Rent & bills vs total.

gaeilgegrinds1

Renting out a house and wondering do most people rent the rooms and then the bills are extra or work out a ballpoint figure and then add it in? Seems anyone has seen rooms wants a total? Just wondering what ye think on this. Thank you

Mimojo

If you are renting out an entire house, the majority of people rent the house as a whole for a fixed amount, then the tenants are responsible for paying their own bills, ie electricity, gas, ntl etc. Most landlords would include the cost of bins with the rent but that would be it. The rent can be divided amount the tenants, and paid on a calender month basis, rather than on a four weekly basis.

Some landlords rent out houses by the room, so someone can come and just rent a single room. If they are taking it on a long term basis, and the other tenants are long term, then it is prob handier for you to get them to pay the rent together each month. All tenants can then sort the bills between them.

If you are renting on a more short term basis, or if tenants dont know each other, then you could just give rent per room, and come up with a figure that would cover the rent and all bills. In this case the bills would generally stay in the landlords name and be forwarded to you, and the money you are getting from tenants should cover this. You could just charge rent, and let tenants know the amount of bills as they come in, but this could get very messy.

Its hard to judge how much to charge on rent + bills if you want to do it that way. The cleanest way if to charge rent and let tenants have bills in their own names and settle them up themselves. That way you dont get left with bills for the property if tenants leave etc. All bills will be in their names, therefore their responsibility.

Jo King

It depends on the local area. If accommodation in the area is marketed in a particular way and the prospective tenants want to do it that way, that is what you will have to do. It is generally better to avoid including electricity in bills. Usage tends to rise massively when there is no link between usage and payment.