spartacus

Morning Ozzy

For example:

Council Tax: 138 pounds a month / Council rates (includes water rates): $120 a month (for me)

In my experience, many bills here are the same number in dollars as I used to pay in pounds i.e. 1 pound = $1.

Car insurance for example, pay $440 a year, paid 480 pounds in the uk (similar size car).

ozzydreamer

Thats interesting, looks like Ill be saving a bit of money then!

Interesting also that you are from Brisbane - where I thought it would be more expensive!

spartacus

It depends where you are. City centre living (rental / buying) is expensive in any of the state capitals, live a little way out its generally much cheaper.

Wendy

Yep, I find that too. Except for shopping, which is about 2x the UK price (so if it's £100 in the UK, it's about £200 here - for us anyway but then I'm a notourious bargain hunter and won't pay too much for anything )

hantsfamily1

Rent $550.00 per week.
No council tax as owner pays.
No water bill as owner pays.
Food $250-300.00 per week.
Car Insurance $500.00 per year.
Phone per month including International value pack which brings UK calls down to 2 cents per minute $26.95 per month.
Mobile phone $49.00 per month each which gives you $310 calling credit.
House contents insurance $52.00 per month.
Buildings insurance owner pays.
Fuel approx $40 per week.
No gas bills.
No tv license.
No boiler insurance.
Foxtel $115 per month for the full package. Got to be able to watch The Hammers.
Broadband $35.00 per month with Bigpond.

Dont know what the total is but it works for us.

Katherined0

We had to pay 1/2 months rent as a finder's fee for agents to advertise our house, draw up lease, provide inventory etc.
The 10% figure is a monthly cost based on income -- so if the house is empty there is no fee.
What surprised us is that all these fees are then subject to 17.5% VAT -- so the 10% is more like just under 12% and the 1/2 months finders fee was nearer to 60%....
It's all in the small print!!!! (Apparantly)
Also in the first instance you may have to pay tax on the INCOME on your house (not the profit in the first instance) until you get approval from HM Revenue and Customs to "receive rental income with no tax deducted" so although you will be able to claim this back through your tax return, in the first instance you need to be aware of this addtional expense.
Hope this makes sense. I have found the whole tax/financial aspects of the house rental really difficult to manage and very confusing -- but then I'm not really a financial person so perhaps it's just me!!!