Moving out of my parents house.

Spitfire1984

I'm planning on moving out of my parents house later on this year, and I need advice on what my expected cost of living will be.

I'm going to put my name down for a council flat which I'm told is a lot cheaper than renting privately, I've looked at how much people are charging for rent and that seems to support this also.
On average the typical one bedroom council flat is about £200 - £250 per month, whereas private landlords seem to charge between £300 to £450 per month.

What I would like to know is how much I can expect to spend on things like council tax, utilities, food and other things.

It will be just me living in the flat, I'm 26, I work full time and I earn about £900 per month.

Any input would be appreciated.

*Robin*

Unless you have some special reason for being given priority, you are likely to have to wait a long time before being offered council / housing association accommodation.

Being adequately housed at your parents home will not get you many points, I'm afraid.

Have you considered a flat-share?

Madjock

Sorry to burst your bubble somewhat, but you may wait on a council list for years before you are offered a property. You should check whether your local authority is 100% choice-based lettings for social housing and, if not, apply to all the housing associations you can as well. You can call your local authority to find out the council tax bandings, or ask a few letting agents.

Utility costs will depend on the size of the property, how it is heated, and whether it has a water meter or water rates. I lived in a first floor maisonette with a water meter and paid about £600 per year for water (and that was without a washing machine). I now live in a 2 bed terrace and pay £170 per year water rates. Electric heating can be far more costly than gas, I would budget £60-£80 per month for gas and electricity and if you end up paying less after 12 months, that's a bonus. I would avoid at all costs electric storage heating.

Your food budget will depend on how you are used to eating - does your mum shop at Asda or M&S? You should possibly start buying more food yourself, or paying the shopping bill more to get used to what your food preferences will cost you.

Don't forget toiletries, cleaning stuff, clothes, hair dos and all the other stuff that you very likely spend on without thinking about it right now.

And get contents insurance.

RexBanner

*Robin* wrote: »

Unless you have some special reason for being given priority, you are likely to have to wait a long time before being offered council / housing association accommodation.

Being adequately housed at your parents home will not get you many points, I'm afraid.

Have you considered a flat-share?

That's exactly my two cents worth on the subject - renting a room in a flatshare would be your best bet in terms of getting an affordable place, and while there are ovbious drawbacks in terms of space and privacy, the right one can be a serious boost to your social (and love!) life.

Marvel1

I'm single and these are currently my bills = average (remember this is mine and can be different to yours):

Mortgage: £255 (currently)
Water - £33.50 (not on a meter)
Council Tax - £79 (I get 25% discount living alone)
Gas - £17
Electric - £26
Phone and Broadband - £25
TV Licence - £12
Food - £100
Insurance (building and contents) - £15

I'm on a prepayment meter for gas and electric and the above is the average monthly based over 12 months.

I doubt you will get a council house, you will be placed at the bottom of the list.

McKneff

cjdavies wrote: »

I'm single and these are currently my bills = average (remember this is mine and can be different to yours):

Mortgage: £255 (currently)
Water - £33.50 (not on a meter)
Council Tax - £79 (I get 25% discount living alone)
Gas - £17
Electric - £26
Phone and Broadband - £25
TV Licence - £12
Food - £100
Insurance (building and contents) - £25

I'm on a prepayment meter for gas and electric and the above is the average monthly based over 12 months.

I doubt you will get a council house, you will be placed at the bottom of the list.

Wow, you really need to get a meter if you can, 2 of us live in a 3bed semi and last year our water averaged £18 a month.

Also shop around next time for yur buildings and contents, £300 a year is a lot............

Marvel1

McKneff wrote: »

Wow, you really need to get a meter if you can, 2 of us live in a 3bed semi and last year our water averaged £18 a month.

Also shop around next time for yur buildings and contents, £300 a year is a lot............

I'm going to ring tomorrow about a meter, but I ain't getting my hopes up of getting one a it may not be possible a it's a 1920 mid-terrace house, no front garden.

For the insurance, I put away £50 a month which covers the car too, and I just halved it. My home insurance was £180, now edited the monthly payout.

shegar

If you live in our area , you would have no chance of getting council housing.........theres famillies on the list with 2 or 3 or 4 children , and they are have been years waiting......... some folks with as many children in 1 and 2 bed flats and they cant be re housed..............I would go and flat share or rent a room if you want to get away from the parents.......

Jowo_2

If you lived in my area, it's possible that as a single person you could get social housing but probably in the hard to let high rises plagued by junkies.

There's a local housing association that's even advertised online to encourage people to apply for their properties that have frequent voids. This includes a block where a lady fell down the lift shaft, another was murdered in their 'safe' house before they could testify, another murder I think took place in it and where one of the residents was killed by an axe in their head elsewhere.

I lived in social housing in that part of town for a while (the nicer part) and my close neighbours were two alcoholics, a mentally ill lady who smashed up her flat and a dope fiend who blasted out his music all hours (and told me to be grateful that he had good taste).

I know this experience isn't representative of all social housing schemes and the behaviour I endured is common to private tenants/owner occupiers, too.

It's just that if you live in a place with low supply of social housing and strong demand, firstly the single are less likely to be allocated social housing, and secondly, if there are high concentrations of single tenants (my block of flats were not let to families), perhaps there's more likelihood of anti social behaviour.

dogswithbigears

I've lived alone for the last 7 1/2 years, but am currently in the process of moving out because the money-maths just isn't working out any more...

Here's a quick breakdown of my current expenditure per month (I live in a 1 bed victorian flat conversion in Northampton):

Rent £450
Water £17
Council Tax £72 (with the 25% deduction)
Gas and Electric average across 12mo £40 (cannot change suppliers for better deal - written into contract)
Contents insurance £5.48
TV license £10.87
TV/Internet/Landline package £25.90
Mobile contract £5

The food bill varies greatly for me - where and when I can, I get my food from the wastage at work (75% discount), so I haven't done a weekly shop in a supermarket for at least 2 years! Anything from £10 up to £30 per week, is my best guess...

Don't forget to factor in money for going out and having fun. Living independently is great, but not having any funds left to go out and meet people can be very isolating.

Also, if you're renting unfurnished, try to build up an emergency fund for those times when appliances/furniture etc break.

I would echo others here in saying your circumstances don't appear to guarantee you social housing any time soon. Looking at private rental, you could find yourself on quite a tight budget if you were paying the upper limit (£450pcm) but it's probably managable at £300.

If you can, I'd try to share with someone else though. When I move in a couple of months, my monthly outgoings will be significantly reduced - just by sharing with one other person. Of course, I'm lucky that person is a friend... and I do understand the hesitation about living with people you don't know.

Good luck, whatever you decide.

Spitfire1984

Thanks for the replies I'm obviously going to look into moving out a lot more, I've got to sort out my finances before I decide to do anything.
It sounds like my friend has given me inaccurate information in regards to getting a council flat, he never mentioned anything about waiting for years (although he has got a wife and a kid).

I'm suprised about the cost of utilities, I thought that it would be significantly more than that. I've currently been using my parents bills as a rough guide, and their bills are quite a bit higher.

Flat sharing really doesn't appeal to me, I like my privacy, I did see a flat near to me for £340 per month, but I decided against it because I didn't think I could afford the bills, but looking at the rough estimates here I think it would be workable.