Renting to students - to Inc bills or not?

Furzil19

Hi,
Our plan is to rent out 2 spare rooms to students to live in a house with our twin sons.
There seems to be 2 ways of doing this, including water, gas, electric & Internet or just water & Internet.
We have no idea how much bills would be for 4 students, although our guess is that they will use more than an average same sized household.
Our dilemma is that students prefer bills Inc as this helps them to budget (we'll be having to pay half anyway for our boys). However, if we do it this way we could get stung with very large bills.:eek: We thought of capping what we pay, stating this on the agreement, but are not sure what is fair.
We have considered payment meters, but according to advice these can work out more pricey (& again we are paying half).
Our daughter & housemates did 'Glide' but this worked out more expensive for them too and the landlord company started to Inc bills with the rent.
If anyone out there has rented to students & found the best way we would really appreciate your advice please.

jamie11

Your best bet may be to let to your sons with a proper AST, they would then be joint tenants, (The tenant), they could then take the other students as lodgers. since they are going to be all students in the house there will be no CT. The lodger rents can be set at a price that includes bills if your sons wish.

CLAPTON

if gas and electricity are included this will mean that heating/lighting is on 24 hours a day 7 days a week; budget accordingly.

drummer_666

I was a student in Birmingham and then rented houses for 5 years after and I never had a house that included bills

If I was the landlord I would do council tax inc (unless student let and then get copy of proof they are a student up front) and water but that's all

Brallaqueen

As your sons are going to be the LLs of the other two, I would include bills in the rent as your sons will be there to monitor. The drawback of lodgers is they can move on quite quick so getting bill money from them can prove problematic if they just up and leave.

CLAPTON

Brallaqueen wrote: »

As your sons are going to be the LLs of the other two, I would include bills in the rent as your sons will be there to monitor. The drawback of lodgers is they can move on quite quick so getting bill money from them can prove problematic if they just up and leave.

'monitoring' implies endless arguments as to what is reasonable

so 'science/engineering/medical' type students spend most days at college; 'arts' type student need to attend college infrequently; is it therefore reasonable to have the heating on all day most days whilst working at home?

Furzil19

Thanks for the replies, much appreciated. We had already considered the boys as tenants meaning they could have lodgers (please see our other thread). We now have to work out how they can pay the mortgage as they will be getting the money!
Not sure how to budget in bills with rent so think we will arrange separately. As Clapton suggests, they'll max out on what they are given unless they are paying for it themselves.
The advice has really helped. Thanks.

Furzil19

Does anyone think we should use credit meters instead even though they're not the cheapest?

Brallaqueen

CLAPTON wrote: »

'monitoring' implies endless arguments as to what is reasonable

so 'science/engineering/medical' type students spend most days at college; 'arts' type student need to attend college infrequently; is it therefore reasonable to have the heating on all day most days whilst working at home?

This is all true- in my experience students *always* argue over the bills and they are renting as equals. However, in this situation the sons are de facto LL for the lodgers so should be clear that they have more 'say' over things like this. That's one of the many drawbacks for lodgers (living in 'someone elses house').

I do think that an all incl rent for the lodgers would be best, in my area it is the norm and I have a lodger too. We realise it is an unequal relationship and I am the one who pays the bills at the end of the day.

Brallaqueen

Furzil19 wrote: »

Does anyone think we should use credit meters instead even though they're not the cheapest?

I think this will only punish your sons...

Furzil19

We'll still be paying so wouldn't affect them, just us. Wondering if this way would be cheaper in the long run.
Sorry, newbie at this & doing it on an iPad that won't let me scroll everything. If I'm not answering your messages with a thanks it's because I can't see them at the moment. I'll get on my laptop in a bit & have a good look at all of the responses. Thanks.