Whether you’re a second-year student moving off-campus with a group of friends, a group of young professionals sharing a property, a city slicker who needs to house-share to keep his costs low, or a couple who want to keep the financial burden of living together as fair as possible – how you split the bills is going to have a big impact on your relationship with your housemates.

We’ve broken down how you could choose to share your household costs – and what to avoid – to help you manage your existing or brand new house share.

Joint accounts for bill splitting

Let’s start with what to avoid when splitting bills. On the surface, setting up a joint account for your household bills seems to make a lot of sense. It ensures total transparency between housemates. It’s an effective way to make sure bills are paid in full and on time. It also tends to be straightforward for money management.

However, there are some serious financial risks that come with being tied to your housemates, particularly if you don’t know each other that well.

The potential financial risks

When you open a joint account with someone, you remain connected with them for far longer than you may realise. After the account is closed, you’re financially linked to everyone named on the account for another six years.

This means that anything they do in that time can impact your credit score. The hardships of someone you may never speak to again could affect your chances of getting a car, a mortgage and much more.

For this reason alone, getting a joint account for splitting your bills as a house-sharer isn’t generally recommended.

So, here’s what we would suggest.

1. Nominate a person for each bill

If you’ve ever shared before, you may have used this method to pay utility, broadband, and other bills. Each housemate can set up each bill using a different person’s account. The other housemates then pay their share monthly or quarterly.

The different bills that need setting up are:

• Gas and electric
• Water
• TV license
• Broadband
• Council tax (note: students are exempt from council tax)

The pros and cons

The advantage of this is that everyone’s shouldering their share every month or quarter. That means everyone’s more inclined to pay each other back— after all, it’s only fair.

Sometimes the maths can get a bit complicated if two flatmates get into the “if I subtract what you owe you for the gas bill and I’ll pay the rest for the water” debacle. Or, occasionally, you get that one person who simply refuses to pay up after months of nagging.

A simple spreadsheet

When you’re living with people you trust, managing this method shouldn’t come with too much stress.

To keep on top of who owes what, you can track of everything on a monthly basis through a simple spreadsheet. This will make any issues that may crop up simple to rectify, as you’ll have a detailed breakdown of who paid what and when.

This would also be useful to keep a note of the date that tariffs may change. The sheet then becomes a single source of truth for how much everyone should be paying each month.

2. Third-party, bill splitting platforms

Alternatively, with the rise of technology has come a million and one different ways of doing pretty much anything, and that includes paying your bills. Bill splitting apps are becoming increasingly popular with house-sharers, but they come in many different forms.

You can combine your utilities into a single amount through certain platforms, which split and charge them equally between each tenant.

Just as you would shop around for the best value energy provider, it’s worth comparing and contrasting your options when it comes to bill-splitting apps, as many leading platforms are completely free to use.

acasa is one, bill-splitting option

We know house sharing gets complicated, especially when it comes to splitting bills – that’s why we created acasa to do it for you. Plus, we’ve got some great deals on the household services you may still need to set up. In short, we’re the best housemate you’ve ever lived with.

Get a free quote

The post How to split bills in a shared house appeared first on acasa Blog.

Here are a few of the best tricks to use during your search for the perfect flatmate.

Decide what makes a flatmate perfect for you

A perfect flatmate can mean very different things to different people. For some people, the perfect flatmate is someone who stays quietly in their room.

Others want someone to go to Wetherspoons with every night, or want to find someone who is as neurotically clean as they are.

If you really want to find the perfect flatmate, know what a good one looks like to you. Knowing the type of person you’re looking for will give you a much better shot at finding the right person.

Start your search with mutual friends

Be sure to let all of your close friends know you are looking to find a flatmate. Chances are your interests and living style will line up much better with someone you are already friends with, rather than taking your chances with the basic internet flatmate query.

Don’t underestimate the power of posting a Facebook status. Those slight acquaintances we call Facebook friends can be very helpful in a flatmate search. Your university lab partner that you are still connected to might just be able to give you an introduction to the perfect flatmate.

Meet in person

There’s no better way to feel the vibe of someone than to meet them in person. Lots of people can seem amazing via email or text messages but be completely different in person.

