Are these utility costs realistic?

Zogger

Hi, long time lurker first time poster... apologies if this should be in utilities but it seemed a bit broad for those forums. I'm sure there are many similar threads - hopefully someone can advise about the more specific area though.

Me & girlfriend are currently in the process of hunting for somewhere to rent in the surrey area. We've been scouring Gumtree for private landlords and also looked at a few properties from rightmove. While I earn a reasonable amount we unfortunately only have one income and this will be the case for the forseeable future, so our budget is relatively limited. We have to move out of a houseshare within the next few months so we don't have a lot of choice!

We recently viewed a one bedroom flat which was originally listed on rightmove for £750pcm exc bills, however when we actually viewed it we were told the rent was £975pcm inc all utilities.
The flat only has fairly limited storage space but it is furnished, in a decent enough area of Woking, and "has character". we would have to pay council tax on top and I'm fairly sure we won't be eligible for any discounts on council tax. Council tax is approx £108pcm I believe.
To us, the price of 1083pcm all-in sounds quite high. We made an offer of 975pcm if council tax was also included, but as we were expecting the landlord won't reduce this as they currently have an individual in paying the full amount and would rather wait for full price.
We also offered the originally advertised 750pcm and to cover bills ourselves. The LA has got back to me to say that the landlord won't split the bills out as it would be too complicated given that they own mutiple flats in the property and meter it all as one. Fair enough.

What surprised me was that the LA said for any property they normally budget about £270 for all the utility bills before council tax. With council tax on top that would typically be £380 on top of any advertised rent on a 1 bed flat.

I'm aware that energy prices are on the up, but does this sound reasonable for the area? The property looks to be pretty old but double glazed. It's a first floor flat on top of a shop and underneath another flat. It does have Gas Central Heating.

The cost sounds much higher than many averages I've heard but as I've not been in a property with bills excluded for a few years I'm not sure what to expect. What I really want to know is how much we would really be paying if we rented a 1 bed flat for 750pcm exclusive (crystal balls would be accepted)

Thanks

LittleMissAspie

A 1-bed will be cheap to heat especially if you are above other people. I would maximum £100 per month for gas, elec and water. If it's electric heating then maybe more.

Edit: sorry just read you are above a shop. We rented a 2-bed flat above a shop (no-one above us and a flat roof which I believe is bad for insulation). We paid about £25 each on gas and elec each month plus about £25 for water meter. £75 a month.

Watalie

I agree - £100 is more realistic.

I have a small 2 bed and I pay £46 for Elec (no gas) and £30 for water.

Brb

Horribly over-priced!

I have 2 bed house and pay £23 Gas £20 electric and £21 water. Tip is to phone up on move-in date with meter readings and set up DD straight away (don't wait for the normal 3 months before getting initial bill).

casper_g

We pay the same in rent as you (£750 pcm). We pay a total of £1000 into a joint account each month, and that covers us for gas, electricity, water, council tax, contents insurance. This is in a largish period two-bed terrace with draughty single-glazed bay windows, so I think you should be paying less than us for utilities. Our council tax is more, too.

Based on the above, I think £975 excluding CT but including utilities is steep, especially for a 1-bed flat.

Zogger

thanks to everyone so far for validating my thoughts. I was also expecting them to be around the £100 mark, but even 150 would be doable on top of 750 rent. I think the LA was trying to scare me with horror stories of people with bills running into 500/600pm. She did offer to reduce their fees but that would only take it down by £25 - I think we might just have to walk away from this one.
It's well finished and nicely furnished but definitely a little overpriced, even for the area.

Brb

LAs would charge for air if they thought they could get away with it.