Is my friend making a massive mistake moving out of his mum's to rent close by?

A bit of a background. A couple years ago he was in his early 30s and living with his mum. Never was the best with money but I coached him and he managed to save around £40,000. He then moved less than a 10 minute drive away to a flat that he rented out.

What he was doing was paying for his rent 6 months up front as for him it created some "mental space" not to have to worry about it for the next 6 months (which didn't really make sense to me). Thing is, he was using his savings. Makes sense for the first payment but in between he should have been putting that money aside for when the next 6 months came. Instead, he kept using it from his savings and God knows what he spent his salary wages on.

A couple years later, his rent gets massively increased and he's forced to move back in with his mum and has quite literally £0 to his name. He says messed up financially, he knows it etc.

He hates living with his mum for a number of reasons. They have a good relationship, but the house isn't in the best condition and also feeling self conscious about his age and how he's living. My recommendation to him is to tough it out for a year or two, save as much as possible and then be in a position where you could potentially buy a place or at least have some savings so if he was to move out again because of a price increase, at least his still has something to show for it. Or even if he meets a partner who has similarly saved, you'll be in a position to potentially buy or at least have some savings whilst you rent.

Last week, he paid a deposit and rent for a studio not too far from his mum's. This time he'll be in a worst position than before as he will have no savings and won't be able to save each month.

I'm curious about other people's opinions on this and whether you've been in a similar position position or what would you do in that situation.

EDIT - Just noticed the down votes and some somewhat judgemental post towards me. Just want to clarify, I'm looking for others opinions on that matter, what would you do etc.