Contents insurance By contrast, your landlord is not responsible for contents insurance , so you need to sort this yourself. Service charges In some cases, tenants may be required to pay service charges for gardening or the cleaning of communal areas.
Top tips Consider setting up direct debits to pay your bills, as this may mean you get a discount. You can set up a direct debit for your energy, water, phone and broadband bills, as well as your Council Tax and your TV licence.
When organising bills, beware of pay-monthly options for bills such as home contents insurance, since these are essentially high-interest loans. Remember to shop around for deals on bills such as energy, phone, broadband and home insurance, to help keep your costs down.
You can do all of this at Uswitch. You may also be interested in What fees can you be charged as a tenant? Renting with pets: 5 top tips for finding the perfect pet-friendly home 7 things renters can expect in These dishonest people try to trick others into sending them money.
Wiring money is the same as sending cash. After you send the money, you cannot get it back. Renting-to-own means your landlord agrees that you can buy the apartment or house later. He agrees to the price. Then you pay the landlord extra money every month. But after you have paid a lot of money, you might find out your credit is not good enough to buy the house.
Dishonest landlords also might make it too hard for you to buy the house. You might lose all of the money you have paid.
Renting-to-own is not a good idea. Instead of renting-to-own, consider saving your extra money. Then use your savings to buy a house later. For more on saving money, read about making a budget.
A lease is a contract that you sign to rent an apartment or house. When you sign a lease, you agree to follow the rules written in the lease. The landlord who owns the apartment or house also must do what the lease says and must obey the law. If you think your landlord is breaking the law or breaking the lease, there are people who can help you. Read the lease before you sign it. When you sign a lease, you agree to do what it says.
You might not understand everything in the lease. Find someone you trust to help you read the lease. The landlord might make promises.
In my experience, this bill runs behind at least a month sometimes two , so you may not have to pay this bill until the start of the third month in your lease. The water bill always makes me a little nervous, because it feels like I am missing a payment, but this has been the case in every place I have ever rented.
In any case, when you sign your lease, just be sure to ask your landlord about anything that confuses you in regard to paying utilities. I have lived in apartments and houses where some, or even all of the utilities were included in the rent. These are known as inclusions, and let me tell you, they make life as a renter pretty easy! Even if your rent takes one or two bills off your plate, it can greatly simplify your monthly finances. In my experience, if a landlord chooses to include any bills in the cost of rent, it will be the trash bill.
This bill is essential to maintain a clean property, and the monthly payments are fixed; two things that give a landlord a reason to include it with rent. Your landlord may choose to include every utility bill, or none at all. It is completely up to them. Your job is to understand what your rent includes, and which bills you need to pay separately. No, as a renter, you do not have to pay property tax. Rather, your landlord will use a portion of the rent they collect from you in order to cover the cost of property taxes on their rental unit.
Rather, your landlord will use a portion of your rent to cover their cost of home insurance. There are discounts available depending on your circumstances. You may also be eligible for a discount if you are on a low income. Again, you can visit the government website to see if you qualify for a Council Tax discount. Council Tax is another important bill to pay. And failure to pay can lead to court action, which may result in bailiffs coming to your house to remove goods and in extreme circumstances, could end in jail.
This will usually be your 3rd biggest bill to consider, but unlike the above two, you can actually do something about these costs. How much you will actually pay, again depends on a lot of different factors. Gas is generally cheaper to use when heating your home, so if your new house has some kind of electric heating system, your energy bills will probably be higher.
The energy efficiency of your home is also something not to be ignored. All homes sold must provide an energy performance certificate , which will tell you how energy efficient the house is and its potential. The better the rating, the cheaper it is to run. There are plenty of changes you make that will improve the efficiency of your home, some inexpensive, some far more costly. For example, you can. Some homes have pre-payment meters, which means you have to top them up in advance.
These tend to be more expensive than standard meters and I would avoid them if you can. If your home does have a pre-payment meter, you can request your energy company to switch it. If you have a standard meter, you can either pay quarterly when you receive a bill, or you can set up a monthly direct debit. Energy companies tend to offer better deals for direct debit customers, although the downside is you could end up with the energy company owing you money by the end of the year.
Or even worse, you owe them. If you decide to pay monthly, and this is your first home, the energy company will estimate your annual usage. I would then suggest providing regular meter readings every month so you can keep a closer eye on your bills.
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