How to arrange / pay bills in a uni house

[Marianicka]

Would be grateful to know how your student DC arranges setting up and paying for household utilities in their shared house.
DD will be moving in with five others in September and utilities are not included.

My son uses the company fusedbills to save arguments. I believe there are other companies that do similar.

Graduated just a few years ago, so this is my recent experience. We had a head tenant who organised everything. There was one slightly bigger room in the house, so she got that in exchange for organising all the bills. We all trusted her from day 1 though, which is what allowed this setup to work for 3 years with absolutely no issues.

We also used an app called acasa where you can add household expenses we each paid for individually (cleaning products, loo roll etc) and it would split the amount and add it to your positive or negative balance. Over the months it would even out, I’m not sure how effectively it could be used for bills too, but it saved us sitting down and doing the maths after each shop, or having arguments over whose turn it was to buy the bin bags.

@Velvetbee

My son uses the company fusedbills to save arguments. I believe there are other companies that do similar.

@velvetbee I have been told that this is an expensive and inflexible way to arrange things but it does seem to lessen and share the burden. Any idea how much he pays / month?

I’ve messaged to ask. It did seem more expensive when we set it up but it means no one has to take responsibility and keeps relations in the flat sweet.
The three of them are also very heavy computer users so feel they’ve had their money’s worth.

Various apps for bill sharing, yes it’s expensive but it’s easy abd avoids any difficulties.

An alternative method is for each tenant to take responsibility for one bill eg electric, gas, broadband, water. The advantage to them is having a utility account in their sole name is great for creating a credit score. Then each month that person collects everyone’s share and pays the bill. Massive downside to this method is what happens if one or more sharer can’t pay one month? Could lead to conflict etc and the account holder getting into arrears or personal debt to cover the others’ shares.

DC1 graduated a while ago, but he was in a stable house share at Uni- they shared a Uni flat in 1st year and rented in years 2 and 3. They opened a joint bank account and each put in a set amount to cover bills. They had a shop at beginning of term for teas, coffees, washing up liquid etc , then had a cash kitty for items on their shared list. Not sure if joint account is still feasible.

Problem with a joint account is that any one of them could just clear it out and spend the money. Even with close friends none really knows if/when problems with eg gambling or drugs might lead to going stupid things!

True, I asked ds about it, and he said that 2 people needed to sign a cheque or set up a standing order/direct debit. Still a bit dodgy as 2 of the group were a couple for a while.

Do not use Glide. DS has just come home and even though they've been paying £35 PCM each (five of them) to Glide, they've just been issued a final bill saying they owe £1.8K between them. Just in the process of trying to unpick what's happened but we think they've been conned and judging by some other reports about Glide that I've been able to find online, it seems a regular occurrence. Glide seems to make a habit of making mistakes with billing, retracting them, then issuing final bills for even more!

I asked DD2 as she spent last year in a shared house. They used a website called split the bills. I haven't asked how much she paid, but as a household they agreed that this was the fairest thing to do.

They also clubbed together in advance of the November lockdown and ordered a supermarket delivery of toilet rolls and tins, which DD reckoned saved them carrying loads of stuff and lasted for most of the rest of the year.

DD and her friends are looking at this just now. She had started an enquiry with FusedBills, and they keep ringing her all the time. The LL has said that they can add utilities to their rent for £17.50 each per week, which seems like an awful lot, so it needs to be less than that to not take up the LL's offer.

It sounds like the LL is profiteering.

@RampantIvy I tink the LLs/estate agents profiteer every which way. I've read that they are incentivised to get students to sign up to things like Glide/FusedBills. How big is the student house? Surely bills would be comparable to similarly sized family home (without the council tax payment to factor in)?

4 students, so £280 per month or thereabaouts for a 4 bed flat is p*ss taking. We pay less than that for a 4 bed detached house for all utilities.

My four kids all seemed to do the same thing in Uni houses which was to give each person a bill in their own name. The flakiest person gets the biggest bill.
None of them Ever had a problem but I suspect that was luck.

@NewModelArmyMayhem18

Do not use Glide. DS has just come home and even though they've been paying £35 PCM each (five of them) to Glide, they've just been issued a final bill saying they owe £1.8K between them. Just in the process of trying to unpick what's happened but we think they've been conned and judging by some other reports about Glide that I've been able to find online, it seems a regular occurrence. Glide seems to make a habit of making mistakes with billing, retracting them, then issuing final bills for even more!

I would second this. My DD has just finished uni and is having the same issue with them. Avoid them at all costs.