New - The things that really annoy you

[Lupo]

Our bill was a bit over half what we were paying on RV after we changed to a meter.
Tbf we are probably classed as a low useage household as there's only 2 of us.

Same, not a big house and just the 2 of us

 

[Tredman]

It’s madness that there is even an option to not be on a meter. Massively favours the well off who have huge gardens etc.

5 of us in our house, we are still comfortably below the RV price.

 

[lemonjelly]

We had a water meter fitted when we bought our home 12 years ago. As there's only 2 of us here, it made a significant difference to our bill compared to RV!

 

[Derby Wolf]

So on top of the council tax increasing by £16 per month we today receive the bill from Severn Trent. Up to £105 per month from 1st April. We requested a metre last year when the bill went up to £94 per month, we're in the system apparently but there are delays due to demand (or so we were told last time we chased)

On the contrary for us, we've had a one off vet bill this month so requested a refund from Severn Trent as we had hundreds of pounds in credit, we were told initially withdrawing the credit might increase our bill but once we went through everything actually got a bill reduction that will cover the 4.99% Council Tax increase.

We are waiting to come off pre-payment electric meter though, there's asbestos present so requires a specialist team but we aren't a priority as the meter is safe. I'm convinced we're paying more though whilst we wait.

 

[Alan]

I'm convinced we're paying more though whilst we wait.

Of course; how else would they pay for the specialists??

 

[Alan]

Related: I don't think I could ever be a homeowner. The shit y'all deal with. Crazy.

 

[b3h]

Related: I don't think I could ever be a homeowner. The shit y'all deal with. Crazy.

If you get a wanker of a landlord it probably evens out!

 

[sycophantia]

Related: I don't think I could ever be a homeowner. The shit y'all deal with. Crazy.

Being a homeowner is seen as really important over here. When I was a child, hardly anyone I knew owned their own home but for various reasons from the late 70s, through the 80s and 90s it became important and relatively affordable. The problem is, that drove the prices up a lot, partly helped by extremely low interest rates from the early 2000s.
Currently its very difficult for younger people to get on the houseing ownership ladder.
The driver to own is rented accomodation will always increase in line with inflation, while a mortgage, although a bit more expensive initially, will reduce in real terms over the length of that mortgage, so by the time you retire, you have 'free' accomodation. Also you then have a big wedge of property cash to hand over to your children when you croak.

 

[Alan]

Oh, I'm the black sheep over here, too. We're effectively the same, culturally, and ditto on the Youths not being able to afford getting in. That's not an insignificant part of my feelings, in truth. Just not responsible financially at the moment (maybe ever, who knows).

The other bit is that the responsibility of upkeep for a house being all on me would be like feeding my OCD the meth from Breaking Bad.