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UK Housing & Utilities – Integration Support

October 9, 2023

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Housing & Utilities and Entrepreneurship

Housing and Utilities

Birmingham Geography 

–   Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England.

  • It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom.
  • with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West Midlands metropolitan county
  • By 1791, it was being hailed as “the first manufacturing town in the world“
  • Birmingham is considered to be the social, cultural, financial, and commercial centre of the Midlands
  • Birmingham was the third most visited city in the UK by people from foreign nations.
  • There are 571 parks within Birmingham
  • Christianity is the largest religion within Birmingham, with 34% of residents identifying as Christians in the 2021 Census.
  • The following towns roughly encircle Birmingham Plateau: clockwise from the north – Stafford, Rugeley, Lichfield, 

     Tamworth, Atherstone, Nuneaton, Coventry, Stratford, Redditch, Bromsgrove, Stourbridge, Tettenhall, Penkridge, Stafford. 

     The upper Tame which runs south-east from Wolverhampton cuts the plateau in two from west to east

Five Travel to Work Areas

The 3-LEP area represents a coherent functional economic area in its own right, encompassing separable sub-regional functional economic areas.

  • Birmingham – including Birmingham, Solihull, Redditch, Bromsgrove, and Tamworth
  • Dudley – including Dudley, Oldbury, Tipton, Wednesbury, Halesowen and Stourbridge
  • Wolverhampton & Walsall – including Wolverhampton, Walsall, Cannock and Lichfield
  • Coventry – including Coventry, Nuneaton, Bedworth and Rugby
  • Leamington Spa – including Warwick, Leamington Spa and Stratford

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Reference

Neighbouring Profiles

  • Birmingham has 5 localities each made up of 2 constituencies. These are:
  • Central: Hall Green and Selly Oak constituencies
  • East: Hodge Hill and Yardley constituencies
  • North: Erdington and Sutton Coldfield constituencies
  • South: Edgbaston and Northfield constituencies
  • West: Ladywood and Perry Barr constituencies.

Central Locality 

Map of Birmingham showing the area covered by the central locality
  • The 2011 census showed that 45% of this area’s population are made up of BAME groups (15% England).
  • The Central locality has a population of approximately 229,099 (20.1%) of Birmingham’s population

East Locality 

  • East locality is made up of Hodge Hill and Yardley constituencies.
  • The 2011 census showed that 50% of this area’s population are made up of BAME groups (15% England)
  • The East locality had a population of approximately 241,929, 21.2% of Birmingham’s population.

North Locality

  • North locality is made up of Erdington and Sutton Coldfield constituencies.
  • The North locality has a population of approximately 197,274, 17.3% of Birmingham’s population, with an average age of 39.6 years. 

South Locality

  • South locality is made up of Edgbaston and Northfield constituencies
  • The South locality has a population of approximately 208,304, 18.3% of Birmingham’s population

West Locality

  • The west locality is made up of Ladywood and Perry Barr constituencies.
  • West locality had a population of approximately 263,919, 23.1% of Birmingham’s population

Council Tax and Payments

  • Council Tax is an annual fee your local council charges you for the services it provides, like rubbish 

    collection and libraries.

  • Normally you pay it in ten monthly installments, followed by two months of not making any payments.
  • What does Council Tax pay for? Local services are funded by Council Tax. This includes:
  • police and fire services
  • leisure and recreation projects, such as maintaining parks and sports centres
  • libraries and education services
  • rubbish and waste collection and disposal
  • transport and highway services, including street lighting and cleaning, and road maintenance
  • environmental health and trading standards
  • administration and record-keeping, such as marriages, deaths and birth, and local elections.

You’ll need to know 3 things:

  1. The valuation band for your home in England and Wales or in Scotland
  2. How much your local council charges for that band 
  3. Whether you can get a discount or exemption from the full bill

DISCOUNT

   You may be able to get Council Tax Reduction (this used to be called Council Tax Benefit)

  •  If you’re on a low income or get benefits.
  • You can challenge your Council Tax band if you think your home is in the wrong valuation band 
  • A full-time student living in a property solely with another full-time student
  • You could be entitled to a 25% discount on your Council Tax if all residents are full time students except one other adult who is not a student. 

Tenancy and Deposit Scheme

  • Your landlord must put your deposit in a government-approved Tenancy Deposit Scheme 

   (TDP) IF YOU RENT YOUR HOME ON AN ASSURED SHORTHOLD TENANCY that started

    after 6th April 2007.

