While going to university and sharing a house for the first time is an exciting time for most students, the prospect of sharing household expenses may not be quite so enjoyable.
That’s because the prospect of organising and then paying for their household costs will come as a surprise.
Indeed, most students will probably have never paid for things like electricity and gas before.
However, it’s fairly straightforward to keep track of bills in a shared student property though it’s even easier to use a bill splitting service.
Excellent student broadband deals
Some landlords will offer an all-inclusive rent that will cover the cost of utilities such as gas, electricity and water but they will probably not be offering excellent student broadband deals and the students will have to source this separately or use a bill splitting provider.
On top of this, students will need to pay for a TV licence if they are watching live TV or accessing the online platform BBC iPlayer.
The licence will cover the entire property rather than each student having to get their own licence.
While many students will opt to organise their own utility providers and then split the bills accordingly, they will need to create a system that will effectively track bills and who has paid what.
Students share of the utility bills UK
There are also bill splitting apps available to help calculate the students share of the utility bills UK and track any shared expenses but these systems only work if the fellow student housemates pay their share.
One way of avoiding any potential falling out is to opt for the system offered by Glide which is to calculate the cost of utilities and then bill the student directly.
This means they are not responsible for the non-payment of the bills by their fellow housemates and they will know how much they should be budgeting for every month to ensure the bill is paid.
Indeed, knowing that their share of the utility bill has been paid will be of huge relief for many students, particularly those from overseas who are studying in the UK.
Late payment and non-payment
Budgeting effectively is an important part of going to university today and for those who opt to source their own utility providers and pay the bills need to be aware that late payment and non-payment may cause issues.
That’s because these non-and late payments will be recorded against their name and may affect any future credit applications, for instance for a credit card.
There’s a lot to recommend a bill splitting service for sharing household expenses for students and one of the best is offered by Glide and there’s a helpful team of advisers available who can explain more.