You'll now need to earn £27,000 a year to comfortably rent your own flat in London

Living costs in London are spiralling out of control

Landlord Army? Could crowdfunding bring buy-to-let to the masses? (Getty)

A third of Londoners do not earn enough to afford a decent standard of living, according to new research into the subject.

The authors of a new report found that a single person living in outer London would need to earn at least £21,100 a year to be able to pay rent in a shared house and live comfortably, rising to £22,300 in inner London.

To be able to rent a studio flat by themselves the figure would rise to £24,500 and £27,100 respectively.

Around a third of Londoners earn under their required level and the researchers found that a minimum budget in London was as much as 50% higher than elsewhere in the country.

The difference was mainly because of higher housing, food, and transport costs.

The research was carried out by academics from the Loughborough University and the Trust for London, which examines poverty in inequality in the capital.

Mubin Haq, director of policy and grants at Trust for London, said it was becoming increasingly difficult for many people in the capital to participate in society.

“The very high costs of housing, transport and childcare mean one in three Londoners are struggling to live a decent life, especially families with children,” he said.

“This is not about just food, clothing and having a roof over your head. It's about the difference between people being able to participate in society or not.

”It raises important questions about whether London is for everyone or does it become a city for the wealthiest.”

In a statement the TUC’s general secretary Frances O’Grady said research was evidence that the economic recovery was “only working for the privileged few at the top”.

The report’s authors suggested a “two-pronged” approach to tackling the problem with increases in wages and incomes as well as measures to reduce costs.

Last year the Independent reported that rents in London were now twice the national average.

Over 50,000 families have been shipped out of London boroughs by councils in the period coinciding with the introduction of the government’s benefit cap and bedroom tax.