3 bedroom house SOA advice pls

jonimitchell

Although mostly a lurker, I'd like to ask for advice on what are the expected costs of running a 3 bed house. We're thinking of moving after Christmas and it would be helpful to have an idea of costs. We've got a house in mind and trying to work out if we can afford it.

We have an idea of how much Council Tax will be, so I am interested in what you think would be reasonable costs for

1. Gas - combo boiler only
2. Electric
3. Water rates
4. Contents insurance
5. Building insurance
6. Anything else I've not included?

Any help is gratefully received.

freda

# Gas - combo boiler only
# Electric
We pay £40 pcm for both. No tumbledryer, gas hob, electric oven, extra freezer in garage

# Water rates
We pay £25 for metered water, one bath, one shower each day, dishwasher and watering garden in the summer
# Contents insurance
We pay £21 for unlimited cover (can't remember the insurer)
# Building insurance
In with the contents insurance, again unlimited.
# Anything else I've not included?
Not that I can think of that is specific to the house.

all_hours

Water rates vary quite a lot between companies.

I'm with Thames Water and pay 240 per year this is paid in 8 installments of £30.

Toomuchdebt

My water is £61.30 a month for a 3 bed bungalow

crawley_girl

For my 2 bed-flat:

Water is about £22 per month unmetered

Gas is about £40 but that includes some arrears for last 2 yrs!

Electricity is again about £40 but includes some arrears - includes tumble drier on daily, as is laptop, tv, lights etc oh and shower!

Contents insurance is about a tenner a month, give or take a few pennies and i did that via lloyds and quidco

hth

:heartpuls CG :heartpuls

northern_star

on our 3 bed semi:

combi boiler for hot water & central heating - £30 pcm
electricity for cooking, lighting, usual other things plus 1 electric fire (used sparingly) - £30 pcm
Water (unmetered) - £30.50 pcm
Insurance (buildings & contents) - £19 pcm

hope this helps.

barnaby-bear

jonimitchell wrote:

Although mostly a lurker, I'd like to ask for advice on what are the expected costs of running a 3 bed house. We're thinking of moving after Christmas and it would be helpful to have an idea of costs. We've got a house in mind and trying to work out if we can afford it.

We have an idea of how much Council Tax will be, so I am interested in what you think would be reasonable costs for

1. Gas - combo boiler only
2. Electric
3. Water rates
4. Contents insurance
5. Building insurance
6. Anything else I've not included?

Any help is gratefully received.

3-bed 15 year old box with double glazing + pvc barge boards.
non-combi boiler, patches of lawn, little drive, loft/wall insulation

---

Council tax you can find from the local council website usually - worth askign the neighbours about their banding as sometimes next door houses on different bands because people have objected in past, I think you have a very short time to dispute the banding when you buy or even rent a house.
For us it was £1200k a year but this is usually over 10 months.

You say buildings if renting that's your landlords responsibility if buying factor in the cost of of mail redirection £30 for one name (sorts out bills not transferred properly, forgotton saivngs/debts, avoid identity fraud), connecting a gas cooker by corgi guy is £70-80, it's the little stuff you forget, a lawnmower if you didn't have one - 3 beds usually have some garden. A ladder to get to roof to unblock leaves. We moved from a flat and little things kept turning up.

Boiler service/safety check. If combi boiler consider if there's a backup - electric shower? Combis last 10 years at best usually so factor in replacement.

Electricity about £30 pcm, Gas about £30 over the year, depends on loft / wall insulation. Double glazing helps too. With all the bills push for DD immediately - some bill only certain times of year by default e.g. water and don't want arrears.

Water rates would be £45, metered it's £29, rates can be v. high in some areas.

Insurance https://www.quidco.com cash back can reduce costs - I'd guess £300 a year inc. buildings+contents (A friend's home burned down and you realise under insuring bad - imagine not burglarly but fire, all the sofas, beds, even clothes etc)

Hard to say as don't say if buying or what moving from - e.g. if you are in a flat there's tonnes of stuff you end up needing like the lawnmower, ladder, outside broom, drive weedkiller and although you can delay it get it cheap on freecycle you can end up with a jungle and rush out to Argos.

lynzpower

Surely your insurances are based not on the size of the house, but where in th e country you are??

Emmzi

I also pay for a factor, who organises common grounds work i.e. gardening painting etc - check if there is a feee. Mine is about a tenner a month but I have seen some horrendous numbers on here.

Check what phone/cable services are available in the area as some are more expensive than others. Should be able to check online with the postcode.

bigdec

jonimitchell wrote:

Although mostly a lurker, I'd like to ask for advice on what are the expected costs of running a 3 bed house. We're thinking of moving after Christmas and it would be helpful to have an idea of costs. We've got a house in mind and trying to work out if we can afford it.

We have an idea of how much Council Tax will be, so I am interested in what you think would be reasonable costs for

1. Gas - combo boiler only 29.00
2. Electric 29.00
3. Water rates 34.90
4. Contents insurance
5. Building insurance
6. Anything else I've not included?

Any help is gratefully received.

That what we pay on a 3 bed house in the midlands

moozie_2

lynzpower wrote:

Surely your insurances are based not on the size of the house, but where in th e country you are??

We've just had our mortgage agreed and the advisor gave us the insurance details based on the size of the house. Post code has a lot to do with it but so has the size of the property.