bills- can I afford

timostag

I've always rented shared houses with all bills included, but I've had enough and have decided to rent my own place but I'm not sure if I can realistically afford it as I dont know how much the bills are likely to come to.

The property Im looking at is a one bedroom apartment in birmingham just outside the city centre, I would say its average size for myself only

rent = £550pcm

council tax = I have no idea what band it would be, but these are the costs of all the bands;a=£825, b=£962, c=1100, d=£1238, e=£1513

gas=£0 no gas as its a large apartment block

electric= theres only me using electric but i will proberly be using the electric heaters during winter

water= modern apartment block so im guessing it will be on a metre?

line rental/internet= i cant live without £30 (guess)

contents insurance= I have little of value so I might not get this depending on how much it'll cost.


Could you please give me an idea of the costs of things so I can work out how much I would be paying a month

BitterAndTwisted

timostag wrote: »

rent = £550pcm

council tax = I have no idea what band it would be, but these are the costs of all the bands;a=£825, b=£962, c=1100, d=£1238, e=£1513 The landlord or agent should be able to tell you what tax-band the property is in.

gas=£0 no gas as its a large apartment block

electric= theres only me using electric but i will probably be using the electric heaters during winter. Budget for £100 a month, minimum. Heating with electricity can be very expensive indeed but it depends on how well the place is insulated.

water= modern apartment block so im guessing it will be on a metre? Not always. My unmetered water-rates are £7 a week

line rental/internet= i cant live without £30 (guess)

contents insurance= I have little of value so I might not get this depending on how much it'll cost.


Could you please give me an idea of the costs of things so I can work out how much I would be paying a month

Factor in a TV licence at £12 a month.
Mobile Phone?


Plus whatever your additional transport costs might be, if any.

charlie792

timostag wrote: »

I've always rented shared houses with all bills included, but I've had enough and have decided to rent my own place but I'm not sure if I can realistically afford it as I dont know how much the bills are likely to come to.

The property Im looking at is a one bedroom apartment in birmingham just outside the city centre, I would say its average size for myself only

rent = £550pcm

council tax = I have no idea what band it would be, but these are the costs of all the bands;a=£825, b=£962, c=1100, d=£1238, e=£1513 really depends on the area + size but probably a band B / C? - Are you going to be living alone, if so you'll get a 25% discount

gas=£0 no gas as its a large apartment block

electric= theres only me using electric but i will proberly be using the electric heaters during winter as said above budget for £100 - I personally don't know about electric heating, our flat uses about £30 a month worth of electric without heating costs

water= modern apartment block so im guessing it will be on a metre? chances are its probably not, really depends on area and size, do you know which authority you would come under?

line rental/internet= i cant live without £30 (guess) [COLOR="rgb(65, 105, 225)"]our internet package + Line rental + TV is £30 with Virgin[/COLOR]

contents insurance= I have little of value so I might not get this depending on how much it'll cost.Id say pretty essential regardless - we've insured all our stuff for £15K cover it was only £89 for the year - Endsleigh Tenant Cover
[/B]

Use the postcode of apartment block to check on the council website to check council tax banding and check what your water authority would be - Or post it on here and Ill have a look for you.

Obviously you need to include your groceries, tv license etc

Jowo_2

How much do you earn?

Download the budget planner from the free tools section of the MSE website which will prompt you for other expenses you may have forgotten, like insurance, TV and so on.

Off the top of my head

£550 rent
£90 council tax
£60 electric (total guess, electric heating has a reputation for being expensive)
£20 water
£40 tv/telecom/broadband
£20 insurance

That's getting on for £800 before travel, groceries, social expenses and so on.

timostag

charlie792 wrote: »

Use the postcode of apartment block to check on the council website to check council tax banding and check what your water authority would be - Or post it on here and Ill have a look for you.

Obviously you need to include your groceries, tv license etc

OK the council tax band looks like its band C so according to findaproperty thats £1100, so this is how im working it out (please let me know if im wrong.....
£1100 - 25% for single person= £825
£825 / 10 (Ive herad before you pay council tax 10 months a year? = £82.50 a month (for 10 months a year)

the water authority is severn trent water.

Good point I forgot tv licence, I dont want to include groceries because I just want to see how much money I'm left with for the month after paying bills the smae with mobile phone as Im PAYG after falling out with o2 a couple of years ago.

Travel- £0 as the apartment is a 5 min walk to work, bars shopping ect.

charlie792

timostag wrote: »

OK the council tax band looks like its band C so according to findaproperty thats £1100, so this is how im working it out (please let me know if im wrong.....
£1100 - 25% for single person= £825
£825 / 10 (Ive herad before you pay council tax 10 months a year? = £82.50 a month (for 10 months a year)

the water authority is severn trent water.

Im pretty sure the council tax figure is pretty much correct - just had a look on the Birmingham website it says CT is £1120 so at 25% I make it £840 / 10 = £84 a month. Basically you pay one month after the bill and stop paying one month before the next bill.

Water is something I always find impossible to calculate - Its possible that it the apartment has a meter but usually blocks like that do not - Infact have you checked that this price isnt payable to the apartment block itself or included in the rent - quiet a few locally to me include it in rental payments.
I have had a look online and it says that the average cost of water for Severn Trent Unmetered is around £260, and around £230 for sewage charges, so roughly £490 a year payable over 10months = £49 a month. This is only an estimate but I would say might be around right as we're paying £450 a year for ours. Obviously if it is metered you pay for what you use.

I would say roughly this is what you are looking around
Rent - £550
CT - £84
Water - £49
Elec - £90
Internet etc - £30
Tv License - £12
Insurance - £7 (although bear in mind if you get insurance its always better to pay it upfront)

= £822

Jowo wrote: »

£20 water

I wish mine came to that!

Jowo_2

The £20 per month for water is a guestimate. I think I paid £30 per month for non metered water in the south east for a house but now I've moved to scotland, the water charge is included in the council tax.

bristol_pilot

When I started living alone after living in shared accommodation I found it very expensive mainly due to rent and council tax being paid by one person instead of three. Utility bills should actually be lower for single occupancy, but I would beware of any place that is all-electric.

CIS

OK the council tax band looks like its band C so according to findaproperty thats £1100, so this is how im working it out (please let me know if im wrong.....

The official list of property bandings can be found at https://www.voa.gov.uk - findaproperty may pull data from here but it may be worth double checking.

paddedjohn

Sky package inc line rental/broadband/tv(excluding sports)=£32mth