The cost of bills- Renting????

Sherene22

Hello,

I'm about to start renting and my maximum budget is 800 GBP PCM. I would like to get an idea on the cost of how much bills will be per month as I have never rented before. Please would anyone be so kind to give me some sort of an idea of what I will be spending at the end of each month?

Many Thanks,
Sherene

Yorkie1

TV licence - £25 per month for the first 6 months; £12 per month thereafter

Council tax - look on the VOA website for the banding of the flat, and then go onto your local council website to see the amount charged for that band. If you'll live alone, deduct 25%. Paid over 10 months (not Feb / Mar).

Water - depends on whether you have a meter or not. If not, then it'll be based on rateable value and I don't know where to look for that.

Gas / Elec - if you go on the fuel comparison sites, some of them allow you to input property details rather than annual £ / kWh consumption. That will give you a very ballpark figure. The real figure will depend on usage, insulation, type of heating, etc.

Contents insurance - depends but may be £150 per year?

Landline / broadband - perhaps £20-30 if you get it.

Food - maybe £100 per month?

Socialising??

Travel??

Car insurance / MOT etc??

Werdnal

Remember too, that when starting out renting you will need to pay admin/credit check fees - agents charge anything from £100-300'ish per person, plus find a month's rent and deposit (usually another month) on top before you move in.

There is a very helpful "sticky" thread at the top of the forum page, which you might find of interest - A Tenant's Guide to Renting.

BigAunty

MSE also has a budget planner so download that and it will remind you of all your living expenses, not just the accommodation related ones, such as travel, social, life insurance and so on.

£25 a week for groceries (3.50 a day for all meals) is a bit optimistic unless you know how to cook fresh meals from scratch. Other people can cook for much less, others probably burn through £50.