Rough cost of heating a 2-bed flat?

GreatBigBookcase

Hello All,

Was wondering if people would mind giving me an idea of how much their monthly heating/hot water bills are if they live in a two-bed flat?

I know there'll be lots of variation for various reasons, but the reason I'm asking is I'm looking at properties at the moment and some flats in the area I'm looking in have a monthly service charge of 150 pounds. This includes building insurance, grounds maintenance, caretaker wages, upkeep of communal areas and communal heating and hot water. 150 seems a lot to be paying each month, but maybe it's not when everything's taken into account?

I don't currently live in the UK, and haven't done for years, so I have no idea what sort of costs I'd be looking at to heat/insure a flat, so thought I'd pick your brains.

Thanks

Andy_WSM

£150 a month sounds very reasonable for heating AND upkeep.

In the Winter in an all electric flat you can easily be looking at £100+ per month for electricity bills depending upon your lifestyle, the hours you are home and how warm you like your flat.

Obviously you won't use as much in the Summer months, but if you look around the forum you will find plenty of examples of people paying £1,000 - £1,200 a year or more for energy.

[Deleted User]

I live in a 2bed ground floor all electric flat, my winter weekly electric is £15.50ish per week in winter, £10 to £11 per week spring and autumn and around £5 to £6 per week in summer. My service charges are under £70 per calender month, which doesnt include heating or hot water. I have an emmersion heater which i only use for bath water as my shower runs separately. I use the water from the kettle to wash up after ive had a cuppa. My annual eletctric bill has never been over £510 (even when my son lived here, before he moved out.) and ive lived here 5years + (4years with an adult son). Both together work out at around £1,300.

macman

Since the average UK dual fuel bill is £1250, £1,800 a year S/C for all those services including as much heating and DHW as you want, seems an absolute bargain.
The question is, what happens in year 2 when your S/C goes up by x%?

GreatBigBookcase

Thanks for the help everyone. So, seems the service charge is not as scary as I originally thought. But, yes...very good point macman...need to bear any increases in mind.

Wywth

RayKay wrote: »

Hello All,

Was wondering if people would mind giving me an idea of how much their monthly heating/hot water bills are if they live in a two-bed flat?

I know there'll be lots of variation for various reasons, but the reason I'm asking is I'm looking at properties at the moment and some flats in the area I'm looking in have a monthly service charge of 150 pounds. This includes building insurance, grounds maintenance, caretaker wages, upkeep of communal areas and communal heating and hot water. 150 seems a lot to be paying each month, but maybe it's not when everything's taken into account?

I don't currently live in the UK, and haven't done for years, so I have no idea what sort of costs I'd be looking at to heat/insure a flat, so thought I'd pick your brains.

Thanks

Only £150 a month for building insurance, grounds maintenance, caretaker wages, upkeep of communal areas and communal heating and hot water?

I'd suggest if you are interested in any such property, you ask your solicitor explicitly to check on the management company finances.

I would strongly suspect they are currently running at a loss (so be aware of any debt you may effectively be purchasing) and I'm almost certain there is no 'sink fund' being accrued for the larger, less regular maintenance items any property eventually requires.

GreatBigBookcase

Thanks for that Wywth, that's a really good point. Will definitely do as you suggest if I decide to pursue this.

Richie-from-the-Boro

The average energy costs is at £24.00pw
The average service charge for HA's is £4.66 a week / 5.76% of the total rent and charges

.. .. double that service charge in London ! / nearly 10% of total rent and charges.

comeandgo

I must be reading this wrong - I would think communal heating is not heating your individual flat but the stairwells and communal area?

GreatBigBookcase

comeandgo wrote: »

I must be reading this wrong - I would think communal heating is not heating your individual flat but the stairwells and communal area?

Sorry, to clarify, I did mean heating for individual flats...was using 'communal' in the sense that everyone benefits from it.

Thanks Richie, very useful figures.

Yolina

I'm in a 2-bed flat and,because I'm reasonably careful, I use around 6000kw of gas per year (heating, hot water and hob), I'm careful with my electricity too and my combined annual bill is £530.
Whilst it may sound nice to have communal heating and HW included in the service charge, it's not something I'd want as you then have no control over it. What happens is that people will just leave the heating on tropical setting either because they want to "get their money's worth" or just because, well they can and the service charge will just keep on climbing to cover that - rinse and repeat.

My parents have a flat on the French Riviera and are having that problem there - their service charge includes heating, HW and air con - but some people are just abusing the system and everybody else is paying for it. There's a debate going on there at the moment whether to install individual meters to the flats as a lot of residents have had enough really.