First time renter.. utility bills?

eilidhcatriona

You sound very organised, I think you’ll be just fine.

Remember to take out contents insurance to cover your possessions. I’ve always found that Aviva and Direct Line offer good cover at reasonable prices, but as with everything, shop around. There are good guides for all these kinds of things on the main MSE site.

Enjoy the new home

pandabrit

Thanks again everybody.
Yes I am very frugal.. if that's the right word and I very much like everything to be perfect If i can get it that way.

on my moving in day I will inform the council, read all meters and contact relevant energy providers. Hopefully that'll be it.. Will just have to wait for the bills to roll in then I suppose. I'm expecting there to be a few teeth problems which is why I have savings as a safety net until it's all up and running smoothly. Just really hope it works out ok.

Again, thank you so much for the support. It's great to have a forum like this for us first time renters.

PasturesNew

Furniture is over-rated .... it's good you'll be stingy.

When you phone the suppliers and go through setting up a direct debit they'll most likely want to take a lot more than you'll be spending on the utilities (if you're stingy with that too) .... don't let them. Or, let them suggest a figure, then monitor and adjust it after 3-6 months so you don't build up a big credit with them.

Re council tax, people will tell you to pay monthly - my advice is to pay the whole lot at the start, up front - if you suddenly find you're a bit low on money it's one less bill to worry about. It's arrived, it's paid... sleep easy for another year.

You can do the TV license online. Don't have a telly until the 1st of the month as the license is whole months - you can go without it for a week or so ... rather than "waste" a whole month's cost for the sake of having it for a few days that month.

And remember .... beans on toast, topped with cheese, tastes just as good as a plate of M&S "dine in" dishes .... for a fraction of the price.

pandabrit

Lol PasturesNew Fab advice!

Thanks for that, I will negotiate with the utility people lol! To be fair I've budgeted for £100 a month for water, gas & electric. I do plan on being frugal with utilities though but would rather budget more than too little. It's only a small flat and I don't plan on using the heating often at all, unless of course I have icicles dripping from my nose haha.

I thought about paying council tax upfront but i'm not entirely sure. I can afford to do so however I don't know. it'll be about 900 pound for council tax after my single occupancy is deducted as the flat is band A thank goodness.

As for the TV license, I'm not getting one. I don't watch or record live tv. I am purely netflix or now tv catch up so no need for that. Although I am prepared for them to hound me to buy one because i've heard stories about what they're like.

Beans on toast... mmm well food is the least of my worries, luckily my parents live about a 10 minute drive away so I can raid their fridges if I have too. Ha ha.

AnotherJoe

When you move in, as well as taking meter readings, take pictures of the meter digits. Will help with any later disputes, should there be any.

LocoLoco

pandabrit wrote: »

Lol PasturesNew Fab advice!

Thanks for that, I will negotiate with the utility people lol! To be fair I've budgeted for £100 a month for water, gas & electric. I do plan on being frugal with utilities though but would rather budget more than too little. It's only a small flat and I don't plan on using the heating often at all, unless of course I have icicles dripping from my nose haha.

I thought about paying council tax upfront but i'm not entirely sure. I can afford to do so however I don't know. it'll be about 900 pound for council tax after my single occupancy is deducted as the flat is band A thank goodness.

As for the TV license, I'm not getting one. I don't watch or record live tv. I am purely netflix or now tv catch up so no need for that. Although I am prepared for them to hound me to buy one because i've heard stories about what they're like.

Beans on toast... mmm well food is the least of my worries, luckily my parents live about a 10 minute drive away so I can raid their fridges if I have too. Ha ha.

Just as a little more reassurance (hopefully!), we didn't have a TV licence for years as we didn't watch telly and we weren't hassled at all. There was a form to fill in online declaring we didn't need one and every now and again I got an email or letter just checking the circumstances hadn't changed which I just filled in and returned. It was all very simple and there were no problems from anyone else so hopefully you can add that to your list of things not to worry about


Very exciting setting up home for the first time, enjoy it x

pandabrit

Ah thank you Loco! I will do that then. A friend of mine advised me not to tell them as they may spy on me or hound me.. but then I guess If i'm just honest and tell them then it's probably better anyway.

One thing I am a little unsure on is broadband. As far as I'm aware there is a phone line in the flat and I can get my own broadband contract, however I don't want to buy a home telephone and set up a number.. obviously I know broadband is through the phone line but do I need to have an actual telephone for it?

worried_jim

pandabrit wrote: »

Ah thank you Loco! I will do that then. A friend of mine advised me not to tell them as they may spy on me or hound me.. but then I guess If i'm just honest and tell them then it's probably better anyway.

One thing I am a little unsure on is broadband. As far as I'm aware there is a phone line in the flat and I can get my own broadband contract, however I don't want to buy a home telephone and set up a number.. obviously I know broadband is through the phone line but do I need to have an actual telephone for it?

No, you might be in a Virgin area, also Vodaphone (and some others) do B.B. only.

http://www.virginmedia.com/postcode-checker/

Slithery

You don't need to buy a telephone (although my last one was £3 from Tesco - bought solely for troubleshooting my broadband), but you do need an active line that you are paying line rental on.

LocoLoco

pandabrit wrote: »

Ah thank you Loco! I will do that then. A friend of mine advised me not to tell them as they may spy on me or hound me.. but then I guess If i'm just honest and tell them then it's probably better anyway.

One thing I am a little unsure on is broadband. As far as I'm aware there is a phone line in the flat and I can get my own broadband contract, however I don't want to buy a home telephone and set up a number.. obviously I know broadband is through the phone line but do I need to have an actual telephone for it?

I think they're more likely to keep contacting you if you don't tell them; it's quite unusual for people not to have a telly these days so filling the form in is quick and easy. We didn't have a licence for about five years in total and never had a problem with being hassled