# bills?



## themartins (Feb 8, 2009)

hi

was wondering if someone could fill me in on what bills need to be paid if renting an apartment on an urb (communal pool etc) in costa del sol?

at present each month i pay:
tv licence £13
water £25
insurance £18
internet £15
mortgage £780
council tax £91
gas/elec £91

based on a two bedroom apart do you think we'd be paying approx the same out each month? is there any extra bills that you have to pay in spain? healthcare etc?

thanks
xx


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## dunmovin (Dec 19, 2008)

themartins said:


> hi
> 
> was wondering if someone could fill me in on what bills need to be paid if renting an apartment on an urb (communal pool etc) in costa del sol?
> 
> ...


this is based on what we paid in a flat we rented before buying


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## Xose (Dec 10, 2008)

themartins said:


> hi
> 
> was wondering if someone could fill me in on what bills need to be paid if renting an apartment on an urb (communal pool etc) in costa del sol?
> 
> ...


As DUNMOVIN says, but I would add, watch out for "Communal Fees".

One other saving you'll have if you use it in the UK - Boiler Maintenance. I pay €104 a year including the yearly service and it's a Gasoil boiler. In the UK it was over €500 a year and that was a while back.


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## Guest (May 3, 2010)

As you're talking about renting it's very unusual (in my experience) to be charged for anything other than elec/gas. Our monthly rental payment covers community charges, local taxes and water. Anything that goes wrong would be fixed by the owner/landlord so no point wasting money on maintenance contracts

For two of us our electric bill is roughly 100€ every two months (we don't have aircon though) and the gas bottle (just for hot water) is 11€ and lasts about two months

If you are working then you will have free healthcare, if not you'd need private cover


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## dunmovin (Dec 19, 2008)

ShinyAndy said:


> As you're talking about renting it's very unusual (in my experience) to be charged for anything other than elec/gas. Our monthly rental payment covers community charges, local taxes and water. Anything that goes wrong would be fixed by the owner/landlord so no point wasting money on maintenance contracts
> 
> For two of us our electric bill is roughly 100€ every two months (we don't have aircon though) and the gas bottle (just for hot water) is 11€ and lasts about two months
> 
> If you are working then you will have free healthcare, if not you'd need private cover


Andy, in the rental we had, we took out contents insurance, internet and telephone were paid by us, local taxes were paid by us as was gas and electric. The water bill was settled when we vacated.


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## adkam (Apr 29, 2010)

electricity costs seems to vary a lot. we have a 2 bed apartment - cooking is all electric and our electricity bill is on average €150 a month.


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## Guest (May 3, 2010)

Maybe I've been lucky then! Lived in three different rentals now and never had to pay any community/local taxes or water bills. Of course I pay for phone/internet (39€/month) and must get round to sorting contents insurance (not that I have much worth stealing!)


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## dunmovin (Dec 19, 2008)

Adkam if you use aircon or electric heating the bills can soar.

Andy the contents insurance is something I always have, not just for theft, but damage from flood, fire or anything else. You might not think you have anything valuable...until you have to replace it


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## Guest (May 3, 2010)

LOL! I'd be impressed if we got flooded on the top floor, eight stories up  I always had it in the UK but then I had all my own stuff there.. I moved here with next to nothing and am in a furnished apartment so I'm not quite so worried as I would normally be


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## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

ShinyAndy said:


> Anything that goes wrong would be fixed by the owner/landlord so no point wasting money on maintenance contracts


We were told by our agent that unless its otherwise stated in the contract, any appliance that goes wrong after the first three months of the contracted period is the tenants responsibility???? Is that not the case??? I've often wondered cos the washing machine had a few problems a while ago that I had to pay to get repaired which I felt was fair enough, but had we have needed to replace it, who's would it be when we moved.....!???

Jo xxx


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## Guest (May 3, 2010)

No idea Jo, can only base it on what's happened to me in the past. So far in the last year we've had a hoover, washing machine, oven and gas boiler all pack up.. the landlady has fixed/replaced them all without any issue (she's spanish and we're renting privately). 

