BEVS

No. Not for us. At least not yet. Trying to get to grips with how it is at the moment. We have friends about to re settle.

Anyone care to share what they feel is a monthly cost of living around the SW SE of England please? A ball park really. Not including rent or mortgage.
Electric
Gas
Internet phone
Oil
Insurances
Vehicles
Groceries
Rates
Anything else?

Message is fine if not a forum post.

cheers
M

robin1234

Water. Mine is about £200 per annum, small flat, one person, only here half time! So not huge, but still significant.

I think Council Tax is in the £1000 to £3000 range. Google “[name of council] council tax” for examples of tax bands.

durham_lad

2019 figures for me in N Yorkshire. 4 bed 2 bath Detached house, band D council tax

Electric + Gas £1,088/year
Phone £14/mo unlimited voice and text, 4GB data
Internet & Basic cable (no movies or sports packages) £60/mo
car insurance £190/year
house insurance £93/year
council tax £2,444/year
water £338/year (metered)
Car tax £137/year
Car fuel (5,000 miles) £545
TV licence £150/year

I don’t track groceries etc

robin1234

(Off Topic, sorry.)
Wow, I never realized how cheap insurance was in England. We pay about $1,000 each, car and house in rural New York. (In England I don’t have a car, and I don’t bother with home contents, as it’s a leasehold flat so building insurance is included in service charge.)

Moses2013

One has to note that there are huge differences what people pay though and there is no set price. Although in Ireland myself, I would assume that regardless of driving experience, anyone can get a better deal (car model, multi discounts, negotiation etc.).

robin1234

I fully agree, but for a a four bed, two bath detached house, $1,000 (rural NY) vs. £93 (Yorkshire) is a big difference!

Especially as our house in NY cost us $50,000 to buy!!

Moses2013

I totally agree but I suppose there are so many factors to consider. Not only the risk factors but this is interesting Those who live in a flat or apartment pay the highest premiums on average* for combined buildings and contents insurance, at £150.57

• London saw the most expensive combined home insurance premiums in Q1 2020 (£204.78)
• Those in the North East pay the least on average, with combined premiums of £121.77
• Burglary is more of a problem in urban areas, which is one reason why London has higher premiums than other parts of the UK. Parts of south-east England, including London, are also particularly prone to subsidence thanks to their clay-based soils, which shrink in times of drought

https://www.moneysupermarket.com/hom...parison-index/.

durham_lad

Each year I have to go check the coverage amounts etc as it also seems unbelievably cheap to me. It is with Axa insurance and is for building and contents.

robin1234

Main thing about ours is replacement cost for the house, and it’s currently set at about $300,000, (from memory.) This on a house that cost us $50,000 to buy, and we’d probably get, at most, $80,000 for if we sold it now. OK, we live in a very poor rural county with low property values, but I can understand that to rebuild a four bed, two bathroom house on the site would cost nearly as much as in a suburban location. Even the Amish charge a realistic amount for their labor!

SanDiegogirl

I think this general question is almost impossible to answer.

SW to SE England could go from Kent to Cornwall - huge differences in costs of living. The question does not include rent or mortgage which could vary hugely based on where the posters settled. Rent/mortgage alone could determine where you could afford to buy. A home in Guildford, Surrey would be much more expensive to buy or rent than say one in, Exeter.
It might be helpful if we knew under what circumstances the poster was returning, got a job? salary range? what size family?

BEVS

Retired for the most part.
Two adults age 60 and 64. No children.
Let's place it in Dorset then.
No rent and no mortgage.

No - Not us - At least not yet. In any case I'm not 64.


edit...

and thanks everyone. Very helpful.

Pistolpete2

There are things that will have a bearing on the overall weekly cost of living that need to be considered. Of course the big one is whether or not one has a car and one could reasonably safely say the opportunity cost of owning a reasonable car is around 70-80 pounds a week. On top of this, we found that having a decent clothes dryer (or a Lakeland dryer stand) is important when you need to get a large load including bed linen and towels dried on a year-round basis. If you don't have one, you might need to locate a laundry that does drying for say 5-10 pounds a pop.

IF one has access to a good range of supermarkets (as we did in Weymouth where the range was pretty ideal) plus a decent fishmonger, not only does it cut down on the temptation to eat out (who knows what that will be like now?) but it keeps the weekly cost down to shall we say an overall budget of 160 - 175 (incl the odd afternoon tea or coffee out and a meal out a week, plus fish & chips in). It also includes wine and beer - not Pouilly-Fuisse 2017 but a decent generic Malbec or Sauvignon Blanc or two (bottles). Fish can be expensive, even on the coast, so picking out quality sustainable Plaice, Skate, Mackerel, Grey Mullet and Pollack works a treat and Crab (brown and spider) is very good value in Weymouth. For us, to keep to the budget, we at least looked at the specials in all the majors (including ASDA, M&S (good for fruit specials), ICELAND and Tesco.

