What are the additional costs when renting?

We are moving from the US to Leamington Spa this summer!  We will be renting a house/flat and are in the process of searching right now.

Just trying to figure out all the costs and want to make sure there aren't other things we don't know about.  We know about the council tax but aren't quite sure if that includes any type of utilities (trash maybe?).  We are expecting to pay for electricity, heat, water.  I know there is some kind of tax to get TV... roughly how much can we expect to pay for cable?  Any other things we should be taking into consideration?

Thinking we won't get a land line and just use our mobile phones.

Gas, electric, water will be paid by you (not the landlord).  Annual TV license is about £150.  Cable/internet will probably be £60ish a month.  You have to have a landline with cable/internet here (at least where I am).  We don't use it though and just use our mobile phones (but pay for it). In our area, trash collection is part of council tax.  We have to take our garden waste to the dump though.  This will vary in each area.

Welcome to Warwickshire.

For TV, don't forget all TV's are sold with Freeview built in. Lots of channels (including news channels), and as it says on the tin, it's free; just hook up the antenna. Special movie, sports, and US orientated channels will need cable or satellite.

Trash pick-up in Leamington is weekly; week 1 for standard waste, and week two for re-cycling (grass and garden cuttings, food waste, tin cans, paper, cardboard, glass, etc.). As already said, it's included in the council tax.

There are no really bad areas in Leamington, just less desirable areas, better areas, and much better areas. Don't rule out Warwick or Kenilworth either. Kenilworth is smaller, but has a shopping precinct with many stores and banks. 

 

For TV, don't forget all TV's are sold with Freeview built in. Lots of channels (including news channels), and as it says on the tin, it's free; just hook up the antenna. Special movie, sports, and US orientated channels will need cable or satellite.

This is kind of what we are thinking of doing this time......maybe just Freeview and sign up with one or two internet sources like Hulu/Netflix/AmazonPrime. A friend of ours is up to around £100 a month for Sky....he said about £30 of that was because he wanted Sky Sports.

This is kind of what we are thinking of doing this time......maybe just Freeview and sign up with one or two internet sources like Hulu/Netflix/AmazonPrime. A friend of ours is up to around £100 a month for Sky....he said about £30 of that was because he wanted Sky Sports.

We have NOW tv..which is £6 a month and includes a lot of sky channels including sky one and sky atlantic which have a lot of the american shows on it that we like..might be worth looking into. There is a one off charge for the box...I think about £20- but no contract so you pay for the months you want to have it and don't pay if you don't want it. I will see if I can find a link..
http://www.nowtv.com/box#ib-section-section-8

Thanks!  We will def check out some of those TV options.

theOAP, my husband was over in Leamington a month ago and loved it!  We are targeting the area north of the river because it will be closest to his work and our kids school (or hopefully... still trying to get word on which ones have room!)  Kenilworth does look nice but unfortunately their school is full :-(

We're also open to Warwick.  I saw some houses for rent in a place called Chase Meadows which looks like a nice community... a little bit far from Leamington though, but we could probably make it work.

Also, could anyone tell me... what exactly is a "shower room"?  Is this a 3/4 bath (shower stall, toilet, sink) or is it just a shower and nothing else?  We keep running across this and aren't sure what it means... with 3 boys I'd love to have a second toilet!

Thanks!

It will be shower, toilet, sink-- completely tiled (or some other laminate type covering) so that the whole room can get wet..usually quite small.
edited to add: actually I am referring to a wet room, I believe that a shower room is the same, but I could be wrong!

@123

Re: Chase Meadows, the Marish? This is probably the newest development in the Leamington area. Just guessing, but it may depend on which area of Chase Meadows you're in. In the area to the South (nearest the Stratford Road), the homes are very close together along with multifamily buildings, so parking is difficult. Too bad about the Kenilworth schools, there's a nice 4 bed offering in Leek Wooten nearby, but is probably Kenilworth schools.

