Deciding between 3 bed or 2 bed impact on bills.

FreeBear

F37A said:  I think the smaller room is too small to rent though I could just about fit in it if I chose to sleep there and rent the other two. Caveat is that that I'm sceptical about rental market in area and slightly worried I may find it difficult to find a tenant. Being stuck with a larger house and then no tenants would be a pain.

A couple of points - If you are living in the property and renting a room or two out, they are never tenants. They would be lodgers with a licence to occupy (no need to go through the courts to evict if you fall out).

Second - If you have two separate lodgers, you become liable for capital gains tax for the period they are in occupation (but not if they are a couple). Two or more lodgers could also put you in HMO territory, although opinions vary on that point.

As for turning the radiator off in an unused room - That may be a false economy. A cold room over the winter months is a damp room. This can lead to paper peeling off the walls & damp forming. As you'd probably keep the door shut all the time, the air would go stale and you'd not notice a gradual decline until too late.

Best to keep the radiator on and the door open in my opinion.

ele_91

I would go for the biggest house I could comfortably afford, as any move from your first house is going to be much more complicated not to mention costly - you will need to add in fees for estate agent and conveyancing for the sale. As others have said, even renting one of the rooms would give a little income, or at least it is good to know the lodger option is there should you ever need to build up some savings. 

F37A

p00hsticks said:

F37A said:

Now council tax going to be more for this compared to property with just two bed rooms.

Have you confirmed that ?

Council tax bands are quite wide, so it's perfectly possible that e.g. a three bedroom terrace house could be in the same band (or lower) than a two bed semi-detached.  

Yeah I have it's band c but a 2 bed I looked at was a b

ProDave

F37A said:

Windofchange said:

We moved from a 2 bed new build to a 4 bed Victorian, and the difference in bills has been negligible. Council tax is more as you say, but in terms of the heating and utilities, I don't think it is costing us more than 100 quid or so a year. I currently pay £60 a month on direct debit, and after 14 months I have about £50 credit in my account, so it's costing around £55 a month. It's only the two of us, so similar to your plan, we have the small 4th bedroom as an office, two guest rooms where we have turned off the radiators, our master bedroom and then the ground floor. When we have people over we turn it all back on of course if needed, and give the system a run through every now and again anyway to ensure it is all circulating. If it were me, I would go for the biggest house I could afford as you never know what the future holds - could you rent one of the rooms? That would certainly cover any extra bills and some. 

. And I am stretching a little with this purchase. About 7-8k left over and might need to wait before I can afford to get it fully furnished. Some of that buffer is illiquid and emergency spend so a little on edge about using it.

Sorry but £7-8K left over after the purchase does not come anywhere close to being "stretched" 

goodwithsaving

A 3rd bedroom is very useful. I probably couldn't fit much beyond a bed in my 3rd bedroom but it is very useful for an office (as I don't like having desks and beds in the same space, and still like a spare bedroom). It makes the house feel larger too. You don't need to fully furnish somewhere rightaway, houses take time to make your own. I appreciate it's a big commitment and possibly scary for a FTB, but if you overthink it too much you'll never buy and yes, you can mitigate a few risks, but I'm sure if we all tried to go for the least risky and least scary option, we'd never move.

Slinky

FreeBear said:

F37A said:  I think the smaller room is too small to rent though I could just about fit in it if I chose to sleep there and rent the other two. Caveat is that that I'm sceptical about rental market in area and slightly worried I may find it difficult to find a tenant. Being stuck with a larger house and then no tenants would be a pain.

As for turning the radiator off in an unused room - That may be a false economy. A cold room over the winter months is a damp room. This can lead to paper peeling off the walls & damp forming. As you'd probably keep the door shut all the time, the air would go stale and you'd not notice a gradual decline until too late.

Best to keep the radiator on and the door open in my opinion.

Very much depends on the quality of the house. I had a 3 bed and only heated one bedroom, although I left the doors open on the others and never experienced the problems you mention. Heat travels upwards, your heat from the downstairs rooms will help keep the upstairs ones warm enough to keep damp away.

SouthLondonUser

I have learnt not to trust EPC ratings. I have lived in properties which had a higher rating yet were considerably colder than properties with a lower rating. Bear in mind the EPC rating is also affected by things like energy-efficient light bulbs, which cost peanuts to replace and are certainly not a structural work.

seven-day-weekend

p00hsticks said:

F37A said:

Now council tax going to be more for this compared to property with just two bed rooms.

Have you confirmed that ?

Council tax bands are quite wide, so it's perfectly possible that e.g. a three bedroom terrace house could be in the same band (or lower) than a two bed semi-detached.  

Thant is quite true.  My three-bed terrace house was band A.  The two-bed semi-detached bungalow I live in now is band C. Same council.

getmore4less

F37A said:

p00hsticks said:

F37A said:

Now council tax going to be more for this compared to property with just two bed rooms.

Have you confirmed that ?

Council tax bands are quite wide, so it's perfectly possible that e.g. a three bedroom terrace house could be in the same band (or lower) than a two bed semi-detached.  

Yeah I have it's band c but a 2 bed I looked at was a b

My area that is ~ £1,500 - £1,700 

RelievedSheff

Our current three bed detached home is much cheaper to run then our previous 2 bed home was.

The number of bedrooms really doesn't affect isn't necessarily and indicator of running costs.

If you can afford the bigger home and are happy with the location it would be my choice as it is more likely to be a longer term home. We found that we outgrew the 2 bed property