Living alone following break up

eddcunningham

Hi everyone,

Sorry if this is in the wrong section, this seemed like the only place where my question fit in.

I've recently parted ways with my girlfriend of 2 years, leaving me in our rented house on my own and I'm looking for some advice in regards to how this might affect me financially.
Luckily, our tenancy is up at the end of November, so I could only have to stay another month, however I don't have the funds to find another place (after deposit, first months rent and fees).
Unfortunately, the rent does rise from £500 to £525 if I do renew, which doesn't seem like a massive rise, but after everything else, it does add up.

So my real question, can I afford to live in my current house on my own?
Obviously, the rent is what it is, there's no way around that.
My council tax is is £110, but wouldn't that go down if I lived on my own? Could I even change it in the middle of a year?
The same with electric (£42pm) and water (£30pm), as these are calculated based on two occupants?

I've completed an income and expenditure based on current costs on MA's website and the results were pretty grim, leaving me with £100 left over each month, not really giving me the opportunity to start saving for my own place or socialise.

I'm sorry if I've missed any details out, but my heads all over the place at the minute, understandably.

Thanks in advance for any advice people can offer

Indie_Kid

Your council tax amount would change when your circumstances will change.

Person_one

You'll get a 25% discount on your council tax, they'll apply that from the day you tell them you're living alone and send you a new bill, if you're making monthly payments they'll go down straightaway.

Utilities are based on what you use, not how many people live there, so you might find that if you're careful about not wasting water or electricity that they go down a bit. If your girlfriend was somebody who took long showers every day and left taps running willy nilly that could well go down a fair bit. I live alone and only pay £15 a month.

If you really want to move to somewhere smaller and cheaper, then do you have any family or friends who might be willing to put you up just for a couple of months while you save a deposit to move?

Tigsteroonie

Council tax can change mid-year - google your local council for single occupant reduction (generally 25%)

Elec and gas is based on usage - won't reduce by much if in same property.

We cannot say if you can afford it without knowing your income, other expenditure etc. But if you are on a low income, you may qualify for Local Housing Allowance (aka Housing Benefit) from council.

Get yourself over to the Debt-free Wannabee board on here, and post up an SOA (statement of affairs) - we may be able to help you save money elsewhere and provide advice on how to manage.

Turtle

Person_one wrote: »

You'll get a 25% discount on your council tax, they'll apply that from the day you tell them you're living alone and send you a new bill, if you're making monthly payments they'll go down straightaway.

Utilities are based on what you use, not how many people live there, so you might find that if you're careful about not wasting water or electricity that they go down a bit. If your girlfriend was somebody who took long showers every day and left taps running willy nilly that could well go down a fair bit. I live alone and only pay £15 a month.

If you really want to move to somewhere smaller and cheaper, then do you have any family or friends who might be willing to put you up just for a couple of months while you save a deposit to move?

True for water if it's metered, but not if it's rated. You'll presumably spend less on groceries as well. I agree with going over to debt free wannabe as people there will know alsorts about getting your outgoings down.

Sorry about your breakup, hope you're bearing up ok.

missbiggles1

Would your landlord allow you to have someone in to share?

krlyr

If you want to save for your own place, consider your other options. Could you move in with family or friends for a while? If not, consider a houseshare - there's quite a few different setups, e.g. if you think living with 5 other people is a bit too 'student'-y for you, there's households wanting a single lodger, sometimes in a separate annexe on the property. Usually cheaper than renting on your own, though obviously you sacrifice some of your privacy. However, you may find a houseshare comes with the added benefit of a built-in social life!

PasturesNew

Without knowing your income, it's anybody's guess, but let's assume you can't afford it.

As a young person, with a tenancy about to change, I'd look for cheap/local self-store and get prices, then see what I've got that's really worth the cost of storing....then move into a shared house for 6 months or so in order to save up a deposit for the next place.

Then I'd suggest looking at renting a studio flat as that's cheaper rent/to run than a 1-bed.

duchy

As said without knowing what your current income /expenditure is (for example you might live on takeaways and think Sky sports is an essential- so learning/bothering to cook and using Now TV for important matches or you might have a spare room so could get a lodger or qualify for housing benefit etc could make it more affordable).

That said if you can't afford it then would you consider moving into a house-share or a rented room for a bit whilst you regroup financially ? Both have the advantage of lower rent and lower setting up costs than moving to a cheaper flat with letting agency costs attached.

eddcunningham

Thanks for all the useful advice so far everyone.

Just to give a bit more of a background to my situation, I moved up to Pontefract from Nottingham to live with my now ex.
I'm rather ashamed to admit, I don't really have any friends up here who I could stay with, or who could lodge with me.
I have considered houseshares and the idea of living with other people and being social once again does sound great, my only problem with that is that I have a 5 year old from a previous relationship who stays with me during holidays etc, so that would make living in shared accommodation a bit awkward.
I could always stay at my parents in Nottingham during these periods, but it does mean travelling to Liverpool (where my daughter lives) and then down to Nottingham, back up to Liverpool and then wherever I end up living.

Back to the household bills portion of this - We are on metered water and electric, however when I set these up, they based their prices on two people living here, so couldn't they readjust their estimations for single occupancy? Or am I seeing this as too black and white? Sorry, I have no idea about these sorts of things.

My income is a healthy £25k. I've just rerun the figures using the budget planner on Money Advice, adjusting myself for single occupancy, which leaves me with just over £300 left a month, which isn't as bad as I thought.

Sorry if I'm rambling on everyone, just a little lost right now.

duchy

It'd probably be cheaper to book a Premier Inn or Travelodge for those nights your child stays rather than pay the extra travel costs......although surely your parents want to see their grandchild when you have them ? A flatshare with a better social life sounds better than another empty flat TBH.

If you have no ties to the area anymore this might be a great time to see if your work has oportunities in other parts of the country (if with the same company they might pay relocation too) or investigating cheaper areas that are still within reach of work. Make the timing of the rental agreement work for you.