Splitting bills at university

[ExpensiveStudentLife]

I tried posting this before but had no responses. Am trying again with a different title!

I need to pick some experienced brains!

My child is starting a tenancy with five friends. She has been contacted by a rep from ‘Bunch Utilities’ who were given their details by the estate agent. They are selling a service to manage student bills. I have done some research and they appear to be a bona fide company.

The idea seems to be that they source the utility companies and then each student pays one single sum monthly to Bunch.

Pros: convenient. Does it help if
a dodgy tenant does a runner?

Cons: hidden charges? The students can’t look for the cheapest deals. Having a ‘middle man’ can be a pain.

I am naturally very very sceptical. Especially as they have said, we have found an amazing deal, sign up asap. Even though the tenancy starts in September 24!

Am I a cynical fool? Should she sign up now?

Any sharing of experience appreciated. My concern in any case is that my responsible daughter will be the one sorting out everything as her friends are nice but useless. And she had to do all the work establishing the tenancy.

Thanks.

From what I remember DD looked into this. It was a very expensive way of doing it, but of course easy. They just set up an account & all paid money in each month. It meant they had to set up the electricity gas etc themselves but it wasn't too much hassle.

If your daughter is going to end up lead tenant, then I would worry very little about the premium of the middle man, and more about her wasting her energy and time chasing her friends for bill money

i actually lost my ‘uni house friends’ having been the responsible one left chasing people for payment. One girl kept ignoring my messages to pay and putting it off, I ended up having to contact her parents. Turns out she was getting bill money off them then spending it on going out. She was extremely pissed that I contacted them (it was my last resort) and the rest of the spendthrifts who acted similar and gave me the run around agreed

lead tenant is honestly a horrible thing to be so I would do anything to stop my DC being it

Not sure who ds is with but they have done this for this year. There are 5 of them in the house. He says that it is much easier but i was concerned. However the bills have not gone up which I thought they might have done and they all serm happy woth how it had worked.

Yes she is lead tenant. And they were useless with getting their details to her etc. Hmm maybe she should do this then.

Thanks a lot. These replies are very helpful and reassuring.

It could work well! I also fell out with a housemate who didn't pay last 3 months' rent until the very last minute as they were about to use our deposits. Didn't talk to her for last month living together, eek! Never fallen out with anyone in my life like that before or since!

Yikes. These stories are scary!

Yeah friends and money do not mix well - in your shoes I’d rather pay a premium than have DC have a painful time due to eedyit friends.

My dd is paying £25 a week for bills next year for her six person flat to some company or another. Uni-something it is.

It was my idea so I hope it works out! One of her flatmates she lives with now in halls and she's ridiculously unreliable already.

They'll pay more but as others have said maybe worth it for the hassle. Many universities have their own letting agents and I have notice some having partnered with these companies and offering tenancies at one price without bills and another with them, via the company.

In DD's case, in 2nd year one of the mums kindly took it all on for them and they had to D/Debit her a sum every months. In 3rd year (living with closer friends) they have managed the bills themselves.

My dc share the bills.
They didn't use a company but deal with it themselves.

For example the wifi was a 18 month contract. Which was the minimum they could find. So they divided up the annual amount over 12 months and everyone pays their share. After they have moved out there will be sufficient funds to pay the remaining contract.

Everyone pays a set amount each month which covers all bills. At the end of the tenancy any money left will be divided up between them.

Rent is paid separately.

They also had to each sort out the council tax exemption separately on the council website.

I had assumed my son would do this with his friends.

But the horror stories of unreliable flat mates makes me anxious.

One issue is the pressure from this company saying they have secured an amazing deal now. The tenancy starts sept 23. It’s an extraordinary hard sell this early on surely.

It's far worse if one of them doesn't pay the rent, or decides to move out & stops paying, if they are"joint & several" renters. The bills will pale into insignificance! Or maybe not now gas & electricity are so expensive.
We were fortunate, DD had a joint & several contract (we didn't know any different). One of her housemates moved out but carried on paying. DS1 & 2 did not have joint & several contracts, but that was luck rather than anything else.

@ExpensiveStudentLife
Securing accommodation this early is the best idea as they disappear quickly.

I looked at some of these companies that sort out the bills and I thought they were a bit restrictive and you paid over the odds

We looked at a similar scheme for our DD currently at uni in Nottingham. It worked out very expensive so in the end two of them opened a joint account we all pay a fixed amount in £75 a month to cover gas electric broadband toilet rolls and cleaning stuff.

seems to have worked well

4 girls sharing.

next years my DD is moving to uni of Nottingham campus in Malaysia for a year so back to single bill in halls.