Bills - how much?

Miranda25

Hello everyone,

I am thinking about buying my first property. Never paid bills in the UK and have no idea.
Would like to figure out how much income I would have left monthly after paying mortgage plus bills.
Where I can find out a breakdown of all bills approximately for 1-bedroom flat or 1-bedroom house (probably in Greater London area) please?
I am thinking about council tax, service charges (usually advertised but anything on top of that?), water, gas, electricity.... anything else?
Or anybody who bought similar size property could give me an indication of monthly bills (the highest please - winter months)?

I just want to figure out if my life getting worse after buying first property (like not anymore nice holidays, expensive clothes and food....)

Many thanks.

CSI_Yorkshire

You can't find a breakdown of bills, because they massively depend on you, your lifestyle, and the precise property you buy.

Keeping a leaky, poorly-insulated house at 25C will be a lot different from keeping a modern energy-efficient flat at 20C.  Old vs new boilers, solar panels, heat pumps, open fires?

Council tax will depend on the council tax band of the property you buy and the council that it's in.

You could just have a radio and not have a tv licence, or you could have full sky package with netflix, amazon prime, disney+ and everything else.

MultiFuelBurner

The magnifying glass search option at the top of this page is a wonderful thing

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6435027/what-is-the-average-bill-amount-for-a-1-bed-flat/p1

double_dutchy

Miranda25 said:

Hello everyone,

I am thinking about council tax, service charges (usually advertised but anything on top of that?), water, gas, electricity.... anything else

Don't forget broadband/TV/phone + insurance (contents and buildings), TV licence

Miranda25

Thank you for all responses.

So what usually people do in the UK if they bought their first property, lived there and then something unexpected happened and people cannot afford to pay bills and mortgage anymore.
What happens then? 
Especially if you are a foreigner and do not have any relatives in the UK (so no reliance that you can live somewhere for free for some time)

I am trying to figure out if I need to buy my first property or continue renting.

Another thing is - my deposit now around 25% of cost of the potential property. I thought that buying a property might be better investment than keeping cash on savings accounts. Am I right?

I am trying to kill two birds with one stone:
- to find better use of keeping money (own property instead of savings accounts)
- to continue to live good standard of life (without thinking if I can buy something or not on daily basis)

That's why all my questions. 
Many thanks. 

MultiFuelBurner

I wonder if you just like posing scenarios?

Surely you know your bill costs as you have said you are already renting😳

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6156960/buying-in-south-east-or-south-london#latest

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6460200/where-house-prices-are-still-rising-and-easy-to-commute-to-london/p

Surely in 3 years and all the responses to all your posts (just two listed above) you have done all your research, know all the costs and assessed your own personal risk?

CSI_Yorkshire

If you are renting in the UK at the moment, you already know what your bills are for the place you are renting.  Start from this, and think about whether each bill would go up or down.

Miranda25

CSI_Yorkshire said:

If you are renting in the UK at the moment, you already know what your bills are for the place you are renting.  Start from this, and think about whether each bill would go up or down.

I do not pay bills (like gas, electricity....). I also pay reduced rent (below market prices).

Martico

Some bills, such as council tax, are fixed for a property and you can research in advance. Depends on the local authority and the council tax "band" of the property. If you're the only person living there, you'll get a 25% discount. 

If you want a (almost certainly different to your likely place) guesstimate for other bills for a single person household, I live by myself in a two-up, two-down terrace in Bristol. So different from your potential place in several ways.

But, for what it's worth: water =16, elec+gas = 100. Council tax = 116. Building + contents insurance works out at £10. (Edit - I pay £60 for Broadband, which I know is way over what I could, but it's very stable, necessary for work, and as I'm self employed tax-deductible so I'm stupidly relaxed about it. Broadband should be cheaper.) It's a freehold house, so no extra charges, I've got no idea about charges to leasehold flats.

Miranda25

Thank you.
Someone told me that bills for 1-bedroom house or flat could be as much as £1000 per month (in London).
Just bills (gas, electricity, water, council tax, service charge.....)
I am trying to see if it is true or not.

Martico

London v Bristol rates for water, elec and gas won't differ by much per unit used. Council tax differs quite widely between areas.