Strange renting situation

elementallime

I'm very new to forums so I don't really get how they work, please forgive if this is mis-posted or put somewhere it shouldn't be. My situation is a strange one and after many hours scouring the net I haven't really found any advice so I'm looking here.
I'm currently at university and will be going into my final year in September, My partner left university last year and has started full-time work. We would like to move out and rent an apartment or small house when I go into my final year.
Having an initial look into my student finances it seems I would be able to afford rent and bills, but they are based on averages. In other words it all looks good on paper, but reality tends to be a bit less predictable. I will be working when not in university, a part time job with flexible hours, but still its money. What i want is some advice on monthly bills on average and if it seems feasible to rent whilst one works full time and the other is a student? Also all the hidden costs associated with renting and living away from home?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated as I don't know anybody to ask advice from, they are either both students or both work full-time. Thanks

Wywth

elementallime wrote: »

I'm very new to forums so I don't really get how they work, please forgive if this is mis-posted or put somewhere it shouldn't be. My situation is a strange one and after many hours scouring the net I haven't really found any advice so I'm looking here.
I'm currently at university and will be going into my final year in September, My partner left university last year and has started full-time work. We would like to move out and rent an apartment or small house when I go into my final year.
Having an initial look into my student finances it seems I would be able to afford rent and bills, but they are based on averages. In other words it all looks good on paper, but reality tends to be a bit less predictable. I will be working when not in university, a part time job with flexible hours, but still its money. What i want is some advice on monthly bills on average and if it seems feasible to rent whilst one works full time and the other is a student? Also all the hidden costs associated with renting and living away from home?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated as I don't know anybody to ask advice from, they are either both students or both work full-time. Thanks

The average annual household energy consumption according to Ofgem is 16500kWh gas and 3300kWh of electricity.

Pop those figures into any comparison site and you will soon see how much that would cost you.

Other general questions and queries about renting would probably be better posted on the Renting board here:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.php?f=16

macman

Since standard rate electricity is about 300% more than gas per kWh, an all-electric property will of course be very much more expensive to fuel, even if it's E7. There are no meaningful 'average' bills for this reason.
Plus water bills, contents insurance, phone, broadband...
Also bear in mind that if one of you is not a student, then you will be subject to the full rate of Council Tax on the property-no student exemption will apply.

Fire_Fox

Welcome! There are many threads on this issue across MSE (not just this board) if you run an advanced search. It's a bit of a PITA to get your head around at first but WELL worth it: quite near the top of the page in a green band is forum search, click that to get a drop down box then click 'advanced search', keywords in the box, change 'search entire posts' to 'search thread titles' (or you will get thousands of hits), then 'search now'.

Biggest issue is council tax, if there are two of you in the household your exemption will confer a 25% single person discount but you should check the local council website for confirmation. If you live as many tenants in a larger house but only one is working there will still be 75% of the council tax to pay which is a huge amount so it's better for one student to live with all employed people than one employed person to live with all students.

I believe under the 'hierachy of liability' all tenants will be jointly and severally liable for the council tax even if you are exempt so if you partner does not pay other tenants can be chased. This could be an issue if you split.
http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/england/tax_e/tax_council_tax_ew/council_tax.htm

Try to rent a well insulated flat (double glazing, few external walls) with gas heating, if you get a poorly insulated house or all electric heating and hot water (many flats are) this can be incredibly expensive because electricity is much pricier than gas. After that much of the bills depends on your personal habits - lengthy showers, walking around in a t-shirt, liking the heating on many hours a day, doing laundry when you have worn clothing once instead of when it's dirty. Best thing is to read the meter every couple of weeks to every month for the first winter, so you don't get any nasty shocks.

Nada666

(Sorry, welcome, newbie, but I have to ask: ) what is it about a boy and a girl shacking up together that makes the situation remotely 'strange'???

elementallime

Nada666 wrote: »

(Sorry, welcome, newbie, but I have to ask: ) what is it about a boy and a girl shacking up together that makes the situation remotely 'strange'???

It isn't the gender that's strange haha, It's that I'll essentially be in full-time education and she will be in full-time work. I just don't know of anyone personally in that situation without their parents helping out etc. Hence the question:)

macman

I fail to quite see the relevance of your work/education situation. Only you are your partner know what your combined income will be. Only you know what rent you will be paying.
The bills will otherwise be the same as any couple sharing a property-whether you can then afford that property is not something anyone else can advise on. You just need to do the maths.