Renting a Home, UK: How to Live Within Your Means Without Feeling the Pinch

Everyone has differing views on where they want to live and how much they can afford to pay in rent, but the main thing to do is to make sure that you can pay the amount of rent being asked and still be able to do some of the things you want to with the money left over.

Rent is just one of overheads involved with living in a property of course and you will have to do the sums to make sure you not only pay the rent from your income but also have enough to cover regular bills for council tax, gas and electric and water.

Affordability

There are a number of strategies that you can employ to save money and live within your means without feeling the pinch, but affordability is definitely a good starting point.

If you need support in the form of housing benefit with your rent, this online calculator will help to confirm what assistance is available in the area that you want to live in.

Check out the market to see what is available through websites that offer rental and properties to buy, such as Hamptons International and others like it.

Save on energy bills

A common misconception amongst renters is that it may not be possible to switch gas and electricity suppliers as they don’t own the property.

You might find that some restrictive tenancy agreements actually state that you can’t switch suppliers but the energy regulator Ofgem states that it is unreasonable to prevent you from doing so.

Clarify the position with your landlord or letting agent as there are worthwhile savings to be made when you switch.

Check what you are currently paying against what is available through one of the comparison websites and see if you can make some savings.

Get some free furniture

Another way of keeping more of your money is to make use of some websites which give you the chance to furnish your apartment or house for free.

There are two websites which offer you the opportunity to acquire some furniture that somebody else doesn’t want anymore and has offered it up on a site like Freecycle or Freegle.

Not everything you see on these sites will probably be to your liking but it is always worth checking to see if you can grab a free bargain and save some serious money in the process.

Careful with the fixtures

You will want to make your new rented place feel like home as much as possible but it is always wise to check your tenancy agreement before you start banging those nails in the wall.

You don’t want to lose money out of your deposit at the end of the tenancy to pay for repair bills or have to shell out on getting walls repaired and decorated, so think about using things like picture strips rather than nails, so you don’t need to redecorate when you leave.

There are plenty of ways to save some money while you are renting, so try to be as creative as possible and make sure you check regularly to see if there are better deals for your energy costs and other costs that you could be paying too much for.

Sebastian Gilbert is a property investment consultant with a background in retail banking. He has a keen sense of the real estate industry trends and he enjoys sharing his insights online through blogging.