If you already live in the flat, have them come to the flat to visit. You can also attend flatmate search meetup events to meet a lot of potential flatmates at once.

Ask a lot of questions

You never really know someone until you’ve lived together. Even if you’re moving in with a friend, make sure you ask a lot of questions. Learn as much as you can about their living habits.

While there are many questions to consider, the most important ones are those that are specifically relevant to sharing a home:

• Are they employed?
• What time do they go to bed?
• Do they like to have guests over?
• When do they tend to shower?
• What are their cleaning habits?

These are all important things to consider when living with someone else, and you can use this full list of questions to make sure you cover all ground.

Ask what a perfect flatmate looks like to them

Knowing what they would want in a perfect flatmate is also important to make sure you’ll be a good match.

If they’re hoping to find someone who wants to barbecue every night and you’re a vegetarian, that could be an early sign of a problem.

Make a lucky, right decision

Ok, this one isn’t really actionable, but sometimes you’ll just have to see how things go.

Even if you ask all the right questions, you can still get it wrong and end up living with the wrong person. Some people are great at introductions but turn out to be very different when you are actually interacting every day.

If you do end up living with someone who isn’t right, try to talk to them about the problems you have early on. The sooner you talk about the problems, the easier it is to get things resolved.

Plus, one final tip – living with flatmates will be even easier if you use acasa’s bill splitting app to track and split your shared expenses!

The post How to find the perfect flatmate appeared first on acasa Blog.

How you can pay your TV licence

Make a one-off, annual TV licence payment

You can choose to pay your UK TV licence once a year with a one-off, up-front payment of £159.

You can pay either through direct debit or using a bank card. You’ll be charged for a new licence automatically every year with direct debit. That may not be the most convenient option for students staying in a houseshare for only one year.

However, if you can afford it and you know that you’ll be with your flat or housemates for at least a year, a yearly payment can help you avoid extra charges for a more regular payment through direct debit. Plus, you can split the payment between everyone.

However, if you prefer to spread your costs over the year rather than coughing up all that money in one go, this may not be the right choice for you.

Paying for the TV licence quarterly

The next option is to pay quarterly, at £41 every three months. This may help with your cash flow, but it may depend on what other bills you pay, and when. If you prefer to pay for bills monthly to manage things more easily with your flatmates, then this may still not be ideal.

You’ll also see an extra £5 charge over the course of the 12 months if you choose to pay by direct debit – a small amount, but lots of small, extra amounts can add up.

Paying on a monthly basis

This option seems the best at first glance. The monthly amount is around £13.25 per month. In theory, that’s a manageable price on a monthly basis, and easy to split with housemates along with your other bills.

However, the catch is that you’ll pay double for the first six months, via direct debit or in cash instalments at around £26.50 per month.

This pays for one full, 12-month licence within the first six months. Then you’ll continue paying £13.25 per month for the next six months with no break, meaning your payments in the first year will be £238.50. You’ll be spreading the costs, but end up paying more over the course of the first year.

This is because you’re paying for six months before your next licence is due to begin and you’ll continue into the next year for the six after it’s started.

This could be a frustrating option, especially when you have a shorter tenancy and don’t want to pay for more than 12 months of TV Licence in total.

Paying with a TV Licensing payment card

If you want even more flexibility, you can apply for a licensing payment card for free. You’ll get the flexibility to pay weekly, fortnightly, or monthly, starting from around £6. You can then choose to pay online, your mobile, or over the phone, by text, or in person.

To pay weekly and fortnightly, you’ll pay for the first licence over 26 weeks with 26 payments. You’ll then move to paying fortnightly instead.

To pay monthly through the payment card, you’ll normally pay for your first licence within six months – as is the case for a direct debit. When your renewal date is around six months away, you’ll then move to paying smaller amounts over 12 months instead.

You’ll get a payment plan to help you plan ahead and organise your payments, and text reminders to pay on time. However, you may find that shouldering extra payments in year one is too much of an investment to make.

About acasa

We know house sharing gets complicated, especially when it comes to splitting bills – that’s why we created acasa to do it for you. Plus, we’ve got some great deals on the household services you may still need to set up. In short, we’re the best housemate you’ve ever lived with.

