Renting a 1 bed flat - advice pleeeeeease!

[L100NYY]

:bounce: :bounce:

In the process of arranging to look at a few flats local to me with the view of renting one.

Just interested to find out how much on top of my rent I could realistically expect to be spending each month ie. bills etc?

Any advice greatly appreciated as I'm a bit new to all this property 'stuff' and it's rather daunting!

:eek:

[Rude-boy]

No clue about London but would check to see if you will be responsible for the Service Charge and a rough guide I'd use outside London is outgoings are the same as the rent (i.e. rent £550, outgoings £550) Then again with the silly rents in London this is most likely ott.

[L100NYY]

Rude-boy said:

No clue about London but would check to see if you will be responsible for the Service Charge and a rough guide I'd use outside London is outgoings are the same as the rent (i.e. rent £550, outgoings £550) Then again with the silly rents in London this is most likely ott.

The rent on the flat is £420pcm but I must admit I don't know whether the service charge is my responsibility or not!

[timmy30]

I always found that with ctax, electric/gas/water/phone it all came to about £200 a month on top of the rent.

[L100NYY]

timmy30 said:

I always found that with ctax, electric/gas/water/phone it all came to about £200 a month on top of the rent.

That sounds more reasonable! If it's much more than that I'll have to sell a car or a limb!

[LRdriver II]

The other thing is that every muppet and their grandmothers have become "property developers" and hence flooded the market with 1 to 2 room properties. Basically you can afford to be picky (ie not accept crap quality fittings and those poxy plastic bath room suites) and can haggle for a better rent deal.

[Nevin]

I own a two bed flat in London, and other than food and drink, my outgoings are roughly the following per month:

Service Charge £15
Council tax £85
Electricity £20
Gas £20
Water £13

Which comes to £143 per month. Then you have to pay for phone, internet, cable TV etc, etc

[aspender]

Our rent on a 1 bed flat in Southampton is 650pcm, and bills come to £280 including:

Council tax
Water
Electric (no gas)
Sky
BT phone
ADSL
Contents insurance

The ground rent etc is paid for by the landlord, and no doubt included in his rent calculation.

[john_p]

You can check the council tax online

www.voa.gov.uk/council_tax/cti_home.htm

[L100NYY]

So by the sound of it, between £150-200 per month should cover it then.

I will be living alone which I guess makes a difference and I don't spend that much time at home anyway.


Although with a 'batchelor-pad' I might be more inclined to stay indoors if you know what I mean!

[chim_knee]

A rule of thumb someone once gave me, which I think is about right, is that your rent should be no more than a third of your take-home salary. That is to be comfortable...

[timmy30]

Not sure if anyone else has said this to you, but in the current market in London for rental flats i.e. flooded, feel free to put in an offer i.e. say 15-20% less than the rent that the landlord is asking.

[L100NYY]

timmy30 said:

Not sure if anyone else has said this to you, but in the current market in London for rental flats i.e. flooded, feel free to put in an offer i.e. say 15-20% less than the rent that the landlord is asking.

Not sure if it's the same out here to be honest (although I do hope so), I live out past Chelmsford by the way.

[timmy30]

L100NYY said:

timmy30 said: Not sure if anyone else has said this to you, but in the current market in London for rental flats i.e. flooded, feel free to put in an offer i.e. say 15-20% less than the rent that the landlord is asking. Not sure if it's the same out here to be honest (although I do hope so), I live out past Chelmsford by the way.

It ought to be, give it a go.

[stumartin]

timmy30 said:

Not sure if anyone else has said this to you, but in the current market in London for rental flats i.e. flooded, feel free to put in an offer i.e. say 15-20% less than the rent that the landlord is asking.

In the current market July-Sept, every man and his flatmate are looking for the best properties, so don't get too keen with your offer or you'll lose it to someone else, and if you then have to start coming up on the price the agency know you want it and can play you like a fiddle.

For instance, I'm currently looking for a 3bed place and our last offer was £15pw over the asking price, and we STILL lost it!

That said, your scope for negotiation will be higher with a smaller agency, and there are far more 1beds than 3beds.

Just stay away from stons.

[r988]

timmy30 said:

Not sure if anyone else has said this to you, but in the current market in London for rental flats i.e. flooded, feel free to put in an offer i.e. say 15-20% less than the rent that the landlord is asking.

I agree I knocked about that much off my rent a few months ago and I wasn't even trying that hard. Look around at a lot of places, there are plenty of dreamers asking unbelievable prices for complete dumps. I did notice that most of those were rented out to foeign students who probably didn't know any better though.

[silversun]

The tenant should not be responsible for the service charge, this should be included as part of the rent by the landlord, at least in my 13 years of renting flats that was the case!

One bed flats are always going to be more in demand wherever you are so you may not be able negotiate on the rent. My strategy would be to move in and then when the contract comes up for renewal, THEN try to negotiate. If you've been a good tenant (paid rent on time, no hassles/complaints etc) then they may be more inclined to neogtiate.

Good luck!