Roughly one fifth of British people currently rent a private residence – many of whom are aiming to keep expenses manageable in order to save up a deposit for their starter home.
To help things along, here are some pointers on how to save money when renting your first place.
Avoid Paying Letting & Other Fees Unnecessarily
When using an estate agent to find a property rental, they sometimes try to add extra costs onto your rental agreement. That could be cleaning fees, credit check expenses, and other costs that should either be borne by the agent or the landlord themselves.
The UK government has now banned agency fees which were rampant in the UK letting market. While some agents complain that rentals are unprofitable without them, the reality is that these fees really add up for renters. Therefore, look for any extra costs added to a rental agreement because these are now illegal. Consider estate agents that still add them to be a bit suspect, because they’ll be well aware of the change in the law. For more information, check out this blog from BingoLoans.
Consider Taking on a Lodger
Depending on the rental agreement, you may or may not be allowed to take on a lodger. If you can, then a spare bedroom could be turned into an income stream that reduces the cost of renting the whole house.
Some tenancy agreements specifically disallow this due to the growth in spare room rentals and Airbnbs in the UK. Be thorough about verifying if this is possible to avoid disagreements. This way, you won’t breach the tenancy agreement.
Protect Your Deposit
Not every landlord is scrupulous about holding the deposit in a secure account under the tenancy Deposit Protection Scheme and releasing it back to you when you leave. Renters frequently end up having to save up more money to add to the returned deposit when they get short-changed.
Avoid this by taking photos of the property inside and out to demonstrate its condition when you moved in. If the washing machine is malfunctioning, or there are some plumbing issues, put this in writing to the letting agent or landlord. This way, if they try to claim this as new damage, caused by you, it’s possible to refer them to your notification shortly after moving into the rental.
Verify If You Need to Get a TV Licence
TV licences are required in the UK when you rent under a tenancy agreement. In fact, if a property is split into several flats or rooms that are rented out individually with separate tenancy agreements, then a TV licence is usually required for each tenancy agreement when there’s a TV in that part of the property. Avoid getting caught out and facing large fines by not holding your own TV licence. Verify that the landlord or letting agencies have taken care of it for you.
Don’t assume that just because you’re renting, there aren’t way to reduce your expenses. Usually, there are always steps you can take to save money despite not being the homeowner.