The post How to choose the best way to pay for your TV licence appeared first on acasa Blog.

The market moves very quickly and is expensive in comparison to the rest of the UK. Flats you visit are often already leased within the day, so you have to be quick.

It’s only a lucky few who find a good flat for the right price through online portals. To help you join that group, here’s some advice to help your property search.

1. Large flat and house hunting sites are great to find areas that fit your price range

Two of the largest property sites in the UK are Zoopla and Rightmove and serve as great places to start your property search. These sites will give you a great ballpark figure of what it cost to stay in various parts of the city.

Most searches to find flats or houses for rent begin on these websites. The largest sites include Gumtree, Zoopla, and Rightmove. Other smaller players, especially for house sharing, include Spareroom and Open Rent.

That being said, many of the ads listed through these sites are outdated or have already been let. While it is possible to secure a property through these sites, it can be extremely difficult to find exactly what you are looking for – which is where estate and letting agents come in.

2. Agents in your ideal neighbourhoods can connect you to London properties before they’re listed online

If you’ve narrowed down what neighbourhood you want to live in, contact estate and letting agents in that area. Neighbourhood agents know as soon as properties hit the market. They can connect you with exactly the type of property you are looking for before it’s even listed online.

Remember to check estate agent fees as an additional cost when securing your property. Agents are required by law to publish their fees in full.

You should also remember that property tours tend to be during traditional working hours and letting agents will not do a tour later than 6:30. Be sure to let your work know you’ll need to leave early/arrive late while completing your property hunt.

3. Walk around the areas you’re interested in and look for “To let” signs

It may seem counter-intuitive but this can be a great way to find properties that are not listed online. It’s also wise to check newspaper classified ads and don’t shy away from adverts written in all caps.

It could be that the landlord has a great property but is slightly older and not used to listing their property online. Some of the best flats to rent in London can be found this way.

4. If you find a place you like, move fast!

High demand means you need to make a quick decision to get a good place. If you like a place, chances are someone else will like it too. Be ready to place a holding deposit within a few hours of your visit because the best places can easily go on the market in the morning and be gone by the afternoon. The holding deposit is typically the first month of rent in advance so make sure you have that money saved upfront.

5. Don’t give up hope when searching for your new home

As we said, finding flats to rent in London is hard but don’t give up hope. You can check out our guide to some of the best places to live in London to gain inspiration. There are plenty of great places to live around the city so keep a positive attitude and you will find the right place for you.

The post 5 expert hacks for finding houses or flats to rent in London appeared first on acasa Blog.

Top Websites for Finding a Flatmate

SpareRoom

SpareRoom is probably the most well-known housemate finding platform. Becoming a spare wheel for an existing houseshare might seem daunting but, with SpareRoom, you have the extra option of “buddy ups”, where you can find other people looking for accommodation.  You’ll have a greater say in building a house or flatshare from scratch with like-minded people.

SpareRoom is not only easy to use, but it has a focus on safety, regularly vetting property listings. It also encourages people to rent out rooms to increase the availability of affordable rental accommodation. Plus, it partners with Crisis to help support homelessness and has a competition for someone to win a month’s rent per month – so, if you’re feeling lucky, you might want to give it a try.

ideal flatmate

ideal flatmate’s focus is helping you find flatmates that have a strong chance of becoming your friends. It serves more as a social network for flat-hunters rather than just a flatmate hunting tool. You start by taking a survey about your living habits to help quickly connect you with the right new flatmate.

From there, you can easily message other flat seekers from their profiles to ask them questions to see if you’d get on well together. You can then create a group and browse for your perfect home. You’re also able to list an empty room in your flat for flat hunters to discover.

Badi

Originally launched in Spain back in 2015, Badi offers a free app that uses AI to help you to find your next house or flatmate. You share some information about your age, gender, personality and other details, such as whether you’re a student or in full-time work.

Then, the algorithm filters through and matches you to housemates, rather than simply a property, as is normally the case. Once you’ve found a place and flatmates you like, you can pay your deposit securely through the app to reserve it.

Coliving.com 

Coliving.com leans on the “co-living” concept which puts the emphasis on finding a like-minded community of people to live with. An international platform, Coliving.com can help you find this type of accommodation all over the world. It’s a great way to meet new people, especially if you’ve relocated.

