Cost of utilities

We are just hoping to get a little general information on cost of utilities and taxes. We will be moving into Chester area in a two bedroom flat. Do you have to pay seperate utilites or is that included in the monthly rent. If yes  is it seperate electric, gas bill and what roughly would cost per month be . I am trying to get an understanding on the council tax, if we rented a band d property we would pay about 1000 pounds per year. Is that right?

Hey, Cad,
My husband and I are moving to the Chester area too! He's from there, so let me see how I might help.
The landlord may or may not have separate utilities set up. Just ask. Gareth says it may have changed but gas and electric would be separate. Council tax...he says, "who knows?" Contact the council authority directly. I'd love to hear some other answers, since I doubt I've actually been of any assistance!

Glad to finally see someone going to our neck of the woods!

Beth

you might also want to watch out for water and sewerage.  It was included in our council tax in Glasgow, but had to be paid seperatly when we moved down south.

We are just hoping to get a little general information on cost of utilities and taxes. We will be moving into Chester area in a two bedroom flat. Do you have to pay seperate utilites or is that included in the monthly rent. If yes  is it seperate electric, gas bill and what roughly would cost per month be . I am trying to get an understanding on the council tax, if we rented a band d property we would pay about 1000 pounds per year. Is that right?

Whether or not utilities are included in your rent will be up to your landlord.  I don't know if that's a common practice in the UK as I've never seen that type of situation as of yet.  I also cannot comment on council tax as that varies area to area and we do not live in Chester.

However, will say that as for utilities we set up a payment plan where we pay a certain amount every month towards gas and electric charges.  The amount you pay, I believe, comes from an average cost of past usage.  British Gas (our provider) bill every 3 months.  We generally find we are in credit with them when they do.  We're paying something like £15 per month for gas and £20 for electric or thereabout (egads I actually can't remember how much we pay!).  It's not an awful amount though and since it's the same every month it's way easy to budget for.  We also have our telephone set up this way as well.  

Water and sewerage I think comes to about £12 a month for us although you can either pay a lump sum every 6 months or pay it annually.  

One thing about council tax - in my experience anyway - it's always more than you think it's going to be!   And it can vary greatly from street to street as well, not just town to town.

One thing about council tax - in my experience anyway - it's always more than you think it's going to be!   And it can vary greatly from street to street as well, not just town to town.

That's so true - we simply moved from one block to the next and our council tax amount changed!  It increased, unfortunately.    But then, so did the quality of the property we're renting!