New House Share with 6 Other Students

cjames_3

Hello,

I'm new to this but hoping some people can help...

I'm going to be renting a house with some friends in September for Uni and can anyone give me advice on how to best deal with bills? How do we manage it all between the 6 of us. How can we manage it all in the most effective way?

Any advice would be much appreciated!

Thanks!

luke2008

glide utilities

ww w.glide.uk.com/

check em out.

7891368

Each take responsibility for A BILL.

Do not get a joint bank account.

stephyt23

7891368 wrote: »

Each take responsibility for A BILL.

Do not get a joint bank account.

Is that such a bad idea? Worked for my brother sharing with 8 other people, they had one account which they had direct debits going into to pay for bills. It's not like anyone else could steal money from it when you need all 9 signatures, and there were no cheque books.debit cards etc for the account

MT90

I don't think you can get a joint account with that many signatories, unless its a special account i haven't heard of.

Char_pdc

Hi,

I would also advise agreeing how you are going to split the household items e.g. cleaning products/toilet rolls.

I've personally found it best to get money off everyone at the beginning of term and stick it in a pot. Then when someone buys something they can take money out of the pot. Or if that's not cool you could all go shopping together and stock up.

With bills we assign responsibility for each person to a specific bill - their name then goes on the bill. Some bills have a direct debit - the internet for example. This person then asks the others for the money.

Other bills e.g. electric we each log-on to a website individually and pay our share of the bill (1/3 in this case) directly to the company.

Hope this helps.

saverholic

stephyt23 wrote: »

Is that such a bad idea? Worked for my brother sharing with 8 other people, they had one account which they had direct debits going into to pay for bills. It's not like anyone else could steal money from it when you need all 9 signatures, and there were no cheque books.debit cards etc for the account

I'm only going off what I've read in other areas of the forum but my understanding was that sharing an account with other people financially links you to them. If one housemate is bad at managing their personal finances this could impact everyone else's credit rating.

I don't know how accurate this is though. Maybe ask on the Debt-free Wannabe board. They might be more knowledgeable

I'd take a bill each or put two people per bill if the thought of taking on the electric bill alone makes people nervous.

For household things we put a fiver a month each into a pot and use it to buy things such as toilet roll, cleaning products, milk, supplies if having a house bbq etc.

We had real problems with one housemate in 2nd year and had to gang together to get money out of her. Don't let 'friendship' get in the way (if that makes sense )

7891368

saverholic wrote: »

I'm only going off what I've read in other areas of the forum but my understanding was that sharing an account with other people financially links you to them. If one housemate is bad at managing their personal finances this could impact everyone else's credit rating.


I'd take a bill each or put two people per bill if the thought of taking on the electric bill alone makes people nervous.

Exactly this!

My cousin struggled to get a mortgage after one of the people he used to share with when bankrupt/somethign like that (I was 12 so I'm not 100% sure) and they were all financially linked.

minerva_windsong

When I was in my shared house, one of us paid for each thing - gas/electricity, water, phone and internet - and then the amount was split four ways. So for example, if our internet cost £10 and was registered to my bank account, then I would pay £2.50 and my other three housemates would give me £2.50 each, and the £10 would come out of my bank account.

I wouldn't do the joint account thing due to being 'linked' to your housemates and the potential issues with getting credit that that could raise in future.

With the cleaning products/toilet roll we simply operated a rota of whoever was going to the shop when we needed it bought it. It pretty much evened itself out.