We managed perfectly well without a car over four years in Weymouth and I used a bus pass as and when (to get to Sainsburys) along with railcards if needed. Bought the railcards with points from Tesco Clubcard - total annual rail cost was less than 400 incl trips to Poole, Bristol, Plymouth and London a couple of times for each.The two of us traveled to Gatwick first class return for 60 pounds using the southerly route via Barnham and the railcard.

This sort of overall arrangement would work well in the Dorchester/Poundbury area as well as Poole/Bournemouth and Christchurch. Living in the Wareham area there is Sainsburys and good (very good) butchers in town and decent general shops, which can be rare these days. Buses run to Weymouth and to Poole and Swanage on the coast. They also run to the local beauty spots in season, such a Lulworth Cove and Durdle Door. Again no real need for a car. Wareham also has (access to a) good NHS dentist, as does Dorchester. Weymouth does not as it is oversubscribed.

Overall ACCESS issues - to shops, medical, dental and to good reliable public transport - can have a large bearing on where one picks for a decent life on a fair budget.

Then the property search starts.

In Dorset, one has an ideal start-up arrangement coming in from overseas whereby 'going in' in say October or November, there is good range of RENTAL properties on Winter let over a period from 20 weeks to six months to test areas for a longer term commitment. Because these properties are holiday lets in season, they come full-loaded apart from bed linen and towels, so include cutlery and crockery, pots and pans, and tv.

The rents are low off-season but they are proper leases so provide a start to gaining credit for council tax, letting, and utilities. The winter let lease is likely to be cash upfront until credit is established with the aqent. BTW, in passing, Wessex Water is expensive at approx 400 per annum metered for a couple. Our council tax for a three bed property in Weymouth & Portland (valued at approx 275,000) is now around 1,900 pounds.

christmasoompa

For 2 people?!? I don't spend anywhere near that amount and I'm shopping for 4 people (including 2 teens that eat more than I do these days) with dogs and cats as well. Blooming 'eck!

BEVS, our figures are below, not sure it's of much use as there are 4 of us in a fairly large house so probably not terribly comparable to your friends, but gives some idea at least.

Electricity - £350 pcm (but that runs everything including heating in a 4500sq ft house, we're not on mains gas)
Council tax - £300pcm
Food/groceries - approx £100-120 a week
Water - approx £120 a year
Car insurance - approx £200 a year (1 car only, the other is a company car)
Car tax - none now as we have electric cars, ditto no petrol costs
Broadband and phone - £20pcm
Clothes - approx £2000 per year for everything including school shoes, winter coats etc
TV Licence - £13 a month

We don't spend a lot on other things, don't do days out unless they're free or cheap usually, and don't eat out much either, maybe once a month, so I haven't included those. We also don't have paid tv or anything like that, so again minimal costs there compared to some.

Rosecampion

Am toying with the idea of the south west myself so this is great. Very comprehensive. Thanks!

Pistolpete2

Obviously, we are now away from the UK having left in early October and spent time in Portugal and Morocco before settling (for a while) in Grenada to now ride out 'the storm'. However, we are always toying with the idea of returning to the UK in some fashion when it (in our opinion) "gets its act straight" which seems a while off yet.

We would likely look to settle in the SW yet again and have a list of places that offer similar to what was fairly ideal for us in terms of the Weymouth set-up (if not socially as the OP will know).

An additional item, is that the Channel climate in Weymouth is very similar to that in the Isle of Wight and remarkably mild in Winter. Having witnessed this and seen snow on the uplands towards Dorchester while Weymouth was clear and seen the temperature difference between Weymouth and inland spots such as Castle Cary which is NICE but much colder in Winter and hotter in the Summer, we tend to look to places that are more coastal.

SO, places with a similar outlook (no need for a car, seaside location, decent access to shops, holiday-type vibe, access to public transport, lovely country around for walks) we would also look at the area south of Exeter on the River Exe estuary, Falmouth/Penryn and Wadebridge* in Cornwall. Shopping in Wadebridge is at independent shops and bakeries and a Tesco superstore. In Falmouth, head for Truro (train connection). River Exe area - train and bus connection to Exeter and bus to excellent and huge farmshop at Darts Farm.

Cost-wise, the Topsham/Lympstone area south of Exeter might be a tad more expensive as Exeter is a Uni City and professionals like the area if only because there is a two-hour train service to Paddington from Exeter. The other choices are cost similar. Exeter has an airport but it is not clear to what extent it now has a future.

*In Wadebridge, public transport is bus only as far as Bodmin then train east and west and to London from Bodmin Parkway. There is also decent access to Newquay for flights incl Ryanair to Europe. The Camel Trail is at hand for walks and cycling.