Need help with budgeting worse-case scenario

mortgagewannabe_2

nubbins wrote: »

"Council Tax - £1050 going to £1750
Gas/Elec - £1300 to £2600
Water - £400 to £1000"

Sorry but are you sure figures are correct. I bought a 4 bed detached 1920's house, hadn't really been touched in 40 years, rubbish insulation, leaks all over the place, rubbish boiler, cooker, radiators etc etc

Council tax £1500
Water £250
Gas Electricity £800.

The council tax for Band E is correct.

Regarding the energy, to be honest, I was shocked as well. But that was until I checked the EPC of this property and neighbouring properties and I realised this is the actual cost people are paying.

Here are the screenshots of the house's EPC done in 2011: (NOTE THE BLUE ARROW IN 1ST PIC POINTING TOWARDS CURRENT ENERGY COSTS!!! )-

AnotherJoe

Did you note in the figure it says "estimated" ? Eg it's not an actual figure. So I wonder how they estimate it? Perhaps use the standard pricing, ignoring any fixes? Assume a whole lot of stuff about the behaviour of the users? Why would that be valid for you ? And there's also a figure about what the cost could be if you took various energy saving measures which is around. £1500.

So bottom line is, how much it costs is pretty much up to you. You can add insulation, move to a better tariff, turn the thermostat down one degree, etc etc etc, or stay on variable rate, leave windows open and ramp the heating up and your three bar electric fires in each room.

mortgagewannabe_2

AnotherJoe wrote: »

Did you note in the figure it says "estimated" ? Eg it's not an actual figure. So I wonder how they estimate it? Perhaps use the standard pricing, ignoring any fixes? Assume a whole lot of stuff about the behaviour of the users? Why would that be valid for you ? And there's also a figure about what the cost could be if you took various energy saving measures which is around. £1500.

So bottom line is, how much it costs is pretty much up to you. You can add insulation, move to a better tariff, turn the thermostat down one degree, etc etc etc, or stay on variable rate, leave windows open and ramp the heating up and your three bar electric fires in each room.

I agree with what you are saying. But this is why I was saying from the start that I need help to work out a budget of how much would all this insulation, boiler, solar heating panels costs me initially in order to achieve these results? Are we talking many thousands? Also someone on this forum mentioned that this type of house is very difficult to internally insulate due to it's original features, so how would I get around this?

AnotherJoe

mortgagewannabe wrote: »

I agree with what you are saying. But this is why I was saying from the start that I need help to work out a budget of how much would all this insulation, boiler, solar heating panels costs me initially in order to achieve these results? Are we talking many thousands? Also someone on this forum mentioned that this type of house is very difficult to internally insulate due to it's original features, so how would I get around this?

You dont need to do all that, especially the solar heating !
How much you spend might be a few hundred (lagging in loft, perhaps in basement), might be several thousands, depends what you do especially if you replace the boiler you'd have to work out the payback between a new more efficient boiler and the upfront cost of it and also if its donkeys years old and will need replacing soon anyway or if you'd be replacing perfectly good one with many years life in it, with just a more efficient one.

Seems to me you should just walk away, obviously the attractions of the house dont outweigh the uncertainties and extra cost for you. And bottom line, there are no certainties about what the costs will be you are asking for something thats not possible. maybe you shoudl look for a more modern house (though you are unlikely to get the space then)

Finally, you can consider the trade off between buying this house cheaper because of the energy issues or a more expensive modern house thats more energy saving. To make some figures up out of thin air, suppose this house costs £1,000 a year more to heat than another house, but that house costs £50,000 more? So, living in it for say 20 years and spending a few thousand to better insulate it,so it only costs £500 more to heat after say five years, you are still up overall on the deal.

getmore4less

As much as you like the place for the space the house does not really have a garden more a turning yard, the rest further down seems to be totally tree covered and not clear what it backs onto.

I did a 200-280 4/5 bed within 3miles and there are plenty of much more efficient places that would make good family homes someat the bottom end and with smaller bills and no work you may be able to upp the budget.
(some may not be decent areas I have no idea about the area)

mortgagewannabe_2

@ AnotherJoe - you've said that EPC figures are estimated, however I've confirmed this with the vendor whom has admitted they are spending in the region of £250pm for gas/elec.

Also two things that I know I can get for free are the boiler and loft insulation. I have looked for properties - both new and old, but none match with this one's size, location and potential.

@ getmore4less - I assume you've looked at the garden in the pics or google maps? It actually has a large rear garden, which the trees are hiding - The garden back into a school field, which is fenced off. In terms of size and where it's located, this is classed as a good sized garden.

I have looked for lots of houses, but haven't had any luck so far. This was the closest thing to what I wanted, however the on-going costs outweigh the benefits. Mainly the heat loss would be through the 4 external walls, so I'm thinking to post maybe on a DIY forum to see if there are reasonably cheap ways to insulate the walls without losing the house features.

Sorry if I've dragged this on a bit....as you can see, I'm very confused and torn between going for this house or looking elsewhere. Apologies again

RAS

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/energy/2016/02/british-gas-pulls-free-insulation-offer?_ga=1.129900485.873461850.1415726910

mortgagewannabe_2

RAS wrote: »

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/energy/2016/02/british-gas-pulls-free-insulation-offer?_ga=1.129900485.873461850.1415726910

Oh no! That's bad news!

LisaLou1982

The boiler in the property you are buying is very old and inefficient which is probably one of the reasons the current vendor is paying through the roof for their heating bills. Factor in that they have the heating on all the time and no insulation and its not really a surprise.

Factor in c.£5-6k for a new heating system (cheaper if its just a boiler change) and im sure loft insulation is still available for free from somewhere even if BG have stopped their scheme.

We have a large 3/4 bed end terrace victorian house with solid walls, high ceilings and our fuel bills are less than £80pm. We are moving soon (i hope!) to a detached property and i expect our bills will be around the same, except for the CT which will increase.

marksoton

You really are procrastinating the hell out of this.