Renting a room in a shared house is the most cost effective form of living you can find in the rental market. It may not be for everyone but if you look at it purely on cost then nothing even compares to it. In a previous post we looked at the costs and benefits or renting a room in a shared house versus renting a one bed flat. If you missed the article please click here

Once you start looking into the many different rooms that are available to rent in Chelmsford we feel it is important to compare like for like, not only in terms of the quality of the accommodation but also in terms of actually what is included in the rent that is being quoted.

Some landlords advertise their rooms to rent at a certain price and your automatic thought is that everything is included. Please make sure you ask what that rental figure actually covers. If there are any costs expenses that are not included you need to know what those are, how much they cost (on average) and how you pay for those items.

In some shared houses the tenants collectively have to pay Council Tax or their electric bill. This is fine as long as you know up front what the cost is and how you pay. You should also ask how the responsibility for those costs is shared and if someone doesn’t pay their share what the outcome is. If you do have to pay any bills seperately then also factor in the time to do so and potential hassle that may come with it. Do you want to be the one “on hold” at the call centre whilst you are trying to sort out a problem with a direct debit payment that has gone wrong or chasing up other tenants to pay their money??!! I doubt it.

In our properties we offer an all inclusive rent. This makes the property attractive  to tenants as they know exactly how much they need to pay each month and also allows them to not have to worry about paying bills each month, contacting suppliers and also signing up to long contracts which some companies require. There is actually a lot of value to tenants in having all this covered for them during their tenancy at the property.

By ‘all inclusive’ we mean – Council Tax, Water, Sewerage, Electric, Gas, TV License (in the communal areas), Wireless Broadband, Weekly Cleaning and in the vast majority of cases off road parking. In a small number of properties in the portfolio there are meters on the washing machines and tumble dryers. These are there to make sure that they are used effectively and economically and to cover the running costs (particularly the tumble dryers). The charges however are about 2/3rd’s of the cost of using a local launderette so still offer good value for money.

If you would like to see our current availability please click here or please do get in contact if you have any questions, would like to arrange some viewings or reserve a room.