Your Deposit can be registered with:

  • Tenancy Deposit Scheme
  • Deposit Protection Service

My Deposits – including deposits that were held by Capital

If your landlord has not protected your deposit within 30 days, you can take legal action against them, including claiming back up to 3X the original deposit amount as compensation

Tenant/Landlord Responsibility

Landlord responsibilities

  • Making repairs
  • Rent increases
  • Settling disputes
  • Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMO) : Rent to more than one household
  • Paying tax and National Insurance: Landlord pays tax when rent return is more than £1,000 – £2,500 / year
  • Changing a regulated tenancy (fair rent): special rules for changing rents and terms for regulated tenancies

Content Insurance

What is contents insurance?

  • Home contents insurance covers the cost of replacing your belongings in your home if they are damaged, destroyed or stolen.
  • As a general rule, your ‘contents’ are the items you would take with you if you moved home.
  • These include, but are not limited to:
  • Furniture: bed, sofa, wardrobe, dining table and chair
  • Kitchenware: cutlery, cookware, microwaves and kettles
  • Entertainment: video games, toys, DVDs and CDs
  • Soft furnishings: cushions, curtains and bedding
  • Electricals: TVs, laptops and game consoles
  • Clothes and jewellery
  • Ornaments and antiques
  • Contents insurance can be bought as a standalone policy or as part of a combined home insurance policy with buildings insurance.

  Claiming on contents insurance

  • For all types of home insurance, if you need to make a claim, your provider will settle this on either a ‘new-for-old’ or ‘indemnity’ basis (Taking the age of the product into consideration).

    HOW DOES CONTENTS INSURANCE WORK?

Mortgage

How to get a mortgage for your first home

  • Save a deposit, which is the amount you put towards buying your home yourself
  • Look into the schemes that help first buyers, e.g shared ownership, help to buy, right to buy
  • Make sure you can afford a mortgage e.g All the charges associated to a mortgage buying
  • Find a property
  • Decide what type of mortgage is right for you

If you need further advice, you may talk to your bank of Find a mortgage advisor

Typical Example of Mortgage Cost
ExpenseTypical cost
Deposit 10%£20,000
Booking fee£100
Arrangement fee£1,000
Survey fees£400
Transfer fee£35
Valuation fee£200
Moving home£450
Solicitor’s fee£1,200
Broker or adviser’s fees£500
Mortgage capital repayment£180,000
Mortgage interest at 3.53%£91,271
Total cost£295,156
  • Using the examples above, factoring in the fees, deposit and mortgage interest payments, buying a property worth £200,00 would cost you a total of £295,156. 
  • Of that, £23,885 is the deposit and additional fees that are typically paid up front.

Water

Save on water bills

  • Unlike gas and electricity companies, you can’t choose who supplies your water, but there are still ways that you can save money on your water bills.
  • How are my water bills calculated?
  • What is rateable value?
  • Can I reduce my water bills? Am I eligible for any discounts off my water bills?
  • How could the Priority Services Register help me?
  • Should I get a water meter? If there are more bedrooms in your home than people, or the same number, check out getting a meter.
  • Can I switch to another water supplier: NO
  • https://www.ageuk.org.uk/information-advice/money-legal/debt-savings/save-on-water-bills/

Electricity & Gas

Understanding the average use for gas and electricity

Gas and electricity bills are calculated partly on how much energy you use, as well as things like

      Network and wholesale costs. Your usage depends on many factors, including:

  • The size of your home
  • The energy efficiency of your home
  • How many people live in your home
  • The energy efficiency of your appliances and how often you use them
  • Your health.

Telephone, and Broadband

Key points

  • Make sure that the broadband deal you choose matches your needs
  • Compare broadband deals to find the best provider for you
  • Check that your chosen broadband deal is accessible, fast and secure, as well as having good download limits – especially if you stream a lot or play games online
  • Consider whether a bundle broadband deal is right for you, but don’t let it limit your choices

Entrepreneurship

SET UP A LIMITED COMPANY STEP BY STEP

  • Check if setting up a limited company is right for you
  • Chose a name
  • Choose directors and a company secretary
  • Decide who the shareholders or guarantors are
  • Prepare documents agreeing on how to run your company
  • Check what records you’ll need to keep
  • Register your company

YOU CAN REGISTER A COMPANY THROUGH:

  • Post
  • Using an agent
  • Using third-party software

References

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housing, utilities

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