How to pay household bills

As a student household there are different ways in which you can sort out paying your utility bills.  

It could be useful to have a house meeting to analyse the different methods and make a joint decision. 

Joint bank account

One way to pay the bills is through a joint 'house' bank account. Joint accounts are offered by all major banks and are quite easy to set up. Each member of the household agrees to pay a fixed amount into the account either termly, when they receive their student finance, or monthly.

All the household utility bills will then be paid from this account using a variety of methods. The most common way to pay is by monthly direct debit. You can often get the best deals if you pay this way. Alternatively you can pay the bills when they arrive by online direct payment.

Points to consider:

• You are financially linked to the other members of your house, so it is important that you trust them.
• If a member fails to pay into the joint account this could potentially lead to a direct debit not being paid by the bank. This can affect your credit score which could impact on your future ability to gain loans or credit cards.

 

Individual responsibility

An alternative way to organise paying household bills is by appointing each household member respnsibility for a specific bill. The assigned student has to collect money from each of their housemates and then pay the bill. 

You should bear in mind:

• You must trust your housemates - it is easy for you to pay the bill and for your housemates to 'forget' to reimburse you.
• If the bill you are responsible for is unpaid it is your credit rating that will be affected.
• Responsibilty for the whole bill lies with one person - this can cause problems for everybody if a household member is unreliable and fails to pay the bill they are responsible for.

 

Moving out

When making arrangements to leave the house inform all utility suppliers of your leaving date and make sure you advise them a forwarding address for any final bill. 

If you have a joint bank account you will need to close this once all payments have been made. Any surplus balance can be distributed to the house members.

Keep a copy of the final bills, showing payment in full. Your landlord may want to see evidence that all outstanding bills have been paid before your deposit is returned to you.