You’ll of course get your own space – sometimes with your own ensuite and private kitchen – but with larger shared spaces where everyone can come together to socialise. It’s all-inclusive too – plus, you can rent on an individual basis, rather than committing to a joint contract with people you don’t know.

Once you’ve found a room that looks good to you, you share some basic information, then reserve it. The Coliving team will then check your profile to make sure that it matches the community you’ve applied to join.

Cohabitas

There are some slightly more niche sites out there too – such as Cohabitas. Renting and house sharing can make financial and social sense at any age, and plenty of people may have a their own home with a spare room that they’d like to rent out. Cohabitas helps match over-40s with compatible potential housemates.

It’s free to register your details and have people contact you – but, to have full freedom to find the right home, you may need to upgrade to the Premium version of the service. This will allow you to contact anyone on the platform, rather than simply those that have already upgraded.

What’s next?

Once you’ve found the right property – and perfect housemate – for you, there are other ways to make sure that you make a success of living in your househare. You can look into how to set up some simple house rules, where you can save some money, and find out how to to split your bills in the best way so it’s fair for everyone. You could even get a free app like acasa to help you manage those bills or get some of the key services that you’ll need in your new home set up for everyone’s benefit.

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Whether you’ve recently entered into your first house share, or are going out for a meal, the sticky subject of how to divide up all the costs is going to come up at some point—if it hasn’t already.

From splitting the bill at dinner and haggling over who had a starter to divvying up the costs of running your household in a way that feels fair for everyone, acasa, an innovative bill splitting and household management, can help to put your concerns at ease.

When should you split the bill equally?

In most cases it’s perfectly fine to split the bill evenly with your friends. For certain things, where individual usage cannot be worked out, for example, it may prove the best option. These might include:

Rent: You all knew what you were signing up for with this one, even before you viewed it for the first time. Chances are you all agreed an upper limit of what you’d be willing to pay when you went on the hunt for your perfect property, and that should account for any changes in your financial situation. If the drop in your budget is really that dramatic, it might be time to consider downsizing, living elsewhere or moving back home rather than asking your friends to cover for you.

Utility and broadband bills: It’s pretty hard to measure everyone’s exact individual energy usage in the house. But chances are that if you’re all regularly in the house with the lights on, showering, cooking and charging appliances, there isn’t a dramatic difference between you. Aside from exceptional circumstances—see below—it’s best just to chop this one into even chunks.

TV license: Your TV license isn’t measured by usage, it’s just a flat fee you pay to be able watch programmes on your TV. There’s no point haggling over it. Even if one of you is an avid EastEnders fan, who’s to say that someone else won’t find a show they can’t get enough of later on in the year?

A group activity: A fun group activity, such as bowling, is another example of something which is best split equally. Whether you win or lose, you still went bowling and should pay the same as everyone else!

When can you deviate?

Under certain circumstances, it might be acceptable for you to approach your friends with the idea of paying slightly less—or more, if you’re feeling generous—than everybody else. But remember, you can’t be selfish: your decision needs to be fair to the whole house.

Varying bedroom sizes: Some households agree to pay different amounts in rent based on the space they get to themselves. No, don’t get your tape measure out, I doubt anyone’s going to let you pay less because your room is 30cm narrower than your friend’s. If there is a substantial difference—as in, the biggest bedroom is twice the size of the smallest—you may have a case for yourself.

Different restaurant orders: If you’re short of cash, but still go out for a social meal with mates, the one thing you don’t want to happen is for someone to suggest splitting the bill equally between you all – after all, you didn’t pass on dessert only to pay for someone else’s!

Once you’ve decided how everything is going to be divvied up between you and your friends, whether it’s in a shared house or at your local Wetherspoons, systems such as a bill splitting apps can help you keep track of your finances and ensure that everything remains fair between friends.

And if you’re ever unsure about whether you need to pay someone back for something, there are some handy guides out there to help you decide. It can be a tricky thing to handle, but having an app to hand and good communication always helps.

