Bills And Expenses To Pay At Your Rented Property
What is council tax?
Council tax is an extra monthly payment that you have to make when you're renting a property as a tenant. Council tax pays for local services, such as the fire service, the police, your rubbish collection and even maintaining the local parks. The amount that you pay in council tax on a property can vary widely depending on where you live. For example, you might only have to pay £60 a month in some areas, but over £200 a month in other areas. It's really important before you sign a letting agreement on a property that you make sure you know how much council tax you will have to pay each month.
How do I pay council tax?
You can pay council tax in a variety of ways. Most people will pay it on a monthly basis by direct debit straight to the local council. However, you can go to the local council offices and pay by cash or by check, or in some cases you can pay by card over the Internet. It's worth looking into local council tax because there are cases where you can get a reduction. For example, if you're living in a property on your own, you automatically get a 25% reduction, and in some cases, if you're a student for example, you pay nothing.
How do I connect gas and electricity?
As a tenant, the first thing you need to find out is who is the current supplier of gas and electricity to the property that you're going to be living in. Once you know who this is, you need to inform them in writing to make sure that they know that you are now responsible for the bill and what's really important when you're connecting gas and electricity is to make sure that the meter is read by an independent part so that you only pay for the gas and electricity that you use from the start of your agreement to the end of the tenancy.
How do I connect water?
One of the first things to check in your tenancy agreement is that you are responsible for paying the water bills on your rented property, because sometimes the landlord will pay these on the tenant's behalf. If you are responsible for paying the water bills then find out the company that is supplying the water and contact them, preferably in writing, to advise them that you are now the person who's responsible for the bill for this property, for the time that you have the tenancy agreement
How do I get a phone line installed?
In most cases, a phone line will already be installed into the rented property. If this is the case, all you need to do is find out who the phone company is, ring them up and confirm that you are now going to be responsible for the phone bills that are incurred during the life of your tenancy. If, however, there is no phone line installed, and you would like to get one, it may well be that you could use this as a negotiation point and ask that the landlord pays for a phone line be installed prior to taking on your tenancy agreement. If they don't do this and you still want a phone line installed, then you'll need to organise the provider to do so, but, more importantly, get the landlord's agreement to allow that phone line to be installed into the property.
What is a connection charge?
A connection charge for a phone line is payable if you have to reconnect a line that's been disconnected for any reason, or if there's not one already installed. A connection charge pays for somebody to come out, put in a telephone junction box and then connect you up to the telephone exchange.
What does a connection charge cost?
A connection charge for a phone line varies from company to company. The connection charge can cost anything between £6 to over £100. So it is well worth shopping around to see who will connect you for the best deal.
What is a television licence and what does it cover?
A television license is a legal requirement. If you have a TV on your property, whatever channels you watch or don't watch, whether you use it just for DVDs or videos, you must have a TV license to cover that household.
How do I buy a television licence?
You can buy a television license in a variety of ways. You can pay for a TV license monthly by direct debit or indeed you could pay by direct debit on an annual basis straight to the TV licensing. You can also pay for a TV license at any pay point. This includes things like post offices, some supermarkets, and other shops. And you can also pay your TV license by cash over the counter at any of these pay point places too.
What is 'contents insurance'?
Contents insurance covers the items that you own in a property. Contents insurance would, for example, cover a laptop, if you own a sofa, if you have a bike that you keep in the hallway. You take out contents insurance in case something should happen to these. There are two types of contents insurance. Firstly, there's the ordinary type of contents insurance which would just take into account if you were burgled (for example) and your item was stolen. The second type of contents insurance is accidental cover which means that if you accidentally break something within that property you can also get it replaced.
Do I need contents insurance?
As a tenant, the only contents insurance that the landlord will cover are the items that they own. If there's a burglary and all your items are stolen, the landlord's contents insurance will not cover those items. You need to protect them yourself.
Do I need to get buildings insurance?
It's highly unlikely as a tenant that you would be asked to cover building insurance. It's the landlord's responsibility to take care of the structure of the building and any of its fixtures and fittings. Buildings insurance covers these items not the contents, for example, that you might own.