Not to be difficult, but why the worry about being close to work? Traffic at rush hour in Leamington is not great, but most homes in the area are within 25 minutes of the city centre. There's also a nice area called Hatton Park on the A4177/Birmingham Road which is near a train station with service to Warwick and Leamington, and eventually, London.

What about cars? Will you have only 1, or 2? No question, schools are the key, but will you need transportation in addition to the husband? I know nothing of the schools in North Leamington, but they look very nice and the students always look happy! Driving children to school miles away is not unusual in this part of the UK. Buses are frequent in most areas. Shopping variety is plentiful, but not always nearby. I believe there's a small shop in Chase Meadows, but not suitable for a weekly shop, just the odd loaf or pint of milk.

It depends on the realtor (estate agent) as to what a shower room is (in this area anyway). Sorry. It probably does have a shower though   .

Not to be difficult, but has your husband negotiated a relocation assistance package with his employer?

Thanks HG & OAP.  That's what I thought it was but you never know.  There aren't always pictures of every room and it's hard to tell exactly what you're getting. 

That's the hard part, we are trying to find a rental and secure it before we get there.  I don't know if this is even going to be possible (we are prepared to wire the deposit but not sure if all landlords will be willing to deal with that??) with us not being in the country yet.  But, we can't apply for the school until we have a UK address and the school situation is starting to worry me. 

We were told that Myton was full.  N. Leam had room for my oldest (he's 13) but not my younger 2 (they're 11, twins).  We're hoping for either Trinity or Aylesford... but they are in different areas and we would like to be close enough for the kids to walk.  Still waiting to hear from the council if either of those have room for all 3 of my boys. 

No worries, OAP ;-)  We did get some relocation help from his new job but it's just a lump sum of money.  It will basically cover our airfare and shipping a small amount of things.  We are planning on just buying most things when we get there and saving the cost of putting furniture and other things in a container and shipping it.  We're on the west coast so it would have to go down thru the Panama canal and takes 2 months to arrive and was pretty expensive.  For the same amount I can buy almost everything we'll need at the Coventry Ikea... or I'm hoping maybe there is something to the equivalent of Goodwill over there.  Our move is temporary (2-3 years) so I don't need to have anything fancy.

As for the distance from work... I'm working on him :-)  He's been doing a pretty long commute, spending hours every day in the car, for the last 10 years and has this vision of himself being able to just walk to work in less than 15 minutes.  I just need to convince him that we can be a little further away and he can do a bus/walk combo.

We do plan on buying a car, but just 1, so it would be nice if either he or the kids could walk to work or school.  I'm also freaking out a bit at the thought of driving on the other side of the road.  I know I'll get used to it eventually (and I plan on taking some lessons!) but it's making me nervous!

Hope this works!

The extent of the line shown is a brisk 20 to 25 minutes walk to the centre of Leamington.

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-to-rent/map.html?locationIdentifier=USERDEFINEDAREA%5E%7B%22polylines%22%3A%22%7Dnb%7EHt%60eHna@%7C_AdGrgBUdkAo%5C%5CbkA_l@vu@_h@oFax@m%7DAiWojCtg@iyBbx@c%5E%60x@fQ%22%7D&minPrice=1300&minBedrooms=3&displayPropertyType=houses&oldDisplayPropertyType=houses#_includeLetAgreed%3Don%26displayPropertyType%3Dhouses%26houseFlatShare%3Dfalse%26lastPersistLocId%3DREGION%255E782%26locationIdentifier%3DUSERDEFINEDAREA%255E%257B%2522polylines%2522%253A%2522%257Dnb~Ht%2560eHna%2540%257C_AdGrgBUdkAo%255C%255CbkA_l%2540vu%2540_h%2540oFax%2540m%257DAiWojCtg%2540iyBbx%2540c%255E%2560x%2540fQ%2522%257D%26minBedrooms%3D3%26minPrice%3D1300%26oldDisplayPropertyType%3Dflats%26previousSearchLocation%3DUntitled%2520(Drawn%2520Area)%26radius%3D0.0%26searchLocation%3DUntitled%2520(Drawn%2520Area)%26searchType%3DRENT%26sortByNewestListing%3Dfalse%26sortType%3D6%26useLocationIdentifier%3Dfalse%26box%3D-1.56581%2C-1.50263%2C52.27604%2C52.30765