Use acasa

acasa is a bill sharing and household management platform designed for students and house sharers. With acasa, you can avoid unnecessary conflict around splitting utility bills in a shared house or other situations where the splitting of a bill may be required, such as at a restaurant, using our specially designed balance tracking systems.

If you’re interested in an app which can help with the division of house payments as well as other bill splitting situations, why not download the acasa app today.

Get a free quote

The post Should friends always split the bill equally? appeared first on acasa Blog.

But along with all these exciting firsts comes a few things that are important to get right. You want your first experiences in your new apartment to be good ones, so it’s worth knowing a few tips that will help you on your way.

Manage your finances

Moving into an apartment isn’t something that comes cheap. And it’s not just the rent you need to worry about. There’s likely to be a hefty (and upfront) deposit, not to mention decorating and furnishing.

To stay high and dry, it’s worth checking out our money saving tips – and saving up the first few months’ rent in advance of your move in date. It might be frustrating at the time, when you’re still living with flatmates or your parents and know you have the money not to, but in the long run it’s the sensible thing to do.

Once you’re in your contract, there’s no going back. So, just in case you have any unexpected outgoings to factor in, having your rent money saved a few months in advance will be a blessing you’ll thank yourself for.

Explore the surroundings

We can’t stress the importance of this tip enough. There’s nothing worse than moving into the apartment of your dreams, getting a great deal and then realising exactly why the place was the price it is (hint: it’s the area).

It’s vital that you feel safe and comfortable in your home, and a lot of this is determined by location. So, before you go making any offers and signing any contracts, make sure you get to know the area really well. Inside out in fact. You need to know where the closest shop is, the transport on offer and what the area is like as all times of day and night.

Trust us, you’ll feel a lot better about paying for somewhere to live if you like the location. This tip really is a no brainer. Location is just as important as the apartment itself, and you wouldn’t say ‘yes!’ to that without checking it out first, would you?

Talk to your landlord or agent

Strictly speaking, the landlord or your agent is your main point of contact for anything to do with your new apartment. It’s their job to make sure you’re happy with where you’re living and feel 100% ‘at home’ there.

So, if something’s not quite right, speak to them. Some landlords re-decorate after every tenant so, you never know, by making contact early enough you might even get a say in the paint colours and flooring.

Generally, the landlord or the last tenant is supposed to paint the entire house, clean it and give it to you as new as possible. So ensure to check up on your landlord about when the apartment will be ready after all these works, making the house feel even more like your home.

Setup your utilities ahead of time

Some landlords will provide their own connections for water, gas, internet and electricity, but in some places you will need to set those things up yourself. It’s best to inquire and get the details from the landlord and call the utility companies to set it up before you move in, especially when it comes to the basics like water, electricity and gas. You can set up the other things like internet and cable a few days after you move in too.

By setting up all your utility providers in advance, everything will be ready to go for move-in day, alleviating stress on the day and reducing the risk of being charged standard rates by the previous provider.

Make your house a home

Even if you’re on a tight budget you’ll need to spend some money on basic furnishings like a bed and chairs. You can visit the local second-hand furniture shops in the area or search for items on online for sale sites like eBay, Facebook Marketplace and Gumtree to get good quality furniture at cheap prices.

Sometimes, when relatives hear that you are moving into a new apartment all on your own, they may offer to give you some old furniture for free. No matter the style, as long as these offerings are reasonable quality, take them. You’d be surprised how handy they might turn out to be in the future. What’s more, upcycling donated items can save you a considerable amount of money and mean our house is full of one-of-a-kind pieces.

Change your address

This is a bit of a tedious one, but nonetheless it has to be done. Changing your address with everything from your doctor’s surgery to your Amazon account is a vital and inevitable part of moving house.

To prevent the stress of accidentally getting a delivery to your old address, make sure that this task is high on your priority list when you move in. Oh, and make sure you let your friends and family know you’ve moved too!

Hire a removal service

Moving house is tough for anyone. You might think you don’t have much to move, but once you start pulling it out and packing it up, you’ll soon realise there’s more to do than you anticipated.

One way to reduce the stress of the moving process (and save you a pretty tough job) is to hire a professional removal service.

Not only will this save you countless trips to and from your old house with five or six boxes at a time, but it’ll also save you a lot of time and stress.

