I just cannot make my mind up about my accommodation whilst working away so I'd welcome your input please.
I live in the North of England but contract in London almost exclusively. Current contract appears to have some mileage in it and fingers crossed it has because I work from home 60% of the week. Accommodation-wise I usually share the cost of a flat with another professional and this has been fine until now. Because of the WFH, I only use that apartment 2 nights a week and 1 of those nights is avoidable by travelling down the following morning. So, £ 1k a month for 1 night a week is quite steep. It occurs to me I could be staying in a rather nice hotel for that, even in London. It would also mean that unlike the flat share, I could claim the VAT back on the hotel accommodation as like most on here, the recent changes to the FRS scheme mean I'll be leaving it.
However, I do have a few concerns - 1) what happens when current gig ends? I'd be unlikely to find anything again that gives me 60% WFH. I'd have to find another flat share as it would be far cheaper than 3 or 4 nights hotel. 2) I'm back to living out of a suitcase instead of having all my clothes, etc in an apartment. 3) I'm up 05:30 for that early morning train down and it's £ 100 more than the previous evening's journey. It's also packed, even in 1st class.
It's clear there are downsides and risk to letting the flat share go but it seems like a lot of money to spend for a couple of nights. But the thought of staying in decent hotels one night a week and clawing back £ 2k of the VAT I'm about to lose just won't leave my head.
I live in the North of England but contract in London almost exclusively. Current contract appears to have some mileage in it and fingers crossed it has because I work from home 60% of the week. Accommodation-wise I usually share the cost of a flat with another professional and this has been fine until now. Because of the WFH, I only use that apartment 2 nights a week and 1 of those nights is avoidable by travelling down the following morning. So, £ 1k a month for 1 night a week is quite steep. It occurs to me I could be staying in a rather nice hotel for that, even in London. It would also mean that unlike the flat share, I could claim the VAT back on the hotel accommodation as like most on here, the recent changes to the FRS scheme mean I'll be leaving it.
However, I do have a few concerns - 1) what happens when current gig ends? I'd be unlikely to find anything again that gives me 60% WFH. I'd have to find another flat share as it would be far cheaper than 3 or 4 nights hotel. 2) I'm back to living out of a suitcase instead of having all my clothes, etc in an apartment. 3) I'm up 05:30 for that early morning train down and it's £ 100 more than the previous evening's journey. It's also packed, even in 1st class.
It's clear there are downsides and risk to letting the flat share go but it seems like a lot of money to spend for a couple of nights. But the thought of staying in decent hotels one night a week and clawing back £ 2k of the VAT I'm about to lose just won't leave my head.
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