When you go to university, you will be expected to pay bills. If you’re in halls or in university accomodation, this is usually a fixed fee which you pay. However, for those renting their own accomodation privately (something which you’ll do in year 2 and beyond) you will be responsible for paying the bills.

How do I sort out the payment of utility bills (gas, electricity, water etc).

When you move into your new accomodation, you will be met with a few letters from your utility companies. This is of course providing that the previous occupiers have paid their final bills and have informed the utility companies that new tenants are moving in (this will be the case 99% of the time). If not, you may have to chase them up.

As mentioned, the bills will need to be paid - but what’s the best way to do this? Well, you could get a joint account between all of you living there. I haven’t done this myself as we never used this method, but I can imagine that it takes a bit of effort to set up - maybe someone can comment on this below. If you are using a joint bank account for paying your rent, then this would be an easy method for paying bills too.

What I found was that, as mentioned, we had a couple of letters waiting for us when we arrived. The first was from British Gas who supplied our electricity and gas. This was simple, all I had to do was let them know that I was now responsible for the bills and to address them in my name. With regards to water bills, they were already put in our name (all 4 of us). I presume these were submitted by our landlords, or from the council as we never sorted this ourselves. Either way, it isn’t a hard process letting the companies know you are now in charge.

I took responsibility for the bills, so I could have control over them and to make sure that they were being paid. It’s probably good for the most responsible person/the person with the best finances to take control of paying the bills. This saves a lot of headaches - if you don’t pay on time, you will be chased up. So…leaving it to someone who isn’t fussed and isn’t responsible isn’t a good idea when you find out a bill is a month late. Also think about using someone with relatively good funds in their bank account - if someone is constantly on the edge of their overdraft, then it probably isn’t a good idea relying on them to pay bills as the chances are that a lot of payments will bounce because of their poor finances. However, if the person paying the bills collects the money from the others prior to paying the bill - this would work out fine. That is the method I would suggest as the person paying the bills should not be out of pocket at any point in time, it just isn’t fair. So if you’re not the one paying bills, be nice and don’t take advantage.

One thing to remember is that usually during Christmas and other holidays everyone in the house moves back home with their parents. Remember that even though no one is living there, you will still have to pay bills. This isn’t such a problem if your bills are set to come out by direct debit, but if you recieve bills through the post then keep in mind that if you’re back home for a month over christmas, you may have some overdue bills to greet you back.

What to do when leaving your accomodation

When you leave your accomodation you’ll want to remove yourself from being responsible for paying the bills. Ie, let the companies know you are moving out and that new tenants will soon be moving in. Usually in a student house, your contracts will be for 11 months. This allows 1 month over the summer before new tenants move in where the landlord can tidy up and fix anything which has happened over the year. Because of this, landlords usually request that when you leave - you transfer all the bills into their name as they will be responsible for charges occured during this 1 month period.

How easy is it to transfer bills away from your name?

Well in my experience it’s really easy. For electricity and gas, contact your supplier a few days before you move out and let them know you are moving and wish to transfer the supply to somebody else. They will then take details of this person, and take details of when you are moving out. On your last day in the accomodation (not the day you move out, the day your contract ends), speak with your supplier of electricity and gas again (British gas gave me a ring back, they’re really good with things like that) and give them your final readings from your gas and electricity meter. They will then be able to calculate a final bill for you.

One thing to remember is that you will not have access to your student house after you move out - so make sure to let them know that you require them to forward your final bills to the property you will be staying at (usually parents house). This was you can still pay.

This is the same process for your water bills - just let the water company know about a week in advance that you are moving out, they will then calculate your final bills and again - request for them to be sent to your parents adress. Once these have been paid - you’re free from the house for good.

If you have had NTL, or broadband or sky installed at your house remember that they’re usually subject to a 12 month contract - so if you are on an 11 month lease, you will have to pay the extra month as stated in the contract. This isn’t a problem - but make sure you ring up and cancel it at the end of your 11th month, as they often require 1 months notice to cancel your account - and you don’t want to be billed any more than you have to.

Anyway, that’s about it..it’s a pretty easy process - any questions leave them below.

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