Buying my own flat

Roz3625

Hello,

I'm early on in the process of buying a flat, it's a 2 bedroom with plenty of space and ground floor with one other identical flat above me. It's on a new ish build site (8 years old).
I'm going into this on my own, I have a partner but it's too early for them to be a part of this officially. Going through all the calculators I can find, it's looking like my mortgage could be around £350-400 a month on a fixed deal. 
I'm just wondering if anyone else who lives alone in a 1/2 bed property could shed some light as to what their monthly bills are? Mainly gas, electric, water...my council tax is around £115 a month and I've looked into broadband. Also roughly what I should expect to pay for insurance? 

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks 

Choirgrl

It might help to give an indication of the size of the flat in square meters - 2 beds come with different degrees of spaciousness, and that came have a significant impact on things like heating.

I rent an approx 60 sqm 2 bed and live in it alone. I only have electric (no gas) and that works out to £150/month - the flat has ridiculously inefficient electric heaters and hot water system, so I think this is much higher than would be typical (although I’m also on a price fix from before energy prices rocketed). Water is included in the flat’s service charge.

Ive just bought contents insurance and paid about £70 - that included a couple of specified high value items and accidental damage cover.

user1977

For contents insurance you're best to go through the comparison sites (see elsewhere on this site for recommendations about those) as premiums will vary greatly depending on where you are. Buildings insurance will (probably) be part of your service charge, if you didn't already know that.

MovingForwards

I'm in Scotland, my home is an end building flat over 110 years old, old double glazing, gas central heating, electric shower and gas cooker.

Broadband is about £23 a month.

Gas and electric is under £65pm, can't say what the winter bills are under the new pricing. I only have the heating on when it's freezing outside, then it's 15 minute timer off and on over a few hours as I've been here a couple of years. You'll probably have full electric.

Home insurance, buildings and contents, just under £175pa. (It's a freehold property, no management agency). A standalone contents policy would be about £100, if that.

Council tax and water are billed together up here. You'll probably be on a water meter rather than rateable value; have a look on the council and water company website as they list prices.

On a side note, I saved up a couple of £1k emergency pots after buying (a) to cover an internal leak eg gas / water and ( b ) to replace white goods if they pack up.

I've built up, and continue to add to, ( c ) loss of job emergency fund and slowly building up (d ) external repairs and (e ) internal modernisation funds.

tryingmybest99

I'm in a two bed 50m2 ground floor flat, living alone. It has an EPC of C. My energy bills are; electricity £50 and gas £36, these are the direct debit amounts, I am averaging about £65 usage a month at the moment but my consumption will go up in the winter (as well as the pence per kilowatt rates). My other bills are; mortgage £415, water £8, sewage £15, mobile £20, sky TV and broadband £45, council tax £114, TV licence £30 and I pay about £760 every 6 months for my service charge. My buildings insurance is covered by that service charge but for my contents I paid £70 for the year.

If you aren't already aware, remember that you can get a single person discount on the council tax. I think it's about 25%

NameUnavailable

You also need to factor in service charges and ground rent (and remember that if there is a regular service charge, it won't cover any 'major works').

Bendy_House

8-year old flat, Roz? I expect the insulation levels to be yay high (I'm holding my hand waaay above my head), and the heating costs to be loooow.

As advised, tho', check out maintenance and ground rent costs, to make sure they are reasonable - and cannot suddenly soar. You should have very little extra outlay on such a young property.

Good luck!

Bendy_House

There is also the fall-back position - which you would probably not want to do, but it's good to have in reserve - of the spare room which you can rent out.

Useful until the country gets back to normal. We are currently doing better than Russia - so YAY!

bouicca21

3 bed 78 sq m flat,  living alone.  Currently about £90 a month for gas and electric.  No idea what it will be come winter and the next price rise.

Bendy_House

bouicca21 said:

3 bed 78 sq m flat,  living alone.  Currently about £90 a month for gas and electric.  No idea what it will be come winter and the next price rise.

Come winter, turn off the rads in any room you don't actually use - that's 2 bedrooms at least - close the doors to them, and leave all windows inside on locked 'vent' setting. They will be absolutely fine.

Don't heat any space you don't need to.

bouicca21

@Bendy_House  bedroom 2 is my study so I am working in there regularly.  That just leaves the small room where I can turn off the rad.   My friends already think I live in an ice box because I never heat the flat more than 18 or 19C. I’m pretty sure there isn’t much else I can do to save on energy costs unless I don’t heat the place at all, and I’m not that desperate, at least not yet. 

My £90 a month is already a bit more than a 60% increase on what I used to pay.  A bad winter and the next increase will cost even more, but compared to many I’m lucky.  I’ve already gone back to careful meal planning of the sort I did way back when the children were small and mortgage rates were 17%, and there are other things I could probably cut back on.  It’s a wait and see game, isn’t it?