Nice areas? Mortgage?

Hi all!

Basically I am thinking about moving to London with all of my family but personally have very little knowledge of London. Therefore, 2 main questions I would like to ask:

1. What are the nice areas in London to live? I understand that this is a very broad question therefore I will narrow the criteria.
- It should be not in central London. Somewhere a bit outside.
- middle/upper middle class residents.
- Area for Family i.e. quiet, friendly, safe
- With many pubs, small shops but within reach of a supermarket
- With good connections to central London i.e. Tube, Bus, Rail

So far I was suggested Chiswick as it is only 10 miles outside central London and looks very decent.

2. And this is a legal question. Do you have to work in the UK (Pay income tax) in order to get mortgage? Or is it ok to earn your money elsewhere? What is the legal criteria for mortgage?


Thank you,

Andrey.

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Hi Audrey

That's a lot of questions.

Where are you coming from?

The thing with London is every nice area is spitting distance from somewhere you wouldnt walk alone at night.

Chiswick and other areas of south west london like barnes, putney, clapham etc are very nice, as are northern areas like Hampstead and southern central areas like dulwich. But be careful, Hampstead 'garden suburb' is nice, West Hampstead is horrible, just like Dulwich 'village' is gorgeous, East Dulwich is crime central.

As for mortgages, take professional advice. You dont have to work here to get one, but lenders are all different and most wont lend to foreign nationals that aren't paid in sterling by a UK company.

Good luck
Ed

Thank you,

Andrey.