Require confirmation on costs

PasturesNew

moneysavinmonkey wrote: »

Certainly for my council you can't combine the student exemptions and single occupancy discount, but if only one person is a non-student they pay 75% of the full charge.

This is my understanding of it. If you have a mixed household of student/non-student, then the full council tax bill falls onto the non-student persons.

So one student, one non-student = 75% of full bill is payable.

moneysavinmonkey

dannymccann wrote: »

Water (fixed price) = £20

oh, i've just noticed this - does anyone else think this seems low?? Mine is about £70/month although that is for a house with a garden so your should be less but I wouldn't have thought that much less. Try doing a comparison on uswitch.com as that is how we budgeted for it.

PasturesNew

moneysavinmonkey wrote: »

oh, i've just noticed this - does anyone else think this seems low?? Mine is about £70/month although that is for a house with a garden so your should be less but I wouldn't have thought that much less. Try doing a comparison on uswitch.com as that is how we budgeted for it.

He says it's a fixed price, like many are in a flat.
Although mine is £40 and it's a studio flatlet, so maybe £20 for a 2-bed is an under-estimation of how much a fixed fee is.

moneysavinmonkey

my water is fixed price (as opposed to a meter) but they calculate how much you pay arbitrarily based on the size of the property and garden/land I think.

you figures seem to agree with my intuition that £20 was low even for a flat.

phoenixchick

Hi, a few points you need to be aware of:

• You have allowed for deposit of 1 months rent - it may be more, e.g. 1.5 or 2 months
• Your initial costs do not take into account things like referencing and agency fees - this can vary a lot anything from £50 to a couple of hundred, a few will try to rip you off totally (one quoted us £500 - we didn't use them)
• If you are moving into a new build property the phone line won't be connected so you will have to pay for each socket - approx £100 each. It is unlikely your landlord/letting agent will pay you back for this. You can't specify which socket you want switched on - we tried this, BT switch on the 'main' one, in our case in a cupboard in the hallway!
• If it is a newer flat you may not have gas - either way your gas and electric should not be £100 a month.
• Be careful getting a table and chairs, most flats do not have a separate dining room, many have a lounge/kitchen and therefore the table and chairs could cut down your living space.
• Check the type of locks on the doors - they can affect your contents insurance.
• Get a tape measure - places often look a lot bigger when they are empty.
• If you can, go for places with built-in wardrobes, one less thing to move and some flats don't allow enough room for a bed and wardrobes!
• Finally, when you do move in, give a set of keys to a family member or very close friend. If you lose your keys, or someone nicks your handbag (as happened to me) you can bet it will happen on a weekend when your letting agent is not open.

Best of luck with the move.

otter1_2

dannymccann,

I see you already have a BT contract but they'll still charge you £125 'reconnection fee', so you need to add that on.

Doozergirl

BT only charge to connect if there is no previous line in place - so if you move in and someone else has had BT, it's free. If you move in to a brand spanking new flat - it's going to cost £125 for the man to come out and drill holes.

I'd spend £350 on your bed because it's important. You want to spend £200 of that at least on the mattress ideally. You'll get a decent Ikea frame and a decent mattress for that price. As for the spare room- well you can get a cheapy job from Ikea with a foam mattress or even check out the nearly new stuff on ebay.

I entirely furnished a 2 bed flat from stuff from ebay for £600 including appliances! Everything was nearly new, the appliances all silver - the beds hadn't even been slept in - just used to help sell a flat!

otter1_2

Doozergirl,

This is not my experience. I moved from a flat with a BT line to a flat with a BT line and was charged the full amount.

Doozergirl

otter1 wrote: »

Doozergirl,

This is not my experience. I moved from a flat with a BT line to a flat with a BT line and was charged the full amount.

You got ripped off then! I've moved 7 times in 3 years now and I only had to pay for this house because we ripped all the ancient phone crap out and the line was properly disconnected a year before we eventually moved in. As long as you commit to a contract (which you can take with you again so you lose nothing) they're happy.

Sammy85_2

Dont buy an Ikea bed! They are not a standard UK size (as i found to my expense!!), so when you come to replace to mattress you either have to buy a new one from them or a whole new frame and mattress from elsewhere! Plus if you prefer fitted sheets they have to come from Ikea too.

I got a lovely solid pine bed from Argos in the sales a few years back, cost £350, no idea if its still ok since i split up with the guy i was with at the time and he got the bed (despite my urges to cut it in half - diagonally!)

I have lovely kingsize bed now from a really small (backstreet) independant furniture place, solid pine again with a nice mattress and only paid £200 for that. So if you're not in a rush shop around and dont overlook the smaller shops in favour of Ikea and the like.