in every student’s University experience but sharing a house with fellow students can open a whole world of problems.
In many cases, the students sharing a property may not know each other particularly well and may simply have responded to an ad on their Student Union’s wall and once they found a home to share, how do they split the bills effectively?
While some may opt to share bank accounts, others will decide that they should allocate a utility bill to one of the occupants and make them responsible for paying it.
But what are utility bills?
In answer to the question, ‘what are utility bills’, these are things like the electricity, gas and water and must be paid in addition to the rent.
For many young people, the prospect of paying these extra bills will come as something of a surprise since their parents will have taken care of these previously.
However, it is a straightforward process in arranging for electricity and gas provision for the property and someone will need to be responsible and have their name placed on the bill.
This means the bill will arrive in that particular student’s name and they must pay it and then ask their fellow housemates for their share of the bill.
But what do the students do when one of them decides they cannot pay?
Having to budget effectively
There’s no doubt that having to budget effectively is a big part of student life today, what with rent, student loans, books and going out, the cost of utilities may be a burden for some.
Having said that, unless the students want to live in a cold home and not use the Internet then they will have to pay their utilities.
And should one of the housemates be unable to pay their share of the bills, then the others will need to decide how the bills will be met. This may be a cause for arguments and falling out which is a big risk of students sharing a home together.
Alternatively, some student homes will see all of the housemates’ names being placed on the utility bills so they are all equally responsible for paying them.
This is a common-sense approach since those who do not pay will still be held legally liable for non-payment. However, those who are named on the bill may be chased by the utility provider to pay the outstanding amount.
While non-payment may not appear to be a serious issue while at university, it will become an issue after leaving and the non-paying student needs to apply for a car loan, for instance, but has a bad credit rating which may scupper a credit application.
Source utility providers
So, once the students have decided how the bills will be paid, they need to source utility providers and while there are lots of special student deals available, it always pays to shop around.
For one thing, students need to be wary of a great student deal that runs for 12 months when they will not be spending a full year in their new shared student house. There’s no point paying for utilities when they will not be in the property to enjoy them.
Also, growing numbers of landlords are responding to the increasing need from students to offer an all-inclusive rent; this means that the utility bills have been calculated and added to the rent itself.
This prospect of having just be one monthly bill is hugely attractive to many students but there is another way of enjoying this facility.
That is to speak with the experts at Glide who have the expertise to not only source excellent student utility deals but can also offer a way to split the bills so each student pays their share every month and are not held responsible for the non-payment of a bill by a fellow housemate.
This will bring peace of mind for many students worried about having to pay for others and not just themselves.
It also means the daunting prospect of chasing their fellow housemates for their share of the bills cash will be handed over. Also, the prospect of taking legal action to recover money paid to recover another housemate’s unpaid bills will be averted.
Impressive and cheap student broadband deals
In addition to sourcing great value utility deals, the experts at Glide can also provide impressive and cheap student broadband deals that will meet the needs of the students living their shared house effectively.
Again, the Internet will be provided cheaply and it’s possible to have the deals run for six months and the cost of the Internet can be rolled up into the monthly utility bill so that students can live worry-free in their shared student house.
For more information and details about students sharing a house and paying the utility bills every month then speak with the friendly team at Glide.
If you’ve had any problems in your student house, we’d love to hear how you overcome this on Twitter or Facebook.