Moving out for the first time, questions...

MikeF1

I've moving out of my parents house (finally!) at the end of the week. Starting a new job, initially on 18k per year, although that will be reviewed after 6 months.

The employer has found me a place to live, £400 for a room, plus general usage of the entire house. That includes all bills, internet access etc. It's all pretty laid back to be honest, the guy who's house it is is friends with the person employing me, and we all work in the same profession. We'll all be away at different times, so sometimes I'll have the house to myself anyway.

So, it all seems pretty good at the moment, although I could possibly find somewhere a bit cheaper per month. Is it worth doing that, or should I concentrate on finding my own flat etc.?

Or what else? I don't really want to be paying several houndred pounds a month just to live in someone elses house for the rest of my life, what should I aim for next?

I've worked out after tax I should be taking home £1166 per month, what's the best way to budget it?
Cheers for any help.

chant1l

£1166 per month budget:
1) rent £400
2) lager £250
3)nightclubs £250
4) food and other non essentials £150
5)£116 emergency alcohol fund (in case lager runs out/ladies want a sherry).

prudryden

That seems like a good deal since all the bills are inclusive. You won't have the stress of:
(1) Council Tax
(2) Gas bill
(3) Water bill
(4) Electric bill
(5) ISP for your internet
(6) Contents Insurance - but check with LL if your stuff is included in his.
(7) TV license
(8) Repair and Maintenance bills
(9) Fixed charge for Telephone
(10) Cleaning bills - if LL has an outside cleaner.

liz545

£400 per month is about a third of your take home pay, and including bills etc will mean that you don't need to worry about them. It would be a good idea to do a little online research into what houseshares in your part of the country cost, as if they're significantly lower than £400pcm it may be cheaper to make your own arrangements.

Whatever else you do, make sure that there's a tenancy agreement drawn up it can be fairly basic but it needs to state your name, the landlord's name, the address of the property, what the rent is and what it includes (bills, council tax etc). I know you say it's fairly laidback, but a tenancy agreement is there to protect both parties in case of things going wrong. You can get off-the-shelf agreements at stationers, and you'll need to have it witnessed by a third party.

There are some good budgeting resources on this website, so download the spreadsheet and take a look. Think about the other costs you'll incur, like transport, going out, food and your mobile, then see what that leaves you to put into savings. If you can be disciplined and put some money aside each month, and not run up debt, there's no reason you'll be stuck in a rented houseshare for the rest of your life! Oh, and if you can't already, learn to cook, it'll save you a fortune on takeaways. Good luck - moving out's scary but it's one of the best things I've done.

Daisies

Definitely make sure there's a proper tenancy agreement in place, and if you don't understand anything on it, take it to the CAB and check before you sign.

It does sound like a good deal, especially as you're starting out and won't have to worry about all those bills too, but do check things like who pays what for the phone bill (some companies do a pin number thing so everyone gets their own calls listed on a separate sheet of the bill).

It's also worth checking who's responsible for cleaning (and maintaining the garden, if there is one?). It sounds like there will be plenty of communal space, but someone needs to look after it, and it can be the cause of big rows! Similarly with purchasing loo roll, milk, bread...

Also, how well do you know the person you'll be sharing with? It might be worth asking a few casual questions about how often they have people over, whether they let friends (know to you?) stay over when they're not there etc.

I lived in a shared house a few years ago (provided at a low rent by my employer) with four work colleagues and ran into awful problems. One of the others got into a lot of trouble at work, and was already on final warning. He got more and more difficult to live with, became aggressive and abusive and ended up threatening me and the police became involved. It put me in a very difficult position, especially as our employer was completely useless at sorting anything out and I wish I'd checked the tenancy agreement more thoroughly in advance and asked a few more questions!

Good luck though - hope you enjoy both the job and the house!

wigglygiggly

Pay your rent first, put money back for food and living expenses, save and enjoy yourself! Definately save, at least enough for a deposit and one month in advance (£1000??) for another place if things do go wrong in your new home.

Have fun!!!

MikeF1

Cheers guys. I can cook reasonably, and a lot of the time I'll be getting food expenses at work, so I can eat all the junk food and stuff then... I should be paying less for my own car as well...

Hopefully I can save at least a couple of hundred per month, maybe more. I might still have a look round to see if there's anywhere cheaper, but this is a pretty nice house, and well located.

MJMum

Congratulations on your job. I hope you get a huge pay rise in 6 months time too

I think the house-share arrangement you describe sounds like the ideal first step when moving out of home. You'll have enough to concentrate on in your new job without worrying about bills, etc. Just make sure that you pay your rent religiously on time every month, be generous in replacing the loo roll and do your fair share of the cleaning (if that is expected) then you will have a place to stay for as long as you need. If you're in the South East, then £400pcm sounds like a fair price too.

MikeF1

It's a village near Northampton. Probably a good deal to be honest, I can put my computer in the office area etc. And as I said the guy that owns the house will often not be there.

We have a cleaner as well Which is a bonus...

The only thing that worries me is parking my car, however he says he has arranged a space in a carpark less than 30 seconds walk away, I hope that's not a problem. Can't see why, he's had other people living there...

This has all happened quite quickly, I'm rushing around to make arrangements! I can get all the essentials moved though, I was gonna sell some stuff on ebay, but I think I'll just stick it my parents loft for now, and come back in a few weeks and do it then!

Anyone wanna buy a guitar? Or 25 floppy disks which I've just uncovered...?

prudryden

Looking for a banjo - Do you have one of those?

MikeF1

Gimme a couple of hours...