Advice on 4 people renting a 4 bedroom house

Andyhutch

Hi there I need some advice on renting a house with 3 of my friends, I’m coming up 22, Male, still live with parent and currently paying £200 per month rent to my mother, I really want to move out but can’t afford the deposit for a house etc. So I’ve found a 4 bedroom detached house with double garage in an upmarket part of town to rent which I’m going to view at the weekend and want an idea of what I’m getting myself into before I make a decision.

I've added up the costs per month:
Rent = £700
Tax = £200 (its band E)
Gas & Electric = £120 (moneysupermarket.com @ high user)
Water = £30 per month (on a meter)
TV licence £15 per month?
Sky £30 (I currently pay this at home includes line rental, phone, BB, tele so know this for a fact)
TOTAL = £1100 approx
So divided by 4 that’s around £275 each.

I’ve never moved out and had to pay bills etc. so am I being too optimistic or do you think this I about right? Also when renting a house do we need to pay house insurance or is this covered by the landlord?

Has anyone done this before with friends? Can anyone give me any advice before I jump into this, it sounds like a great idea to me and my mates but everyone I speak to is trying to put me off! I've already thought about people falling out, dropping out etc. but this is something I really want to do.

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Thank you

Andy

Annisele

My first thought was that that's quite some council tax on a £700 a month property.

My council tax is about 7% of my rent. You're talking about council tax being 25%-30% ish (I'm not sure whether you'd pay the £200 every month). Council tax and rent certainly aren't directly proportional to one another, but still - are you sure?

My second thought is that, whilst you don't say where you are, £700 a month for a 4 bedroom house in an "upmarket" part of town sounds suspiciously cheap.

To answer your questions:

Your utilities figures don't look wildly out to me, but I've never had water on a meter, and gas and electricity depends a great deal on the type of house you have and your usage. Huge drafty place with single glazing, ancient boiler/electric heaters, and four people each taking a bath a day? Pricy. Small well insulated place with efficient boiler and careful energy use? Much cheaper.

You insure your stuff and your landlord insures his.

I wouldn't do it. Moving into a shared house where each person has a separate contract with the landlord, fine. Each of you being responsible for the entire rent (as is usually the case when you only have one contract), not so much fun. You say you've thought about falling out - what will you do if one, two or three of the others just plain doesn't pay, and you're liable for the entire rent for the house?

And then there's the dull stuff like whose turn it is to buy and pay for the toilet paper, who's doing the cleaning, who gets to have space in the garage, whether that person has to taxi the rest of you about, who stole your milk...

dimbo61

Lots of things to consider ?
Deposit , who will pay the bills each month and who takes on which bills!
Guarantor ? for yourself and the other tenants
References from your employer
The landlord should have buildings insurance ( landlord policy ) but you need to take contents insurance yourself
You also need to check that the landlord is happy with several tenants who are unrelated as this may be a HMO and need planning in several parts of the country.
There are hundreds of thousands of people sharing houses together right now but the Landlord will want a joint tenancy with the 4 of you responsible for the rent each month and if one leaves he/she will still want the full rent so the other 3 will have to find a replacement.
Check out Easyroomate, spareroom, gumtree and lots of other websites where people are looking for rooms to rent.
Please be very carefull with the bills as some people are happy to pay there share and some people never have a spare penny after the beer, mobile, nights out ETC

rentergirl

I say go for it, but yes, that does sound like a lot council tax. Get ALL your names on ALL the bills. You should get your own stuff insured, that's true. But have you chosen your housemates yet? And yes, try and avoid a joint tenancy: explain that you will all pay separately (landlords make more money this way ie than renting to a family and with more people renting will have to accept that in such a house people will come and go.) Germany has a good idea though: someone is nominated 'tenant rep.' They get the pick of the rooms, and in return they organise (but are NOt responsible for) bills and rent. Good luck!

