about to rent a flat - how do I pay bills?! HELP?

I have rented 3 different places with 3 different agencies and I have always had to sort it out myself. You will not be charged for anything - the previous tenant would have cancelled their bills so you are basically setting up a new account.

Electricity/Gas

The agency will forward on who is your gas/electricity supplier and you have to contact them yourself and set up an account, which is very easy.

You will have a quick chat with them on the phone to give them your details, what date you moved in etc.

You will have to give them the meter reading when you moved in.

Bills can be paid quarterly or monthly. You can pay the bill in two ways - at your local bank/post office or direct debit.

You can set up a direct debit with my company and pay a monthly payment that you set e.g. I pay £50 per month and if the bill is for less, the excess rolls over to pay for the next bill, which may be more than £50. You can also just arrange to pay for the exact amount of electricity you use.

Please note, you will not be able to change supplier, agencies usually do not allow it.

Of course if your electricity is by key payment, you won’t have to worry about this.

Council Tax.

You will have to contact you local council to tell them you are a new tenant. Look up their website and give them a call.

They will send you a letter, telling you how much it is a year (council tax is based on the property’s value).

They will also send you a form asking what date you moved in, whether it is single or double occupancy (a person living on their own gets a 20% discount but obviously you won’t if you are living with your boyfriend)

Council tax is usually paid in monthly instalments These will be detailed – date and amount – in the letter the council sends you telling you how much tax you have to pay.

You can arrange to pay the whole year up front also. This will be detailed in the form the Council give you.

A direct debit can be sorted (they will send you a form) out or pay at your bank/post office/council offices.

TV Licence

You can apply for one of these online and they will send you the licence. I pay about £11 a month direct debit.

Rent

Your rent will be paid by Standing Order – bit like a direct debit set up with your bank. You pay rent in advance so, the rent I paid for my flat a few days ago will cover me ‘til mid November. The agency will go through all this for you.

Your deposit is usually two months rent, which you usually get back in full when you move out unless there is damage to fixtures/fitting etc.

Other tips

There probably is a phone line in your flat - ask the agency if you have a phone line. You can sort the provider out yourself -if the previous tenant had phone/broadband they should have cancelled it. I found BT very good. They can give you the old flat phone number or a new one.

It is also worth getting on the electoral roll for your place – this can be done through your council.

Also, do not forget to notify your bank and mobile phone provider of a change of address. I usually do this by letter (I have had an instance where I told my bank by phone and they still send my statements to my old address. They seem to take more notice of a letter.

Keep all your bills in order in a special file – it’s easy to lose track of things, especially when you pay by direct debit!

Also, any post for ex-tenants should be sent to your agency – I have had cases of parking fines and eventually bailiff letters. Nothing to worry about just let your agency deal with it.

Any problems with fixtures and fittings are dealt with through your agency.

When you move in – check the inventory the agency gave you carefully. Things may be on the inventory but may not be usable – for example when I moved into my flat the bedroom blinds were broken and the kitchen heater didn’t work! Tell your agency immediately so they can sort anything out and so you won’t get charged for this from your deposit if they find these errors when you move out.

Generally any problems that need replacing or fixing when you are still living there are paid for by the landlord so don’t worry. E.g. my cooker blew up and it was replaced – this won’t come out of my deposit. They only take things from it when fixtures and fittings are damaged/broken/missing when you move out and haven’t declared them.

Basically, if you have any problems or anything breaks, tell your agency right away!

Read your contract carefully!

1. You may not be allowed to get Sky TV installed (some flat developments ban it as they do not want dishes on the outside). However, if there is a disconnected dish outside your flat it is easy to get it reconnected in your name and is cheaper as you don't pay much installation fee.

2. I also lived in some flats once where you were not allowed to hang your washing on the balcony – it was deemed too common!

3. Also you may have noise restrictions i.e. not using the washing machine after 11pm – especially if there are a lot of elderly residents.

4. Pets are usually not allowed – although I have had pet hamsters and they don’t care. I think this generally applies to cats/dogs etc.

Finally – just enjoy yourself. Don’t worry too much, it takes a bit of organising a first but it’s nothing hard to sort out.

Good luck!

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For the utilities (gas, electricity, etc), you should contact your chosen supplier and arrange to have a supply connected. May be easiest (I've always done this when I moved into a new flat/house) to ask the agent which company previously supplied the property and use them for now as you might get a quicker connection. The supplier will arrange method of payment with you directly. Always record the meter readings as soon as you move in - and make sure these are the same as what the agents claim.

Also contact the local water suppliers to make sure there is a supply to the property.

As for Sky this is something you should probably speak to the estate agent about and check that you are allowed to put a Sky dish up before you order an installation.

Also (if you haven't already) check whether there is a phone line to the property as you'll need one for Sky.

The estate agent will probably notify the local council for council tax and provide you with meter readings for the gas/electricity. They may pass these on to the supplier on your behalf, just check with them when you pick the keys up. If they don't just make sure they conform which suppliers are used for gas/electric as phoning around trying to establish the supplier can be a pain.

Good luck

if you ask the estate agent who your provider is they should be able to tell you. Providing the last tenant removed themselves from the providers records you will automatically recieve letters asking you for meter readings and payment details (prob best to set these up by direct debit) If you dont recieve a letter then get the provider details from the estate agents and call them yourself.

They will contact the council for you (council tax) and you will hear from them in due course.

TO get Sky you will need to call up Sky and arrange for them to come round, a customer service number should be avaliable on the website to help you with this. I think you will have to have a phone line to get this so you may need to get BT to come round and fit one, im not too sure tho!

Good luck! its a really scary and confusing time!

Bord Gais Moving House

I'm from Ireland and i know when you start getting your bills posted to your house address, you just go to any shop that has a PostPoint sign outside its shop. These shops will let you pay all your bills there. You just bring your bills be it ESB, Bord Gais, NTL etc to the shop, they scan the barcode and you pay over the counter. it's really handy because some shops are open 24 hours so you can pay any time and you dont have to pay the whole bill at once either. :) good luck!!!!!

when I rented a house the estate agent set up all my details with all the different companies. It was very frustrating cos I didnt realise they had done it and I was phoning round myself anyway.

Ask them first, saves a lot of phone calls.

If you want sky you need to check its allowed on your rented house-if it is just phone them to come.

Hope you are very happy in your new home :0)

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