Yes, hiring a removal company will cost you money, but honestly, they’re worth it. If you haven’t got lots of help and a transit van to hand, hiring a removal company is something you won’t regret.

Get a free quote

The post 7 Important Tips When Moving into Your First Apartment appeared first on acasa Blog.

No one wants passive aggressive lists of what they can and can’t do, but a house share without some basic ground rules can soon result in anarchy.

If you don’t want to rub your housemate up the wrong way with unreasonable requests, acasa has got you covered. In this blog post we discuss what’s reasonable when it comes to setting house rules. Read on to find out more.

Respect

If your house share has one rule in place, it should be respect for one another. Respect for your personal space and belongings needs to be established from day one. In a house share everyone is paying money to live there and, as such, has equal say about the day-to-day running of the house.

From making clear that helping yourself to other peoples food is definitely not okay and setting boundaries between communal and personal space, respect is the fundamental ground rule that every shared house should have in place.

Cleaning

We’ve all heard horror stories about housemates that refuse to clean their dishes, leaving the sink overflowing with plates that are growing cultures. And we’ve all heard these stories about the poor individuals that had to clean up after them.

No house sharer should be forced to do more than their bit of the house work. Creating and implementing a cleaning rota is definitely a reasonable action to take. If you all agree on something that’s written in black and white, lazy housemates are left without a leg to stand on.

A cleaning rota can include tasks like:

• Hoovering
• Mopping
• Cleaning the kitchen
• Cleaning the bathroom
• Dusting
• Emptying the bins

With a cleaning rota, everyone knows what they’re meant to do and when—no excuses.

Noise

When the only thing that’s got you through the day is the thought of getting tucked up in bed for an early night, the last thing you want is to be rudely awoken by booming music, loud laughter or, worse, an unannounced house party.

Putting rules in place when it comes to noise is always reasonable, and is something that will benefit everyone at some point.

The commonly agreed quiet times for shared houses are based on noise nuisance legislation, which states that a premises should avoid noise between the hours of 11pm and 7am.

You might have exceptions to this rule now and again, such as for special occasions like birthday parties, which is fine. The important thing is to make housemates aware well in advance and be considerate at all times.

Bills

If there’s an argument between housemates that’s not about cleaning, respect or noise levels, you can guarantee that it’s about bills. That’s because a houseshare isn’t just about sharing space, it’s also about divvying up things like gas, water, and electric fees.

But this becomes difficult when one housemates takes longer showers, and another has a tendency to crank the heating up a couple of degrees without consulting others first.

Even the happiest of houses can turn sour when it comes to working out who pays what for utilities. Having set rules in place that clearly state who needs to pay for what is one of the best ways to avoid finance-related arguments.

Whether your house agrees to pay equal for all the utility bills, or splits them based on individual usage, having a system in place is without a doubt worthwhile.

If you’re moving into a houseshare, or you’re already in one, setting rules is essential. But more important is to devise reasonable requests that everyone can agree on and abide by. Using our tips for setting reasonable rules will ensure your house stays happy and runs smoothly.

Get a free quote

The post Flatmate house rules: What’s reasonable? appeared first on acasa Blog.

With a few simple tweaks like working a little more closely with your housemates, making easy switches to eco-friendly energy providers and sharpening up your recycling knowledge, you can achieve a green house share – and save some money at the same time. Here’s how.

1. Cut food waste

We’ve all seen the fridge in a student house share. There are three half-used bottles of ketchup and four containers of out-of-date milk. To avoid food wastage, devise a system with your housemates where you agree to share certain household food items that you all use on a daily basis.

That said, this isn’t license to steal your housemates’ food. Make sure everyone is on board. Furthermore, find out whether or not there’s food wastage collection in your area and apply for a food waste bin to ensure that what you don’t use goes to a good place.

2. Switch to eco-friendly lightbulbs

Lightbulbs might seem like small, simple things, but using the right one can go a long way when it comes to energy consumption. The Energy Saving Trust estimates that we could all save £35 a year on electricity bills if we switch to LED lightbulbs.

While that might not seem like a lot in savings, consider also that LED bulbs tend to last much longer than ordinary lightbulbs. That means that in addition to monetary savings, you’re also saving on wastage, too.

