Looking to buy in the next few months and need help with budgeting

Heisenberg87_2

I am looking at buying a 2 Bedroom ground floor flat in the Brighton area within the net 3-6 months but I want to know how such roughly things are going to cost. I am a first time buyer so have no idea in what expenditure I'm looking at; I have budgeting for the following;

Mortgage/Rent £900.00
Council Tax £150.00
Buildings/Contents insurance £30.00
Internet/Phone/TV £46.00
TV licence £12.00
Gas/Water/Electricity £150.00

If anyone could let me know if my valuation are pretty accurate or wide of the mark that would be great. Also anything that I have missed?

bsms1147

Council tax will be less than that
Internet/phone etc is high, aim to spend no more than ~£20 a month, some get it essentially free.
Insurances you should aim to pay no more than £10 a month, again some get theirs for much less, perhaps £10-20 for the year
Gas/electric/water depends on usage, but should come in less than that.

[Deleted User]

If it is a flat you might have lease fees and service charges too.

bouicca21

You've missed ground rent and service charge. Allow a contingency for repairs in case appliances don't work or need replacing. Will your transport charges change? Depending on the state of the place you may need money for decorating. And of course you will need furnishings.

PasturesNew

Your figures aren't far off. CTax looks a bit high, if you live alone then you'll get a 25% discount.

As Domino9 said, there'll be ground rent and service charges. These can vary wildly between flats, anything from £50/year to £3000.

grumbler

Buy insurance via TCB/quidco. Check insurers offering "Highest £'.

xylophone

Check the lease for how often the block is to be redecorated and how this is to be paid for.

When I owned a flat, there was no sinking fund- the lease required redecoration to be done every three years - the cost was shared between all the lessees - you had to make a rough guess as to how much it would be and set aside enough over the three years to meet your share.

oligopoly

Not sure if you're asking for bills specific to housing or just general costs you may not be taking into account - if it's the latter, here are some that might be relevant:

Pet Insurance, Breakdown Cover, Car Insurance, Building & Contents Insurance, Mortgage, Council tax, Gas & Electric, Water, Phone, TV & Internet, Life Insurance, Petrol, MobilePhone, Lotto, Groceries