Andyhutch

Well I live in Co. Durham, it quite cheap here, the house is probably worth around 200k, in a modern estate built within the past 10 years so must have a modern boiler and it’s got double glazing, so guessing its quite a warm house. I got the cost of the council tax from a web site based on band E in my area, if it’s cheaper then it’s a bonus! I don’t know exactly how it works but we could all maybe set up a bank account and all pay a direct debit into that account which will pay for the rent? If not then maybe split it between 2 peoples bank accounts? Can more than one person sign the contract for responsibility? As for bills, if we spread these out so someone pays gas, someone pays water, etc. This may work? We still need to discuss all this in detail. We’ve all been close friends for about 10 years I trust them a lot, if someone does drop out then I’m pretty sure I could find someone else anyway.
The bond is £700 + £700 for one month’s rent in advance so I’ve already thought about that, the estate agent mentioned about credit checks and employer references, I think all of these will be fine. Regarding the landlord allowing us to rent it, this is something I will have to find out, the estate agent seemed ok with it but it’s possible he won’t but I’m basing this on us being able to go ahead. And yes there could be issues with petty things like toilet paper etc. My parents have already drummed this into me but as I say we’re all pretty close mates and these are things we’d have to sort out IF it comes to it.
I just want to make sure I’ve worked out the monthly costs pretty accurately and make sure there isn’t anything I’ve missed, I don’t want to move in then find out it costs a lot more than expected!

Humphrey10

Andyhutch wrote: »

Can anyone give me any advice before I jump into this, it sounds like a great idea to me and my mates but everyone I speak to is trying to put me off!

How many rooms does the house have, and what size are the bedrooms? 4 box rooms and one kitchen/diner would be a very different experience to 4 double rooms, a lounge, a kitchen/diner, and a conservatory, for example.

BigAunty

The typical problems that are reported by house-sharers on this forum include complaints about cleanliness, theft/borrowing of items, people's partners and relatives staying over too long, non-payment of bills and rent which other tenants have to cover.

Why a 4 bedroom house? Why not a 2 bedroom property with a firm friend so less chance of it becoming a party house/doss house (if you are planning a party house, the neighbours will soon complain to the council and landlord).

4 bedrooms sounds like a higher risk of fall out, higher admin. A 2 bed will be dearer but have less chance of a relationship breakdown and a bit more relaxing.

And I know they are your buddies but can you face living with skiddies in the toilet bowl if one or more of them turns out to be a pig?

Andyhutch

I’m going to view it at the weekend so not 100% sure but I believe it has a separate lounge & diner, no conservatory.
Bedroom 1 with En-Suite - 3.71m(12'2'') x 4.55m(14'11'')
Bedroom 2 - 3.63m(11'11'') x 2.49m(8'2'')
Bedroom 3 - 3.61m(11'10'') x 2.79m(9'2'')
Bedroom 4 - 2.36m(7'9'') x 3.96m(13'0'')
Can’t really visualise the size but I think these are double rooms? Obviously someone’s going to get a better room than everyone else but we’ll sort it out some way!

Andyhutch

BigAunty – yes that’s true we will all have to co-operate if we all want it to work which we do! We’re all desperate to move out so I’m hoping we all respect each other and the neighbours etc. We have discussed all of this and we’re confident that aspect of living together will be fine although I know it may not go exactly to plan but we at least want to try this. And regarding renting a 2 bed house, this would be less risky but I worked out it would be quite a lot more costly and the house wouldn’t be as nice and probably wouldn’t have a garage which is quite important to me. The way I see it if i’ve worked out the costs right then it’s not much more expensive than living at home and we’ll all have a great laugh living together!

Humphrey10

Andyhutch wrote: »

I’m going to view it at the weekend so not 100% sure but I believe it has a separate lounge & diner, no conservatory.

Bear in mind when viewing it that rooms look bigger with no furniture. Take a tape measure and a friend (for a second opinion), and measure out on the floor the size of a bed, and any other furniture you will need in the room, to see how well it will fit.

A separate lounge and diner sounds good, having two separate shared rooms that it is possible to sit in (even if one has just a kitchen table) makes things a lot more pleasant with 4 adults sharing.
Also how many bathrooms? I would not like to live somewhere that has just one for four adults, but you might be more tolerant than me!

dawyldthing

Andyhutch wrote: »

I’m going to view it at the weekend so not 100% sure but I believe it has a separate lounge & diner, no conservatory.
Bedroom 1 with En-Suite - 3.71m(12'2'') x 4.55m(14'11'')
Bedroom 2 - 3.63m(11'11'') x 2.49m(8'2'')
Bedroom 3 - 3.61m(11'10'') x 2.79m(9'2'')
Bedroom 4 - 2.36m(7'9'') x 3.96m(13'0'')
Can’t really visualise the size but I think these are double rooms? Obviously someone’s going to get a better room than everyone else but we’ll sort it out some way!

i'd guess from those sizings that its a new build and there all box rooms? There liveable spaces but not that big (bear in mind if your 6 foot odd its only 2 feet more wide in 2 of the rooms.) Then theres the argument of the big room with en suite