Working out how much rent I can afford...and bills

LondonGirl08

Hiya,

So I've moved back with my dad recently after living in London for 5 years during university. I was extremely lucky in that time to have my rent paid for by dad's employers as well as my university fees. However when I graduated, although I had enough money... sort of... to pay my rent, my landlord who ahd promised to pay my council tax suddenly backed out. Two of my flatmates were also liable for council tax but my landlord wouldn't let them register due to "tax reasons" so I was left with a massive council tax bill I couldn't pay and had to move home.

This was about six months ago and I still haven't registered with my local council tax place (I know, I know! I am doing it this week and my dad is going to use it from the rent I pay him).

Anyway, this is a more....long term thinking plan rather than I need to know right now. But after clearing some of my debts and making sure I am stable in my new job, how does one go about deciding how much you can afford for rent.

With the exception of the council tax (obviously) and electricity (we had a key and our box was broken so what should have been a stupidly high electricity bill for 5 people ended up being £10 for six months) all our amenities were catered for... water, heating and the suchlike. I was paying around £410 pcm in London.

Down here I am earning around £1,100 per month and have debt repayments of £200 pcm currently, £200 rent to my dad and quite a large disposable income of which £150 pcm I'm saving.


Is there like a formula or anything those who rent use when deciding to move somewhere. How much should I factor in for bills etc?

Any suggestions would be gladly appreciated!

Fire_Fox

Why are you saving when you have debts? What are the APRs on your debts (not inc. student loan company)? Read Martin's article on why to pay your debts before savings.

Re: council tax. The law states that the residents have to pay council tax, any agreement with your landlord otherwise leaves you open to the situation you describe. I hope you didn't claim 25% discount on your council tax rather than register your housemates? Councils can and do check who receives post at the address, or who is registered with their local tax office.

anniecave

Depends if you are living in a flat on your own, or sharing with say one other person, or living in a shared place with a few others.
On average it tends to be more expensive on your own than with others.

Depends also on whether you have gas or electric heating, and how big your property is and whether you can heat it efficiently.

Ball park figure maybe £100 per month for bills for me sharing with one other person. That includes water, electricity, council tax and phone line rental

LondonGirl08

My APRs are currently at 0% and 0.47% so ridiculously low. I'm upping my monthly payments next month as although I have about a year left on each I want to get as much as I can cleared before I carry on.

As for renting as a student, I didn't get the 25% discount but found myself for a few months paying my council tax and the other people in the house's council tax (There was a huge stink over it as although they were students they didn't qualify for council tax exemption). My landlord was really dodgy and disappeared for several months with loads of court summons turning up at our house, he was still registered to vote there etc. He had written on my contract that he would be liable for the council tax after I graduated but then when I did we couldn't get in contact with him for months. I continued to pay rent and keep up to date, flatmates didn't pay for four months and when he did show back up he never asked for it.

My dad's offered to pay my share of the council tax out of the money I currently give him (good old dad!) and my sister is harping on at me about saving money. I have to show her a print out to prove I am saving every month or there is hell to pay. I've showed her the article time and again and explained to her... but she won't hear the end of it. It's better to stuff some money away and keep her quiet... plus I plan on paying a big chunk off with it.

I'd probably share with one other person, I was talking about being on my own but then after a few nights where my dad was away I got scared and decided I need someone else around.

debtfreein4years

clear your debts before moving out. i had debts and a similar salary to yours when i first moved out and found it hard to cope. rent was 600 plus 200 in all bills for the flat so with me sharing with another person that was 400 i had to pay straight off then food which could be another hundred possibly 200 as i hadnt heard of this site back then. debt repayments on my loan and credit card another 300 so i had minimum of 200 to blow which i did by socialising, new clothes when needed, hair cuts and paying for a monthly bus pass so it quickly went.

if i had to do it all again, i would stay at home till my debts were clear, but at the same time i would be putting what i should be paying in rent and bills to one side so that im used to paying out that money.

depending where you are in the country i would say that living on your own would be a struggle and its best to share with someone although make sure your contract specifially states what is your responsibility and from the start make it clear how housework etc is going to be shared as that caused many a bone of contention when i was sharing.

good luck

LondonGirl08

Thanks so much debtfree. I have to say I know what you mean, the reason I moved home was because after university and with the economic downturn it became nye on impossible to live to the way I had done. In fact I'm AMAZED I lasted as long as I did and didn't get into more trouble with my creditors.

As for living with people, I'd like to think what I learnt at university gave me a pretty nice and jaded view for sharing. I've had it all, living with art students they were always bringing back "Found objects" out of skips and bins. We ahd a washing machine motor in our kitchen for a year... I don't know why. Everytime I tried to get rid of it my flatmate would claim it was for a project... but this project never appeared to materialise.

Then there was the freaky pervert flatmate I got evicted.
The flatmate from Morocco who kept cooking sheeps heads and chasing me round the flat with the eyeballs.
The loud rude flatmate who would talk to himself and play his rap music at all hours.
The horny couple who had passionate arguments and the bf would punch mirrors and bleed all over my DVDs.
The Thai couple who were sweet as pie but caused an infestation of vermin after we found they were keeping rotting food in their room.
The head cheerleader from the university who designated our house the "party flat" and would bring everybody around to drink our booze, use my make up and then turn up at 4am drunk as a skunk with all of sundry in tow and proceed to start cheering on the landing.
The OCD manic depressive who refused to do anything around the house and then disappeared for several months and didn't pay any bills.


Ahem.... sorry it's been a long time since I've had a chance to rant about them. Not saying I was perfect but I bloody well made sure that flat didn't fall into ruin. I did tend to leave cups on the side though hehe

BitterAndTwisted

Debtfree definitely has the right idea: calculate what your outgoings every month are likely to be and use the difference between that and what you're paying your father now to pay off your debts. That way you have a reasonable idea of how you will cope.

This is what I pay monthly living in North London on my own:

Rent: 450
Council Tax: 100
TV License: 12
Phone line rental: 11
Broadband: 22
Mobile phone: 25
Gas heating & hot water: 35
Electricity: 30
Fares: 130

Just being nosey: why on earth is your sister in so much control over what you do with your own money? Personally, I'd suggest not moving out until you're completely debt-free even though those interest rates are minimal right now. Is there any chance that the interest rates might increase at some point?

jcbroad

Hey LondonGirl08, you could try using a tool like moneyio.co.uk which should allow you to modify your expenses until you find yourself having enough left over money after being paid.

Hope this helps, James

Absinthe_Fairy

Your sister sounds scary! :eek:

My friend who lives in London has always managed to find flats / rooms where the utilities and council tax are included in the rent (she lived in a shared flat at first and now lives in her own flat). If you were able to find somewhere like that I reckon it would be much easier to budget. She used gumtree, if that helps.