I just checked with a client of mine that is a big property management/rental agency and he says that it's the owners responsibility to replace/repair as long as it's not been damage/abused by the tenant throughout the tenancy - this is normal wear and tear which the owner is responsible for. They say they've never heard of such a thing that you've mentioned, although obviously anything can be written into a contract as long as you sign it


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## adkam (Apr 29, 2010)

I'm not an expert in the field of lettings, but think I'm right in saying rentals here are governed by the Ley de Arrendamientos Urbanos 1994. This states that the landlord is responsible for keeping the property in a habitable condition but that the tenant is responsible for minor repairs resulting from general daily use. So on the face of it JoJo it seems you were right in paying to have your washing machine repaired.


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## Guest (May 3, 2010)

adkam said:


> the tenant is responsible for minor repairs resulting from general daily use


My understanding is that this would cover things like light bulbs blowing. It wouldn't cover a 10 year old washing machine going wrong that they supplied when you moved in


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## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

ShinyAndy said:


> No idea Jo, can only base it on what's happened to me in the past. So far in the last year we've had a hoover, washing machine, oven and gas boiler all pack up.. the landlady has fixed/replaced them all without any issue (she's spanish and we're renting privately).
> 
> I just checked with a client of mine that is a big property management/rental agency and he says that it's the owners responsibility to replace/repair as long as it's not been damage/abused by the tenant throughout the tenancy - this is normal wear and tear which the owner is responsible for. They say they've never heard of such a thing that you've mentioned, although obviously anything can be written into a contract as long as you sign it


Its definitely never been written in any of our contracts, but I've asked in the past what would happen "if" and was told that theres a three month "honeymoon" period and after that its "law" unless stated otherwise that the tenant is responsible, unless it can be proven that the appliance or whatever was dodgy during the "honeymoon"????!!!  

I guess they make it up as the go on lol

Jo xxx


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## gus-lopez (Jan 4, 2010)

Andy you could be flooded up there if the water tanks on the roof go :lol: Unless the ones above soak it up first !


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## JBODEN (Jul 10, 2009)

adkam said:


> I'm not an expert in the field of lettings, but think I'm right in saying rentals here are governed by the Ley de Arrendamientos Urbanos 1994. This states that the landlord is responsible for keeping the property in a habitable condition but that the tenant is responsible for minor repairs resulting from general daily use. So on the face of it JoJo it seems you were right in paying to have your washing machine repaired.


The Ley says that the ''Tenant shall make those small repairs on account of the property daily use.''. I have an English version and it may be that the law has been badly translated or maybe it is ambiguous. 
1. Does property mean the bricks&mortar or b&m + furniture & fixtures & fittings.
2. When renting a property I can see the state of the b&m but, not being a qualified electrician how can I see the state of a 'washing machine' (even a 3 month honeymoon period wouldn't help).
3. Rent is calculated based on the sum of value of b&m+fff (which is normally the second-hand value) so it seems strange that if the washing machine broke down I would be required to repair it,. What if it can't be repaired, am I supposed to buy the landlord a new one?


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## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

JBODEN said:


> ..... so it seems strange that if the washing machine broke down I would be required to repair it,. What if it can't be repaired, am I supposed to buy the landlord a new one?


That is my understanding - hey, I could be wrong, it wouldnt be the first time! As for me getting the washing machine repaired, well it door catch snapped off, so it was probably my fault???? and it wasnt expensive

Jo xxx


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## themartins (Feb 8, 2009)

Thanks everyone! Lots of info here!
Thats great thanks dunmovin, was this based on a 2 bedroom apartment? Does anyone else have figures that they wouldn’t mind sharing? We’re working out how much more we need to save before we’ve got approx 1 years worth of cash before we make the move!
How much are we looking at for "Communal Fees"?
Ooh only paying gas and elec sound good shinyandy... so i guess it all depends on the landlord, hope we get a landlady like yours!
xx


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## themartins (Feb 8, 2009)

oh another quick bit to add 

mobiles - we pay around £25 each (so £50 for two)

car insurance - my wonderful parents in law pay for this as we drive their car their last quote was £300 PA but this is for three people named on the car (it will just be two of us on our own car when we move as we wont have the luxury of having this paid for obviously, i know it will vary depending on what car etc just wanting to know a few ppls then we can work out an approx figure to work with)

petrol per month? - we get this paid for too (how spolit do we look!?! hehe) i prefer to walk/get public transport with the kids as they find it more exciting but that will obviously depend where we settle. so will be using car to go to work etc (maybe estepona area (nothing in stone yet) to la linea)

food per month (2adults 2 kids) we probs spend around £300 pm

can you compare these bills too please guys

thanks
xx


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