Bills for a one bed flat?

umbrellaksy

Hi everyone,

I have never rented before. I am currently living with my mum and I am looking to rent a one bed flat and I'm trying to work out what my monthly bills are likely to be for. I am a single person, don't plan on having a television, but will have a computer.

Can you estimate what I will be spending on:

Heating:
Electricity:
Water:

Thanks!

modsandmockers

You don’t say whether your heating will be gas-fired or electric.

The conventional wisdom is that gas central heating is always the best way to go. But in a one-bedroom flat, it is worth asking yourself whether central heating is a necessity.

The idea of central heating gained ground when energy was cheap and people were fed up with huddling around a single coal fire.

My one-bedroom flat has a gas CH system, but I don’t use it. I may well be wrong, but I don’t see the need to pay two separate standing charges of £50-£100 a year each for gas and electricity. I have a variety of low-wattage electric heaters which I switch on and off in the same way that I switch the lights on and off (sometimes I have to wear extra clothing whilst waiting for the room temperature to rise!).

Most energy and water suppliers will tell you the average cost for a single occupier in a one-bedroom flat and, until you have a year’s history of your own particular usage levels, then you might as well accept the suppliers’ estimates

PasturesNew

Back of fag packet ideas, in simple terms, would be:
£100/month council tax
£100/month water, gas, electricity, TV license, contents insurance, phone line/internet.

My main comment to people starting out is: why do you want a 1-bed, when a studio is so much cheaper to run? You can only be in one room at a time, so a studio makes more sense as it's cheaper to run.

umbrellaksy

Thanks for feedback, really helpful.

modsandmockers: don't know what the heating will be yet as I haven't moved out. I'm just trying to work out if I could actually afford to. Thanks for your help.

PasturesNew - I would like a one bed instead of a studio purely for more space, I'm a painter/artist so I'd like to have dedicated space for that.

modsandmockers

PasturesNew wrote: »

£100/month water, gas, electricity, TV license, contents insurance, phone line/internet

I'm a miserly old sod, and survive on around half of that figure!

HappyMJ

umbrellaksy wrote: »

Hi everyone,

I have never rented before. I am currently living with my mum and I am looking to rent a one bed flat and I'm trying to work out what my monthly bills are likely to be for. I am a single person, don't plan on having a television, but will have a computer.

Can you estimate what I will be spending on:

Heating:
Electricity:
Water:

Thanks!

Which region?

Water is fairly easy to figure out. Look at your local suppliers web site and spend some time trying to find the tariff table and you can figure it out yourself.

Most people use 50 cubic metres per person per year. In a flat no outside water is being used so you could knock that down to 40 cubic metres quite easily. Do you have "average" showers? i.e every day? Is it a electric shower, a pumped shower or gravity fed? Electric showers use the least water. If you take a short shower i.e a couple of minutes and/or shower every other day then you could knock the annual figure down to 30 cubic metres. With a lot more water saving strategies such as not flushing the loo every time, using the toilets at work as much as possible, washing dishes in as little water as possible and only once you have a full load only and using hand sanitizer as much as possible instead of soap and water, using the laundrette downstairs or down the road or even at mum's house instead of a machine in the studio you can knock the figure down to 20 cubic metres which is only 55 litres per day. In the right region that could cost as little as £5 per month.

PasturesNew

umbrellaksy wrote: »

I'm a painter/artist so I'd like to have dedicated space for that.

Is that "business use"? You might have issues if you're a painter working from home (lots of rules/regs about residential being used for business + landlord's wishes). And - you need to think carefully about losing your deposit due to how mucky things might get... unless you're working in fine art miniatures on cameos

There might also be issues about storage of chemicals/paints and disposal of waste water and waste materials.

modsandmockers

I'm a painter/artist so I'd like to have dedicated space for that

Business Use? - it depends on how good you are!

umbrellaksy

Which region?

Water is fairly easy to figure out. Look at your local suppliers web site and spend some time trying to find the tariff table and you can figure it out yourself.

Most people use 50 cubic metres per person per year. In a flat no outside water is being used so you could knock that down to 40 cubic metres quite easily. Do you have "average" showers? i.e every day? Is it a electric shower, a pumped shower or gravity fed? Electric showers use the least water. If you take a short shower i.e a couple of minutes and/or shower every other day then you could knock the annual figure down to 30 cubic metres. With a lot more water saving strategies such as not flushing the loo every time, using the toilets at work as much as possible, washing dishes in as little water as possible and only once you have a full load only and using hand sanitizer as much as possible instead of soap and water, using the laundrette downstairs or down the road or even at mum's house instead of a machine in the studio you can knock the figure down to 20 cubic metres which is only 55 litres per day. In the right region that could cost as little as £5 per month.

Wow HappyMJ that's really helpful thank you, and a lot to think about, much appreciated!

s that "business use"? You might have issues if you're a painter working from home (lots of rules/regs about residential being used for business + landlord's wishes). And - you need to think carefully about losing your deposit due to how mucky things might get... unless you're working in fine art miniatures on cameos

There might also be issues about storage of chemicals/paints and disposal of waste water and waste materials.

Thank you PasturesNew you've given me something else to consider. I think I'm okay with regards to business use. I don't work as an artist right now, it's just a hobby really, but I'd like to start earning something from it. As long as people aren't coming to my property to buy goods I'm okay I think. Found this and think I fit the 'use bedroom as an office' part:
gov.uk/introduction-to-business-rates/working-at-home