Realistic estimates of bills for a 1 bedroom flat - single male

Mat_Lock

I'm planning somewhat ahead but in about 6 months I want to be moving out of my 3 bedroom flat share and try to move in to a 1 bed flat on my own. It's been ok living with one of my best mates and then a random other sharer but there's so many little annoyances that have built up overtime and the landlady seems to be driving up the rent every 6 months with excuses of extortionate bill hikes. £75 a month increase (£900 a year extra) I don't think it's increased that much considering we don't have the heating on for 9 months of the year.

Anyway, I want to know if I move in to a flat with say £600 - £700 pcm for rent, how much extra I would need to have for bills. Based on a flat in Croydon and surrounding areas.

Cheers for any advice.

Mat

ps what the hell is it with letting agents and having none or one single photo of a flat to rent. Stupid !!

nzseries1

I think lack of photos is usually because of not wanting to disturb the existing tenant.
Here's what I budget (copied straight from my spreadsheet):

• 33pm for Mobile phone
• 85pm Electricity / Water
• 31pm Phone / Internet (I'm a heavy internet user and need the biggest plan, but refuse to go on a contract. You could get both for 20)
• 35pm Transport, but then I have the luxury of walking to work
• 107pm Council Tax, includes the single person's discount
• 4pm Contents Insurance

Plus sky / cable if you're like the 95% of people who can't live without it!

No doubt there's probably some one-off payments as well that I can't think of right now, like agents' fees, TV licence and the actual physical cost of moving. I live in an average size 1bed place in Tower Hamlets.

toby3000

When I lived by myself I think I was spending about 200-250 for bills, but I was overpaying on gas/electricity so it wasn't as high as that in the end. Part of the problem is that lots of things are fixed (water/council tax/TV licence), which you can check out before you decide. The only real variable (that I can think of) is the gas/electricity useage.

BitterAndTwisted

Yes, and the last round of price increase for gas and electricity were around 20%. I'd certainly count that as extortionate.

I hardly had the heating on at all last winter for reasons of extreme penury )about a hour a day) and it still cost me £1 day.

Mat_Lock

Our current rental payment is all inclusive and as the landlady lives in the house below us and we live in the converted flat in the roof it's hard to tell what our share of the bills come to.

Thanks for the figures though nzseries1 gives me something to think about.

I'm not bothered about sky as I buy my blu ray movies and rarely watch much tv anyway so just Freeview is good. Will want Virgin broadband though, currently paying £30 a month for 20mb between the 3 of us so in 6 months should have some leeway to getting a discount or upgrade for same price.

I'd walk to work in the Spring/Summer/Autumn and on non wet days in Winter. Pretty much what I am doing now anyway. I would take the odd tram/bus if necessary.

Mat_Lock

Hmm based on your current figures it'd leave me with about £500 pcm using just those bill figures. Sure there's going to be a few more too but it looks kind of realistic now.

Yorkie1

You can go on the energy comparison websites and input property type details to get a basic idea of how much they think you'll spend. Obviously it will vary according to the type of heating and cooking facilities in the eventual property.

Mat_Lock

ah sweet, thanks will take a looksie

split_second

if you are in a flat it will probably be electric only, i would budget about £60-70 per month for that as that would be cooking and heating.
council tax *shrugs shoulders*, i pay £100 a month for a band a but we are expensive here and there are 2 of us
tv license is fixed price as long as its not your first one cos then you pay a years worth in 6 months
landline and broadband anything from £15 upwards for the pair
mobile- depends what you have
water- depends if its meter or rates, we are on rates at £41
contents was about £100 a year
any others let me know and i will have a stab in the dark lol, my prices are based on being ooop north so things vary.

PasturesNew

£100 council tax
£60 electric/gas
£20 water
£12 TV license
£10 contents insurance
£20 broadband
===
£222

So I'd guessstimate it at a rounded-up £250/month