Why The EPC Rating Matters More Than Anything Else.

A lot of people are looking for the perfect house with the look that they are after. If you have been reading my blog for some time, you will know that while this can make a difference, I suggest that you get a house that suits your needs as you are only here temporarily. Many people like to look at houses with a view as if they are buying a house but this can be a very costly mistake.

Outside of the house that will suit your needs (but may not be what you have dreamt you will be living in since you heard you were going to be living the UK), you MUST look at the Energy Performance Certification (EPC) rating. This is going to tell you how much running the house will cost you, this is how you can save money on energy because  it costs 3 times as much as in the US.

Any house that is sold or rented out must have an EPC. Most advertisements will have the rating of the house in them. The ratings go from A to G. A is the most efficient and G is the worst. The average one is D/E and if you are in the military, your utility allowance should cover a home with this rating. Here is an example of what an EPC looks like. If it does not have it in the advertisement, I would be weary of the property and ask to get a copy of it before viewing.

One thing to look for in a house, always go for double glazing. I have been living in a house for the last 3 years that does not have it in the bedrooms (its my MIL's house) and they have been just been installed, you can feel the difference now in the spring but just imagine the difference it will make in the winter- we were sleeping under 4 blankets! Please see the video below to see the impact that this can have.

Another thing to think about is other heating elements. Fireplaces are another way to heat your home. Just be sure to only use coal in a coal one and wood in a wood one. Wood burners are more energy efficient than coal burning ones. If you do get other heating elements like space heaters, make sure that they have timers on them and do not leave them running when you are not home. Do not heat rooms you do not use.

You can also look in the report to see the suggestions made to increase the EPC rating, therefore saving you money on your utilities. Things like replacing regular lightbulbs with energy saving lightbulbs you can do yourself. Although they are more expensive than regular ones definitely save you money in the long run. Other things like increasing the loft insulation or having the hot water cylinder insulated could be a good negotiating point especially if you are paying above the asking price.

As Americans, we like to have our homes very warm but this can cost an arm and a leg over here. So dress warmly in the cold times and put a blanket over you when watching TV. This is why I think that you should choose a home with a better EPC rating almost anything else. You will feel the difference in your bones (the humidity makes the chill way different here) and you will feel it in your wallet.

Book Review: Chavs: The Demonization of The Working Class by Owen Jones

I had heard of the book Chavs: The Demonization of the Working Class by Owen Jones and was lucky enough to go see him speak at the Cambridge Festival of Ideas in 2013. I know I have a different interest in the way society works in the UK than the average person who will only be living here for 2-4 years but I thought I would tell you about this book anyway.

For this that do not know, chavs is a term that is often used to describe the types of people usually white lower or working class people that unfortunately that wear track suits and chains and other clothing usually displayed in American music videos.They are also usually also the people that get anti-social behavior order (ASBO) which is for being a nuisance.

Owen Jones is a political writer and he is a commuter for left-wing policies (way far more left than you will ever see in the US).

Chavs is a political book that goes through the issues that have come up after the closing of the mines in England and the society costs. While this might not be interesting to the common visitor, it is very important to understand because many Americans like Margaret Thatcher and are more prone to speak about their preference to the capitalist economic market. The people in the lower and working class are not usually fans of Margaret Thatcher as their communities have been left destitute and prone to unemployment because the industries that they used to work in have moved overseas and nothing has replaced them.

The book itself gives great historical reference to why things are the way that they are today. I found it interesting that before Margaret Thatcher two out of every five people used to live in a council house and now its one in every ten. Also you hear about the closing of the mines and the miner strikes but the news never really covers how the people were affected and how that affects the country. I can also see similarities to industrial cities in the United States and the issues seen there today. It allowed me to understand a section of England that I could not find in one place like this book does.

If you like politics and history or want to understand how things work in another country read this book. It is an easy read but really gets to the point. but I am a fan of Owen Jones and follow his articles which can be fond in both The Guardian and The Independent. 

I just thought I would put it out there!

