Monthly outgoings estimate for a 1 bed flat.

tomstickland

I'm looking into the economics of buying a 1bed flat. I know roughly what price and what mortgage I'm would take out. Let's say it's a monthly outgoing on £450 on the mortgage, repayment over 25 years.
What sort of other expenses could I expect, on average per month:
-Council tax
-Insurance
-Gas
-Electricity
-Phone (not a big user of)
-TV license

I'm just looking for some likely numbers, for one person living there and being reasonably frugal. Is there anything I've missed out?

miller

tomstickland wrote:

I'm looking into the economics of buying a 1bed flat. I know roughly what price and what mortgage I'm would take out. Let's say it's a monthly outgoing on £450 on the mortgage, repayment over 25 years.
What sort of other expenses could I expect, on average per month:

I have just sorted out these items on my 1 bed flat. No gas supplied as heated by electric.

-Council tax - £58
-Insurance - £8 - fairly minimal policy
-Gas - £NIL
-Electricity - £23
-Phone (not a big user of) - £12 - BT Together 1
-TV license - £10.50

Missed items will be service charges as most flats are leasehold. Can vary greatly. I would say allow ~£45. Water say ~£25 and whatever your choice of ISP cost.

mummytofour

Ok Im going to guess council tax dep on area and band £80 pcm

insurance £12
gas £15
electric £15
Phone £20
Tv licence apox £11

I think that will easily cover your out going.

tomstickland

I'm thinking of outright buying, not a leasehold. Anyway, somewhere around £130 per month, let's say £150 for a budgeting figure for now.

calleyw

This is hard to do as things are different depending on allsorts of things.

But I use to live with my husband in a one bedroom flat. We had a combi boiler and ran a computer and laptop. Also a fridge freezer.

We used to budget £15 each a month for gas and electric. We paid when bill came in.

Council tax you can check yourself by finding out the band of the property by going here if you know the postcode and then checking on the local authority site how much you will pay. Some councils are over 10 months some are 12 months.

Phone: Basic with BT is £10.50 a month + call charges. I use telewest and they charge £10.50 and you get free calls to 01/02 numbers at weekends. And use a 1899.com for other calls.

No idea about TV licence as I don't have a TV.

Insurance/maintanance: If you are in a block of flats you well have to pay a management company to maintain communal areas. Which can include buildings insurance. Contents insurance is like car insurance the cost depends on where you live.

You have missed the following items

Water rates. What you pay depends if you are a water meter or rateable value. We use to pay £200 a year for a one bedroom flat on rateable value. Now in a 3 bedroom house. But still the same two people is now £160 a year on a water meter. Not a huge saving but £40 is £40 a year.

Internet charges. If with BT you have a huge range of ISP to choose from.

Thats all I can think of at the moment.

Hope that helps.

Yours

Calley

kenshaz

water
broadband

tomstickland

Excellent info, thanks, I have another £150 estimate, just going to add up your post.

tomstickland

The numbers are suggesting that using £120-£200 pcm would be a reasonable budgeting figure to use.

calleyw

tomstickland wrote:

The numbers are suggesting that using £120-£200 pcm would be a reasonable budgeting figure to use.

Tom,

Including food bills and all of the other bills mentioned we budget £270 a month and the mortgage was popped on the top.

We spend a £100 a month on food.

Mind you are total bills including the mortgage where and still are only a £500 a month.

Yours


Calley

miller

tomstickland wrote:

I'm thinking of outright buying, not a leasehold. Anyway, somewhere around £130 per month, let's say £150 for a budgeting figure for now.

My one piece of advice if you go for it would be don't overstretch yourself too much on the purchase itself. You will need plenty of spare cash for initial costs, furnishings, bathroom stuff, kitchen etc. I would say leave a minimum buffer of £2.5-3k.

tomstickland

Thanks. A friend of mine bought a house recently and he and his girlfriend had £15K saved, they put down a £10K deposit and the £5K was for costs and some DIY work.

I'm not buying until I have £20K saved (about half way there) and I've watched house prices for 12 months - flats are coming down in Gloucester at the moment.