Hopes and dreams for a new home...

CathT

We had one installed after we had lived here about a year and were sure we wouldn't move in case it affected saleability as we are in a 3 bed detached but at the time it was just me and DH.

We have the water saver things in each toilet and don't leave taps running etc. I try not to use the DW too much. Our water rates were steep so I knew we would save by going on a meter. Additionally at the time we weren't at home much as always in work. I expect our bills to climb in the next few months though.

greent

We have a meter - our bills are about £500 for the year for the 6 of us with around 16 loads of washing a week, dishwasher at least once a day, I have looooong showers, DH blasts the patio with the power wash twice a year... I figure £500pa isn't bad if you look at that

spuunge

My water meter had already been installed when I moved into my current home. Just had my most recent bill come through and I'm actually in credit, which is a shock as Anglian water predicted me to use more than my usual payment covers! My montly payment is £22 (about to change to £20).
However there is only two of us, we only use the shower, never leave the tap running, don't always flush the toilet (if it's yellow let it mellow:)) and I water the garden with water from the many water butts I have secreted around the place!
I also use a dishwasher about 5/6 times a week, which is actually much more economical than washing by hand, and use the washing machine 3-4 times a week. Not sure what else I can do to reduce that bill much more however!

Iris_Blue

Just popped on to say..It has been confirmed today that we are moving on Friday! :j

It's been a stressful past few days but that's with my solicitor not being able to get hold of my buyers solicitor to confirm. Now it's all systems go.

Thank you for the water comments, they have helped me relax about it all a little more and it's interesting to see how much others pay. I am hoping though that we qualify for the vulnerable household cap ( I feel daft saying that as we don't feel vulnerable in anyway and count ourselves very lucky )

So expect to see me whenever..my internet connection could go off anytime and I'm not sure when its back on although we have arranged it for 2 weeks , with the moving date confirmed today I'm now hoping to bring the BB installation forward so I can keep a track of money as usual.

Tar-rah

P.s Lois - the thing I'm looking forward to most? Having new, hopefully, nice neighbours . lol... and getting a utility room!

Iris_Blue

Cath - The water meter doesn't come up in the sale details unless the buyer specifically asks when they are viewing. It isn't mentioned by the surveyor either. But it is mentioned on the fixtures on fittings form but in a way which it could easily be missed. That's how I found out about it.

I agree it would have put me off buying the house, but in all honesty it would be a daft reason not to purchase a house you wanted. Now that I've "over it" I'm not bothered , especially with large family Greent saying that too.:)

But I do think that it should be mentioned in a better way as it could financially hurt some people but I think we'll all have one in the end anyway. It's just a PAYG scheme really.

greent

ooohhhhh - hope it goes well - a mnaic couple of days ahead!

our 6 monthly bill arrived today - £258 - was £249 this time last year

cha97michelle

Best of luck hon, and look forward to hearing from you in the new house xxx

AuntieMabel

Hope the move goes smoothly and the new internet connection is soon up and running

There's probably not much in it then if greent pays approx £500 per year for 6 of them and we pay £38 per month rates to Northumbria Water for 5 of us (£38 x 12 = £456).

Think I will stick with water rates for as long as we can.

katsu

I believe that if you install the meter and it costs you more, you can go back to paying the old charges. The water co don't remove the actual meter so they know the next occupant will have to pay by meter.

We bought the house and just accepted we had a meter - we were buying a repo so there was no-one to tell us anything about it

Good luck with the move Iris :):):)

Iris_Blue

Thanks guys

You can Katsura if it's been fitted within the last 12 months.

I got a phone call from the solicitors yesterday informing me what the final bill was : Ouch. Extra fees added which were mentioned in the original letter but as it said £375 to sell plus VAT I took it that the dispatch fees etc were added already so I need to now get an extra £700 out of the bank to cover this and the £375 I knew about. She also said that she would phone today to confirm :eek: whether the funds will be available from the Halifax or not as it was delayed being applied for due to the buyers solicitor being unavailable earlier in the week.. but not to worry as we were with the best bank for this to happen .O.k I've booked my van, paid already, paid a deposit and now you tell me this! I'll be so annoyed if we don't go now.

In all this though a big thumbs up to the H/f who have been brilliant and everything has been done over the phone. So much easier than trawling into a bank with children.

I don't feel stressed but I know I am as I'm snapping at the slightest thing. School were arsey about the lads being off school on the moving day..well some jumped up attendance officer was and even though I sent in a letter stating what the reason was I needed to go in personally and collect a holiday form. Just send it home with the boys I said. No I had to go in and get it. So I went in fuming to be told that it could have been sent home with the boys in the first place as I'd already sent my letter in. It's not something I needed though. I should have just kept them off and phoned in sick! Far easier.

anyway, fingers crossed that tomorrow does actually go ahead!