Living with parents - affordability?

LizzieMcneal

Hi,

Hoping someone can help me! I'm a single FTB about to apply for a mortgage. I've been living with my parents for the last 2.5 years, saving for a deposit.

A lot of these new affordability rules/calculators ask about things I don't currently pay for like utilities, house insurance etc.

What should I do when prompting for these figures? They will be expenses for me if I get a place obviously, but right now they're a big zero for me. Should I guess the figures, would lenders be okay with that? A little worried as I'm hoping to get as much as possible from lenders and don't want to cause issues by being inaccurate.

Thanks

Lizzie

Idiophreak

I wouldn't "guess" as such, I'd do some research and calculate likely values for each outgoing.

This is probably worth doing anyway...the lender wants to establish how much you can afford to repay - maybe it's worth you trying to establish that first?

LizzieMcneal

Do you think i'm best going with an 'average price' for a single person?

My utilities bills were always low (for a single person) back when I was renting, could I simply use my old bills as an indicator of what I would be paying?

Thanks,

Lizzie

Idiophreak

LizzieMcneal wrote: »

Do you think i'm best going with an 'average price' for a single person?

My utilities bills were always low (for a single person) back when I was renting, could I simply use my old bills as an indicator of what I would be paying?

Thanks,

Lizzie

If you think they're going to be the same.

If you used to rent a studio and you're buying a 4 bed house, you're probably gonna spend more

Or, more realistically, if you used to live in a 1st floor flat and you're now buying a ground floor, you're likely to pay rather more for your heating...

Energy prices rise all the time, of course, so if your last bill was a couple of years ago, you could probably add 10% now, maybe 20% if it were 5 years ago, something like that. Looking at your old bills and current averages, you should be able to come up with numbers that feel about right.

HappyMJ

If you are buying a house you should always get a quote for house insurance before putting in an offer. The property may cost a fortune to insure (due to previous claims on it or in the general area) and you may not want it....so you'll know the answer to that one. Gas/Elec just use averages (i'd go with £90 per month for both) and same with water (i'd go with £25 per month if on a meter-if it's still on rates then you can ask the owner what it costs. Council tax - you can and should always find out it's banding before making an offer (something I didn't do and was shocked to find it was a C. Appealed and got it down to a B though) ....and then can look up the cost of council tax on the internet. TV licence you know that. Phone and broadband you should have an idea of that.

LizzieMcneal

Thanks guys,

All good advice!

I think the only real unknown right now is the water cost, the rest I think I can figure out thanks to your help!

Thanks!

Lizzie

hcb42

We are about £20 a month on a meter, 2 adults,