3. Turn off, don’t stand by

If you turn off your appliances at the wall, rather than leaving them in standby mode, you could save another £35 a year. You can even buy a “standby saver” to switch off multiple devices in one go.

Similarly, make sure you’re monitoring how much you’re using your kitchen appliances. Small things like only filling the kettle with the water you need can help you save the planet and save around £6 per year – and all these little extra savings add up for you and your housemates.

3. Recycle, recycle, recycle

In today’s climate, recycling is more or less a given. But you’d be surprised on what you can recycle and what you can’t. For instance, the Guardian reported that, according to the British Science Association, many Britons wrongly think you can recycle dirty kitchen roll and paper towels. To ensure you cut down on purchasing and using items that can’t be recycled, it’s important to do your research.

On top of that, you can recycle more than just waste. Repurposing or repairing old items instead of buying new ones, or buying vintage furniture from charity shops can help cut down on consumption.

4. Use an eco-friendly energy provider

Not all energy providers are created equal, especially where green energy is concerned. Instead of using traditional methods of acquiring energy, some are going above and beyond on the green front, getting their energy from renewable sources like the sun, water and wind.

If you’ve found that your energy provider isn’t getting their energy from renewable resources, consider switching – although you should do your research first on the rates they charge and how firmly established that supplier is while the energy crisis is ongoing.

5. Commit to less waste as a house

As we all know, it’s going to take a lot more than just one person’s commitment to helping the environment to make a lasting impact on the world. It’s a group effort, one that you can make with your housemates by sharing reusable household items and committing to going green as a home.

Start by bulking up your supply of reusable containers for leftover food and reusable bags for shopping. Additionally, if one of your housemates has a car, take group trips to the grocery store instead of relying on individual home deliveries.

About acasa

Get a free quote

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1. Know what you can be charged

First up, since 2019, most letting fees have been banned. Your holding deposit is also capped at 1 week’s rent, and the security deposit at 5 week’s rent, in most cases. Your agent or landlord can only charge you over and above that in three situations: if you pay your rent late, if you lose your keys, and if you want to change the terms of your tenancy. This means, no extra costs for check-in, inventory, cleaning, or admin – something to remember throughout your time in the property.

2. Access a council tax discount

If you’re 18 or over and renting your home, you’ll normally have to pay council tax. Your bill will primarily be based on two adults sharing a home – so if you don’t fit this criteria, you may be eligible for a discount.

If you’re an adult living on your own or with under-18 year olds, you could get 25% off the rate. If you’re under 18, you’ll be eligible for a 50% discount and, if you’re a full-time student, you won’t have to pay a thing. You’ll simply need to share details of your living situation with the council if you feel you’re being charged the wrong amount.

3. Find free furniture

If you’re looking for ways to kit out your part-furnished or unfurnished rented home, you don’t have to pay the earth. You can keep an eye on community services such as Freecycle and Freegle which match people wanting to get rid of unwanted furnishings – and more – with people looking for those items.

4. Check if you need your own TV licence

If you watch or record live TV – even if it’s streamed – you should have a TV licence. You only need one per household. You should ask your landlord if they already have a licence which covers the property, before paying separately. However, if you don’t live with your landlord and you’re in a self-contained home – such as a separate flat – you’ll need your own licence.

5. Take meter readings

You should take regular meter readings to make sure that your energy bills are accurate. You should especially make sure that you take one as soon as you move in and when you move out too, so you don’t continue to pay for someone else’s energy.

6. Boost your credit score

Did you know that paying your rent on time can help you access finance, such as loans or mortgages, more easily in the future? Experian is one company that can help you boost your credit score. If you connect to their services through one of their partners, such as Credit Ladder, they’ll be able to see that you pay your rent on time and they’ll keep a log of that in your credit file.

7. Check out the financial support available

If you struggle to pay for your energy bills, there is financial support out there. Check out the government’s site for what you may be able to access this winter, including the Warm Home Discount Scheme, Cold Weather Payment, Winter Fuel Payment, the Household Support Fund – which you’ll need to contact your local council to access – and you can contact your energy supplier, to check if they have any further support to offer.

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