Looking to buy a 1st flat - wanted an idea on bills...

[judgefudge]

Am looking to buy my 1st one bed flat for just me... but I was trying to work out what the monthly bills would likely be...

Gas?
Electric?
Water?
TV License. I know the cost of that.
Service charge. I know that.
Council Tax. I know that.
Home insurance?
Internet?
Anything else I've forgotten?

There are some estimates on websites but I am not sure how accurate they would be with the current cost of living crisis.

THANK YOU.

Does the flat have gas mains ? Many are just electric which can be pricey.

Thing is, many of these are a bit of a 'how long is a piece of string?' question.

Water rates vary hugely in different parts of the country
As does Council Tax (though you say you know the a mount for that)
So will gas and electric depending if you are a hardy "heating only comes on if it drops below 14 degrees and then only for 2 hours a day" person or a "I can't live below 22 degrees on 24hours a day person" (or where you are on that long line in between
Internet, again varies wildly. There are quite good offers for first time contract holders (2 couples I know pay 1/2 what I pay for the same service from the same company) - I also hear about people negotiating better deals but I've never had much success with that

I live in a two bed flat on my own. My service charge has gone up by a third over the last three years and my ground rent has doubled so give that some thought. There is also rarely a year when the management company don’t demand and extra £200 plus on top!

In terms of bills, my water is £16 a month and gas/electric £80.

Maybe people could give an idea what they pay...

My contents insurance is about £60 a year, monthly costs for internet is £28 and council tax £132 after the single person discount.

Thankyou iheartmysmart...

interested about this too

I live in a small bungalow and my bills per month are

PAYG '3' £15 (only people to offer wifi calling on my old Iphone)
Water £15 (water meter)
Gas/electric £140 (Fixed deal with Octopus)
Talktalk broadband £30
Buildings/contents insurance £30
Life Insurance £6
Magazine subscription £3.50
Council tax £116 (single person discount)
Dental plan £26
TV Licence £40 per quarter
Credit card repayment £100 - hopefully be paid off by February
Netflix £6.99
HP Instant ink £4.99
Ancestry £20

I need to cancel some of the above - my gas/electric was only £70 before.

You need to add on your monthly maintenance charge - and ground rent?

Will you be getting a car? I pay my car insurance annually, car tax monthly at
£21.

Worth checking energy efficiency if property. New build often lots cheaper for heating bills due to efficiency.

£110 for 4 bed house for gas and electric.

I forgot to say don't be tempted to buy cheap home insurance, I came a cropper doing that last year when the roof blew off the bungalow in Storm Arwen, worst time of my life trying to get them to pay enough for it to be fixed. If you know anyone with a Which account, ask them to let you see the recommended insurer's, they survey people who've actually had to claim.

Does the freeholder/management company have a sinking fund for major works or will you have that to think about when they do work on the building? If no sinking fund, it's worth putting an amount away each month to help pay any major works invoice when it comes in.

Water will depend if it has a meter or not. If it does then you pay for what you use, same as you do gas and electric. If it doesn't then you pay based on the council tax band of your property. This should be on the local water company website.
I'm in a 2 bed flat but it's not particularly well insulated, i live way up north and don't have much in the way of shared walls with adjoining neighbours to keep me warm. My gas & electric is currently less than £80 per month despite Bulb trying to put my DD payments up.
My buildings insurance gets paid through our service charges to the management company.
You could stick a quote through online to get an idea of contents insurance, it will vary greatly by location but mine was £60 last year.
If you're taking out insurance policies then look at websites like top cashback as you can often get something back as a new customer.
I pay £68 for phone, TV (basic channels package with Tivo box for recording / pausing live TV) and broadband with Virgin. It's probably quite expensive but it works well and after having to reset my BT broadband box twice a day I'm inclined to stick with it! Ask around as some networks are terrible in some areas. Also check with friends or family if they have a referral scheme on their supplier for new customers - i referred by dad to Virgin media and we both got £50 credit back on our accounts :)

We used to live in a two bed flat and ours were roughly:

Gas and electric £130 a month
Water £30 ish? a month
Service charge £880 twice a year (ouch!)
Home insurance - building insurance was covered by service charges but I can't remember how much contents insurance was.
Internet around £40 a month.

Ground rent was £150 a year but due to go up again. The service charge was a big one and it had gone up massively over the last couple of years. I think it will go up further because of the energy crisis etc and I would certainly check if the management company had any major works planned and what their reserve fund was like.

Three things to consider bills wise on a flat which you have little control over so consider upfront:

Service charge - they vary massively, do extensive research before committing. It will be like getting blood out of a stone via the agents but ask for the last several years of service charge statements and preferably the details of repair fund etc.

Council tax - bands were set in 1991 and were supposed to be reviewed every 10 years. No review has taken place and any property built after 1991 is absolutely shafted on this. Personal experience - same price property, very similar size but one old and one new build. New property was 3 CT bands higher. Family member about to downsize from 3 bed house to 1 bed apartment, much smaller, half the value but the same council tax band. Oddly enough it's very often a blank field on Right move, do your own research first.

Type of heating - most flats don't have gas. Check what type of heating they do have. Old storage heaters are like settling alight to £5 notes every night. Research and make it a point of comparison.

I totally agree about the council tax bands @TheTeenageYears ! My flat was built after the last banding valuation and is worth around £250-280k at present but is in a higher council tax band (F) than big old 3+ bedroom houses that are coming up for sale at £400k plus! I'm convinced our flats were banded based on the value when built, not back dated to an equivalent in 1991.

It's also useful to put aside something in savings every month for repairs and maintenance. If you're used to a landlord doing this for you it can come as quite a shock.

2 bed apartment, live alone
Gas and electric £100
Water £27
Home insurance - I pay £12 for contents, buildings is in my service charge
Internet £32 with BT

3 bed Victorian house just me and DP.
Gas/leccy is about £100pcm
Water: £300 a year.

We're in a 3 bed house and we are paying:

-internet £44
-council tax cca £150 pcm
-gas&electric (£70 pcm august, £120 october)
(gas central heating, only using a little in the morning and evening)
-water around £30 pcm (2 adults, 1 child)
-house insurance £28pcm

no service charge thank god !!!