Housing affordability study: Findings report

2. Definitions of housing costs

This chapter describes participants' views on which expenses they consider to fall under the term ‘housing costs’. This includes core housing costs like direct rent and other housing-related expenses, such as service charges and deposits.

Core housing costs

There was broad agreement among participants that core housing costs should be defined as three main components:

• Rent: All participants described rent as a core housing cost, whether this was paid: weekly or monthly; to a private or social landlord; or directly by the tenant or through pension credit/housing benefit.
• Utilities: Comments on utilities mainly focussed on energy bills; gas, electricity and central heating. However, some also viewed broadband as a utility and counted it as a housing cost.
• Council tax: Council tax was described as part of housing costs by most participants; two tenants who lived alone mentioned benefitting from the 25% single-person discount.

“So rent, obviously. And then council tax and electricity. Those are the big three things that you have to pay on a monthly basis to live in your flat. I’ve crunched the numbers before, and everything else is a luxury on top of that in my opinion.” (Private tenant)

“Council tax, heating and light… you pay that on a monthly basis as well as your rent.” (Social tenant)

Other housing-related expenses

Some participants considered other expenses to form part of housing costs. Service charges (which cover, for example, building maintenance and laundry facilities) were mentioned by a few social tenants. Others considered 'start up' costs like furniture and appliances to be housing costs; some had experience of moving into an unfurnished home and highlighted the significant costs attached to this.

“If you're moving into a new place as I did, it's new, it's empty. There's nothing on the floor, there's nothing on the walls, there's not a bulb in the light, there's nothing. So the cost of moving into a brand new place or moving into a home is pretty expensive.” (Social tenant)

One tenant living in an island community considered travel an essential cost attached to housing. The participant elaborated that, in an island context, the social housing you are allocated can be “30 miles away” from work, family or even the nearest shops, meaning that transport costs are intrinsically linked to housing.

Deposits were also highlighted as an important financial consideration for renters. A few discussed challenges in securing new accommodation due to uncertainty over when - or if - their deposit would be returned. One said it was necessary to have two deposits saved when looking at short or medium-term options.

“As well as rent, there's the deposit which can be really prohibitive if you're trying to move but you haven't had your deposit back from the old place. You have to have so much saved.” (Private tenant)

One participant living in a privately rented property raised the issue of factor fees, discussing some confusion among renters about who is responsible for paying these. This highlights an important point underpinning discussions of affordability; the importance of tenants being aware of and able to advocate for their rights regarding their financial obligations when renting.

“When I moved into this place, my landlord tried to get me to pay the factor fee and I refused because I've been advised by others that that's not my duty to pay, which created a whole issue… The previous tenants paid the factor fees so it was just expected of me.” (Private tenant)

General household upkeep costs like light bulbs and smoke alarm batteries were mentioned by a few participants. There was some discussion of other essential ‘living’ costs like food, childcare and clothing, but it was generally agreed that such expenses would fall outwith the definition of housing costs.