Renting a student house- Sorting finance

El_Torres

Haven't been here in a long time. Sorry if this is in the wrong place.

Gist of the story is i am renting a house for university, we're moving in soon (Tuesday) so i want to sort out how we gather finances each month. The Estate agent has told us that the best way if to set up two bank accounts, one to pay the rent and one for the bills. All 5 of us can then pay into the account on time.

What we need to know is:

A) What bank would be best to sort this out and what kind of account (I'll be going into a branch on the weekend to open two accounts once i get an answer)

Is there a way of having the bills sent to all 5 of us? I.e can it be put in all of our names. This is just so it is not put in one name and then that person is held liable if someone else has let everyone down. Something we clearly don't want.

Preferably we want an account that we can all pay into for rent but cannot take money out of. Same goes for the Bills account i guess.

Any other advice would also be helpful, thanks!

RAS

Well, it may be best to get basic bank accounts; that prevents anyone paying cheques out of it or going overdrawn. Make sure that all transactions require two signatories. You will not need a card.

A lot also depends on how the tenancy is set up - are you the lead tenant? Are the tenancies separate or joint?

Joint tenancy, anyone not paying up means that the others are liable for the debtors debts. In fact all of you are liable for the whole rental amount and any of you can end the tenancy in line with the law and the rental agreement. So if there is a 6 month break point, one person who was unhappy could give notice for the whole tenancy.

Do not put household bills in one name and then pay that person and rely on them paying the utility supplier, pay it out of the bank account. Why? Becasue every summer these forums are full of students who have been dutifully paying their part of a household bill to another tenant, only to find that the money was never paid to the supplier.

The Co-op used to allow joint accounts with more than two people, although only two were allowed to be named; Bill and Phaid was a household account for 6 people. Not sure if this is allowed now.

Also if you are students, work out how much needs to be paid out before the next grant cheque comes in and ask everyone to put their share in before they start spending on ents and tracks.

Caroline_a

I don't think so - my daughter has a student house between 6 of them, and the bills are in various names, depending on who picked up the initial contact letter. They do have a bank account for bills however that they all contribute to.

RAS

Oh and consider getting free credit checks for everyone in the hose and avoid opening a joint account in the name of anyone with credit problems, as this wrecks the other person(s) credit rating.

El_Torres

RAS wrote: »

Well, it may be best to get basic bank accounts; that prevents anyone paying cheques out of it or going overdrawn. Make sure that all transactions require two signatories. You will not need a card.

A lot also depends on how the tenancy is set up - are you the lead tenant? Are the tenancies separate or joint?

Joint tenancy, anyone not paying up means that the others are liable for the debtors debts. In fact all of you are liable for the whole rental amount and any of you can end the tenancy in line with the law and the rental agreement. So if there is a 6 month break point, one person who was unhappy could give notice for the whole tenancy.

Do not put household bills in one name and then pay that person and rely on them paying the utility supplier, pay it out of the bank account. Why? Becasue every summer these forums are full of students who have been dutifully paying their part of a household bill to another tenant, only to find that the money was never paid to the supplier.

The Co-op used to allow joint accounts with more than two people, although only two were allowed to be named; Bill and Phaid was a household account for 6 people. Not sure if this is allowed now.

Also if you are students, work out how much needs to be paid out before the next grant cheque comes in and ask everyone to put their share in before they start spending on ents and tracks.

Cheers for the reply, We are all liable for the rent, if one person drops out the rest of us have to stick up the money, however if they cannot pay then it is up to their guarantor to pay for them. Don't know if that helps.

Rent and bills will definitely be paid into the accounts in advance so we know its taken care of. We don't want bills in one persons name for obvious reasons so do we just contact each company and tell them to add all of our names?

Also can you recommend a bank, just to get your opinion on the best one to chose? The majority of us are on natwest for their student accounts so im tempted to just open an account there. Is there a specific name for these accounts that need to signatories? Do we all need to be there to open this account? I want to be able add other names on later or even at the same time without them being there.

sammyjammy

I would not consider opening a bank account in my name with a number of other people, I'm making the assumption that you barely know these people, certainly I'm sure you have little knowledge on how they manage theri finances. If you open an account together you will be financially linked, this could affect the credit rating of one and all.

Don't do it!

7891368

Don't get a joint account, anyone named can destroy everyone elses credit rating and a lot happens in 6 years.

All our bills are in everyone's name and except the internet which everyone paid to me (cost for whole year upfront) and it gets DD'd monthly from my account.

Bills need to be paid every 3 months or so, not a lot of effort for one of you to queue up in the bank just to pay it.

With online banking yyou can all transfer money to a person to pay the bill in minutes.

Just a case of trusting everyone will pay.

G_M

Agree to have a monthly meeting to review household matters. Agree a time eg 1st Monday of each month at 6.00 PM

You can look at the utility bills together and make sure they are all paid up to date.
You can review the house bank account to ensure everyone's paid in and there's enough there to cover next month's bills.
You can check rent is paid up to date.
If someone is having financial difficulties you can discuss together how to handle it.
You can review budgeting for daily bills - communal things like kitchen staples, cleaning materials and loo rolls. Is everyone contributing fairly?
You can discuss any grudges like X think he's the only one cleaning the kitchen and is getting fed up!
etc etc

Then a) there are no financial surprises/shocks at the end of the year and b) any misunderstandings/bad feeling gets resolved rather than festering and getting worse.

El_Torres

Brilliant.

Ok so bills can be sorted whenever we get them, i guess that makes sense, get them in everyones name too.

Then an account for rent, probably in my name if i set it up and then let them chuck the money in there whenever i tell them too. Sorted.

tbs624

El_Torres wrote: »

Brilliant.

Ok so bills can be sorted whenever we get them, i guess that makes sense, get them in everyones name too.

Then an account for rent, probably in my name if i set it up and then let them chuck the money in there whenever i tell them too. Sorted.

Unless the LL has specified that he wants one whole payment why can't you each set up a standing order direct to the LL?
Or alternatively insist that the others pay into this one rent paying a/c via SO.

In any shared house there is always one muppet who causes financial grief to the others.

El_Torres

tbs624 wrote: »

Unless the LL has specified that he wants one whole payment why can't you each set up a standing order direct to the LL?
Or alternatively insist that the others pay into this one rent paying a/c via SO.

In any shared house there is always one muppet who causes financial grief to the others.

When i set the account up i'm sure a few will pay with SO, that will sort its self out. I think making it one whole payment just makes it easier for everyone.