybe I am over re-acting, but I would never walk in those areas alone, although many people will nodoubt disagree with me and say I am over the top.

I'm sorry to be so negative, but you did ask for personal knowledge.

Good luck with your plans and where have you moved from?

Michelle

[irrbloss]

Yikes!! Thanks for your opinion, it's really valuable. You're a woman and you know the area, so although people may say you're over the top I'd be very inclined to listen to you

Hmm...will have to have a think now. I told the girl renting out the room that I'd take it and we arranged that I pay her the deposit at the end of April when I get my next student loan installment. We were going to set up the contract then too. I like her as a potential flatmate and the house and the room, it's just the area I'm not sure about at all. I felt ok walking around there around 7pm last night, but it was still light then. If the house was elsewhere, it'd be perfect

I feel really bad at the thought of having to tell her I won't take the room. I need somewhere from the start of June and in London-terms that leaves me with a month and half, i.e. loads of time to look. However, I'm knee-deep in revision (got exams in 5 weeks) so I wanted to get a room sorted ASAP, and was so happy last night when I thought I'd found a place I could happily live for a year or two. Hm. To start looking again would take time out of my schedule I can't really afford. Stupid situation really.

I could tell the girl that I won't have the room after all and keep looking, but I feel soooo bad about that. I hate letting people down, and she is so nice. She has had other people look at the room so if I pull out she should be ok, but I still don't want to have to go back on my word. On the other hand, I don't want to have my heart in my throat everytime I leave my house thinking something's going to happen...

I'm going to look at another place tomorrow near Wimbledon (Southfields), so at least the area should not really be a factor there as it's safe in that part of London.

And to answer your question - I moved here from Cambridge.

Thanks for your advice

[MichelleAlison]

I feel terrible now that you are in a dilemma. I really hope you can find somewhere that you will feel comfortable. Maybe you can ask if anyone on this forum knows about accommodation near to your University. Where do you study?

Good luck

Michelle

PS Always remember that there is no such place as safe, just "SAFER"

[asea]

I agree with Michelle. I had the bad luck of living near Green Lanes/Finsbury park & the amount of hassle you get is unbearable! Have you thought about looking near Newington Green/Essex Road which are not far from Green Lanes but so much nicer & also safer!

Where abouts are you looking in London? Southfields is a loooong way from Green lanes!

[irrbloss]

Michelle, I am purposefully looking for somewhere away from uni to live (I study at UCL near Euston) as I'm 30 and want somewhere nice and safe and quiet to come home to after a day at uni. A proper home, not just somewhere I eat and sleep. I don't go out partying all the time, like cooking nice food, and I like living in a place that is non-studenty and quiet. That's why I'm struggling to find a room somewhere safe that I can afford, is under an hour's commute to Euston and where I like the house/room and the housemates.

Thought I'd found it today (ALL things were right) but the flat is let through an agent and they told me I wouldn't pass their credit check to rent the room. For the check I'd need to have an income of at least 11K a year *excluding* my student loan...if I earned 11K a year I wouldn't need a student loan! I'd have to have a guarantor for the 11K and the only people I could ask are my parents but they can't guarantee that amount of money plus they don't live in the UK which would make credit-checking them very expensive what with translations I'd need to get done for docs etc. So I'm still looking and know now that I can only rent off private landlords due to my low income and lack of a guarantor.

I've narrowed the areas down where I want to live: Finchley (East, West, Central), or Southwest like Fulham or Putney. That's my ideal places as I feel safe there. Asea, you've made some good suggestions about additional areas to look at so I will have a look in those places. I'm looking up to Zone 3 and would ideally avoid living in Zone 1; I'm also NOT looking in East London or South/South-East London as I'm not street-savvy enough for that (I'm too trusting and unaware of my surroundings LOL).

It really looks as though I'll have to tell the girl in Tottenham that I won't have the room after all...and I feel bad because I loved the place and the housemates.

Maybe I could have a 6-month contract (she'd be ok with that) and see how I get on? See how I feel? Those 6 months would run into the winter so that'd be good insofar as it gets dark early for the last 2-3 months of the 6-month contract so I'd see how safe I feel "after dark"? Or is that a bad idea?

Thanks again you two. And if anyone else has any ideas as to which places are nice and safe, keep them coming

[MichelleAlison]

Please let us know how you get on. If I can think of anybody that can help you, I will let you know. It's a shame, because I used to rent out my granny annex when we lived in London to foreign students and you sound like an ideal person to rent to.

Michelle

[marc]

I agree those areas who want to stay well clear of, the closest areas into london without the huge prices i reccommend wembley, kingsbury, southgate e.t.c,

[Sati]

I would be frightened after hearing that and I consider myself pretty street smart. Feeling unsafe in your own home is a deal-breaker for me. I wouldn't feel bad about it. You didn't know and now you do. Good luck!

[irrbloss]

Thanks everyone for replying. Just an update to let you know how things are going.

I have told the girl in Tottenham that I won't be renting the room and she was ok with it - she said she'd rather I lived somewhere where I personally felt safe. She admitted herself that at night she'll get a taxi home from the tube station rather than getting a 5min-bus from a stop in front of the tube, or walking 10mins along a fairly well-lit road. That in itself made me think I made the right decision turning the room down in the end. She thinks the taxi-arrangement is fine, but I don't want to live somewhere where I need to get a taxi in favour of a 5min-bus ride (and a 3min walk to the front door from the bus stop) or a 10min-walk to get home!!

The place in Southfields was perfect, but the girls in the end decided to rent the room to one of the other people looking round (although I was the first one to see it, and I made it very clear that I'd love to rent the room). I have been told that this is quite common, similar to a job interview - you don't offer a job to the first person you like and who says they'd take the job if offered it; you interview a few people and then make offers to the best candidate(s).

I was meant to see another place today that ticked all the boxes, but the girl emailed me this morning to say someone else had taken the room (ie seen it last week and taken a few days to think it over before saying she wanted the room).

I'm leaving room-hunting til exams are over now. I have a good handful of areas to look in now, having walked around various parts of London quite a lot. Thanks for all your suggestions of where to add/where to avoid, people!

Michelle, it's a real shame you're not renting to students anymore cos of your move - your granny annex sounds perfect!