Opening a new bank account for house bills?

I have 3 flatmates next year and in the contract as I am the lead tenant I'm the one that has to pay the bills. So everyone pays me their rent and then I pay the estate agent. I was wondering if I should open a new bank account for the flat or just use one of my personal ones I'm not using?

Reply 1

GIIOE

4

id reccomend using chase honestly. u can create 7 saving accounts on chase and specifically choose where bills come out from. couple that with 4.1% interest and you should be good.

Reply 2

cheadle

17

I would have a separate account. Can you arrange it so that each tenant has a monthly direct debit to that account? Otherwise you may end up chasing people every month. Also, how will utilities (i.e. lecky, gas) be paid for?

Reply 3

Cyion

OP

10

Original post by cheadle

I would have a separate account. Can you arrange it so that each tenant has a monthly direct debit to that account? Otherwise you may end up chasing people every month. Also, how will utilities (i.e. lecky, gas) be paid for?

utilities are paid for separately so we can each pay the provider a set amount each month. It's just the rent that's a little awkward. Do you think I should open a specific account or just open a general one?

Original post by Cyion

I have 3 flatmates next year and in the contract as I am the lead tenant I'm the one that has to pay the bills. So everyone pays me their rent and then I pay the estate agent. I was wondering if I should open a new bank account for the flat or just use one of my personal ones I'm not using?

Hi there,

In my 3 bed flat, my housemates and I have a vault on revolut that we all pay £50 a month into (excluding rent). Then when we buy house things/ pay bills we just take the money from there. If we have money left at the end, we use it to go out for dinner or go on a day trip.

I hope that helps!

All the best,
Jaz - Cardiff student rep

Reply 5

cheadle

17

I would see what suggestions you get in here. Thinking about it more, my concerns, if I was doing it, would be (a) having the responsibility for making sure everyone coughs up each month could become a pain (b) can you avoid the situation where you have financial liability as the account is in your name? ie would you end up paying then chasing people for the money. What happens if someone moves out? I think you should dig deep on this one and do the research in order to make the right decision.

Reply 6

Cyion

OP

10

Original post by cheadle

I would see what suggestions you get in here. Thinking about it more, my concerns, if I was doing it, would be (a) having the responsibility for making sure everyone coughs up each month could become a pain (b) can you avoid the situation where you have financial liability as the account is in your name? ie would you end up paying then chasing people for the money. What happens if someone moves out? I think you should dig deep on this one and do the research in order to make the right decision.

It's been set up so I'm essentially just the person that transfers the money, I'm not the person that is responsible for paying as we all have our own guarantors which is essentially someone that has agreed to pay said persons bills if they don't. This sort of voids my responsibility to actually make sure people pay. I'm just not sure what sort of account to open as I'd like to make it so that we can all view the account on our devices for transparency but I'm also looking at reward accounts. As there will be roughly 2.4k ish moving in and out of the account each month I might as well capitalise on it if possible.

Reply 7

cheadle

17

Have you run a search on TSR on how to do this?
For example
https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=650507

Reply 8

Cyion

OP

10

Original post by cheadle

Have you run a search on TSR on how to do this?
For example
https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=650507

older threads have some good ideas but financial advice from 15 years ago might not be the most current lol

Reply 9

martin7

20

Original post by Cyion

It's been set up so I'm essentially just the person that transfers the money, I'm not the person that is responsible for paying as we all have our own guarantors which is essentially someone that has agreed to pay said persons bills if they don't. This sort of voids my responsibility to actually make sure people pay. I'm just not sure what sort of account to open as I'd like to make it so that we can all view the account on our devices for transparency but I'm also looking at reward accounts. As there will be roughly 2.4k ish moving in and out of the account each month I might as well capitalise on it if possible.

Guarantors are for the landlord's benefit, not yours. If flatmate A doesn't pay up, then you can't chase A's guarantor for that money.

Which leads to the question -- how is the liability for the rent defined in your contract? Are you each liable solely for your own share of the rent? Or are you "jointly and severally" liable?

If you're "jointly and severally" liable, then if flatmate A doesn't pay up, the landlord can come after any/all of you (and your guarantors) for the money -- not just flatmate A and their guarantor. (If it's someone that's not flatmate A that ends up paying, they can still sue flatmate A for the money -- if they think they'll be successful.)

I would certainly be looking at setting up a separate bank account to handle this money -- that will disentangle your finances from that account -- and I'd be transferring my own share into that account too and making the rent payment from that account. That way if there are any queries, all the relevant transactions will be going through that one account.

I wouldn't bother with a "reward" account -- the money is unlikely to ever be in the account long enough to rack up any significant rewards.

I would also suggest that you have the account in one name only. Setting up a joint account will entangle your finances (and your credit record) with those of your flatmates.

But as @cheadle suggests, it's something that you should do your own research on.

Opening a new bank account for house bills?

Quick Reply

Related discussions

Articles for you