Costing of running a home once I've bought?

WLITC

I'm saving to buy and just trying to work out a realistic budget of what my outgoings would look like once I had a place.

With exception of having my old small flat about 15 years ago for a year, I've aways shared and my rent has been bills inc so don't have realistic or current figures to draw upon.

Plan is to try and get a 2 bedroom flat and it would be just myself occupying it.

On top of my Mortgage I'm thinking :-

Council Tax - £1000 (based on area I'm looking and 25% single person discount)
Possible service charge £150 a year
Water Rates - £350 a year?
Electricity - £40 a month
Gas - £40 a month?
Phone and Broadband £30 a month?
House insurance??
Contents insurance? - £120 a year?

Do my figures sound about right? What else have I missed off?

jules888

Tv licence?Get best deals you can on others.

AlexMac

That sounds about right- compared with our place which is a reasonably well-insulated 4-bedder where we pay £1,500 pa for energy and are in a lot. Contents and buildings Insurance costs vary massively; we pay about £120 pa for contents having used comparison sites then rung in, but that includes very cheap emergency cover for plumbing leaks (we've had two, at about 80 quid a pop, so we're already ahead!).

the broadband and phones and TV (and TV Licence?) might add up to a bit more, but the only other thing I can think of is maintenance; assuming service charge means you're in a leasehold flat, and the landlord insures the building (??) does the landlord levy one-off costs for major repairs on an as and when basis or is there a sinking fund for biggies like roofs (every 50 years?) and external painting -usually every 5-7 years? I recently had to chip in £4k for new windows to the block, but I got 10 so that was OK value.
And what about your boiler? If newish, don't worry for its 7-10 year design life, but a repair can be £100 or a replacement can cost £2k+, so take a view on whether British Gas service contracts or their repair and fix schemes (I usually don't bother, but did once pay for a £99 fix and then about £10-20 per month for the 1st year for a boiler I was unsure about) .

Enjoy your new home!

LeafGreen

Obviously don't forget supermarket shopping and any car related expenses if you have one.

Water may be less, especially if you have a meter and aren't wasteful, however it does vary a lot depending on where you are in the country (I'm paying under £100/year).

WLITC

jules888 wrote: »

Tv licence?Get best deals you can on others.

Opps, thanks, I missed that.

AlexMac wrote: »

the only other thing I can think of is maintenance; assuming service charge means you're in a leasehold flat, and the landlord insures the building (??) does the landlord levy one-off costs for major repairs on an as and when basis or is there a sinking fund for biggies like roofs (every 50 years?) and external painting -usually every 5-7 years? I recently had to chip in £4k for new windows to the block, but I got 10 so that was OK value.
And what about your boiler? If newish, don't worry for its 7-10 year design life, but a repair can be £100 or a replacement can cost £2k+, so take a view on whether British Gas service contracts or their repair and fix schemes (I usually don't bother, but did once pay for a £99 fix and then about £10-20 per month for the 1st year for a boiler I was unsure about) .

Enjoy your new home!

Yes I guess its likely to be a leasehold, but I have no idea how all that works in terms of building insurance. I just assumed I still needed building as well as contents insurance.

As for the boiler. I hadn't really figured that sort of thing in, but to be honest I expect to spend several grand refurbing it once I'm there (I'm looking to buy at the lower end of the market with a view to refurbing the entire place over time). But saying that, I suppose its porobably good to allocate £50 a month for annual 'maintenence and repairs'.

Angelicdevil

WLITC wrote: »

On top of my Mortgage I'm thinking :-

Council Tax - £1000 (based on area I'm looking and 25% single person discount)
Possible service charge £150 a year
Water Rates - £350 a year?
Electricity - £40 a month
Gas - £40 a month?
Phone and Broadband £30 a month?
House insurance??
Contents insurance? - £120 a year?

Service charge of only £150 a year? That sounds very, very low! Would expect to see it more around the £1k mark!

WLITC

Angelicdevil wrote: »

Service charge of only £150 a year? That sounds very, very low! Would expect to see it more around the £1k mark!

Well I have no idea. TBH, its likely to be an old flat so I would imagine it wouldn't be a massive amount, but perhaps £1k is a better base figure.

agrinnall

If it's a leasehold flat then you shouldn't need to pay your own buildings insurance (after all, you don't own the building), but that may well be one of the things that will bump up the cost of the service charge.

KiKi

I live in a 2-bed converted flat, and I pay:

WLITC wrote: »

Possible service charge £150 a year If leasehold it's more likely to be £100 a month; I used to pay that, plus more for additional works

Water Rates - £350 a year? £220

Electricity - £40 a month £25

Gas - £40 a month? £25

Phone and Broadband £30 a month? £32

House insurance?? You won't need buildings insurance if it's a leasehold flat, it will be part of the service charges. If Share of Freehold, then it can vary hugely. My property is an old Victorian terrace house converted into three flats. The whole building - because of multiple owners and communal hallways and stairs etc - costs £550 a year to insure. This is then split as per the leases.

Contents insurance? - £120 a year? £70

TV licence £145

HTH

Terry98

If you are living alone make sure you have or get a water meter.

randykurm

I think having a house costs a person a lot as it ought to have some relative aspects of this and the expenses for the same are too high.