This would be the extent of a fairly normal, reasonable commute distance (30 minutes max) to the town centre (leaving out Kenilworth):

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-to-rent/map.html?locationIdentifier=USERDEFINEDAREA%5E%7B%22polylines%22%3A%22yj%7D%7DH%7E%7D%7EGjbCfzG%7C%5BfxHso@%7EsHkxBlpG%7BzH%7BhAkf@kcKkyFkyN%60%7DDiqEfhL%3F%22%7D&minBedrooms=3&displayPropertyType=houses&oldDisplayPropertyType=houses#_includeLetAgreed%3Don%26displayPropertyType%3Dhouses%26houseFlatShare%3Dfalse%26lastPersistLocId%3DREGION%255E782%26locationIdentifier%3DUSERDEFINEDAREA%255E%257B%2522polylines%2522%253A%2522yj%257D%257DH~%257D~GjbCfzG%257C%255BfxHso%2540~sHkxBlpG%257BzH%257BhAkf%2540kcKkyFkyN%2560%257DDiqEfhL%253F%2522%257D%26minBedrooms%3D3%26minPrice%3D1300%26oldDisplayPropertyType%3Dhouses%26previousSearchLocation%3DUntitled%2520(Drawn%2520Area)%26radius%3D0.0%26searchLocation%3DUntitled%2520(Drawn%2520Area)%26searchType%3DRENT%26sortByNewestListing%3Dfalse%26sortType%3D6%26useLocationIdentifier%3Dfalse%26box%3D-1.66303%2C-1.47440%2C52.23096%2C52.35506

They'll call it a shower room to indicate that it doesn't have a bathtub, just a shower. Many older British homes will originally have had just a bathtub with a shower that got added later (either on mains pressure with hot water tank or combi boiler, or electric), so if it says bathroom, you can assume there is a tub (but not necessarily a shower unless it says shower over bath). If it says shower room, it probably has a shower cubicle (no bathtub), toilet and sink, but sometimes people will stick an en-suite shower without the toilet or sink for some odd reason. It's always essential to see a place before renting so you know exactly what they mean by their descriptions.

This discussion reminds me of a bed and breakfast my ex and I stayed in, back in 1998 in Glasgow.  It was a beautiful large home and the room we had was comfortable and quite spacious as I recall.  What will forever stick in my mind is the clear glass shower stall they'd had put right in the bedroom.  It was over by one of the walls, but other than that you were taking a shower in the bedroom!  I'd never seen anything like that before!   

There was a little flight of steps (4 or so) down the hall to the bathroom where the toilet, sink, and tub were.  LOL - I'm a shower person normally, but I remember taking a bath that day, the shower just felt too weird! 

In retrospect there were several rather creative ways people had altered their B&B rooms to "en suite"....

That did work @OAP.  We've been watching a few of those north of the river... except for the Clarendon Sq. one which looks amazing but unfortunately out of our budget!

It's so hard to really tell what a place is like from just the description and a few pics.  We are in the process of getting our house here ready to rent out and I told my husband that we are going to take tons of pictures!!

There is a cool house in Warwick right near the castle and on the river... a "period cottage".  My husband actually walked down and peeked in the windows and talked to the neighbors when he was there.  The council tax is high, but a chance to live in something like that doesn't happen here in Seattle!  If we can't find something over in Leam we may just try to get that one.

Renting information:

https://www.gov.uk/private-renting/your-rights-and-responsibilities

https://www.gov.uk/private-renting-tenancy-agreements