Council Housing and the Bedroom Tax

It is very easy to misunderstand a nation if the setup is not the same as your own. I say this because Britain is a socialist-democratic country. What does this mean? It means that it is still a democratic society where people can vote but the economic system is a mixture of capitalist and socialist.

I was trying to think about how to portray how this works to my readers, but because many of you belong to the military, you will understand more than others will because of how the military works. For instance, base housing is given out based on need and family size which is kind of how the council housing works.

Council Housing in Britain really came into its own after World War II. England had to rebuild more than a million houses after the war as many were destroyed by the bombs dropped by Germany. 80% of the houses were council houses.

Margret Thatcher was the one that opened the door for tenants to be able to buy their council house with her right-to-buy scheme. This made council house less available and instead of building more homes with the money made, it was hoped that the housing development industry would take over and create more affordable housing. Unfortunately this did not happen in as large of a scale as it was expected and there is a busing shortage. This is why housing is so expensive.

As you can see from my other posts, it hasn't, instead it has driven house prices up. Although when housing developments are built they are mandated to build a portion of "affordable housing" in them.

At one point two in every five people lived in a council house and today it is one in ten. The people that bought their houses have sold up and moved away. So in many places, the people that have been left behind had low paying jobs, were on benefits and often suffered from drug and alcohol problems.

This is a good place for an overview of council housing history in Britain.

If you have taken onboard some of my tips of how to live like a local then you have been of course watching the news and listening to the radio. Recently there has been a debate on how to rectify the shortage of council housing. Some people have lived in their homes for more than 20 years and now they have too much room for their requirements. So the government decided that in order to make home available, they would start charging people more if they lived in a home surplus to their needs. This has been coined "The Bedroom Tax".

The idea was the people get paid money for their housing benefit. This is given to the poorest people. They would not require such big homes and they would then be saving money. People would have the space that they need and the government would be saving money.

Sounds great on paper doesn't it? The problem is that it hasn't worked out the way it was intended. The problem is that the councils do not have homes to offer the people to move into so that they could free up homes for the other people. Therefore they started paying the people less and then those people are unable to make up the difference (£14 per week they lost) and not are behind in their rents.

I just thought I would briefly cover council housing as it is not something we have in the US.

Saving money on your house

I just wanted to write a few ideas down on how you can keep your housing costs down:

1. Live outside of the centre of town. The closer you are to the middle the smaller house and more money you will have to pay.
2. Only get a home the size that you need. If you have reduced the amount of stuff you have, the more flexibility you will have in where you can live.
3. Do not go to your OHA cap. One thing I was thinking is lets say you are able to downsize your house you can save on the exchange rate. The more money that you are converting over to £s the more you have to pay to convert it. It may little amounts but over 4 years, it can add up.
4. Get a house with EPC rating D or better. I will go into utilities in another post but this is key. It means how efficient your house is with its energy.
5. DO NOT LIVE IN A HOUSE THAT HAS SINGLE PANE WINDOWS. If you ignore everything else I have written don't ignore this. I live in a house that is single pane and you can tell the difference. This will also contribute to the cost it will take to heat it.
6. Do not live in built up areas. Around the base, there are certain places that the houses were built particularly for the American military in mind. Instead like amongst the locals and a bit further away.

All the best

Kimx

American to Britain

What can you expect from the houses in England?

First off, I need to thank the people that took part in my survey to help me figure out what Americans think of the housing situation in England. They really helped me get an idea of people took notice of so this could be more generalized and not just my opinion!

The other thing I have to say is that it is best that you come over here with an open mind and to remember that this is England and whilst they may not have homes like we do, doesn’t mean it’s wrong as people live differently all over the world from Americans. Believe me I have had to tell myself this about a lot of things but you are going against thousands of years of tradition. If you can embrace that I think that you will enjoy your tour here and be able to find a suitable home. Another thing we need to remember is when America was growing her suburbs and 1950's homes, England was rebuilding itself after WWII. This set England behind the USA about 20 years because it was more important to provide homes for people and the conveniences came later.

Based on my research 73% of the people live in a free standing house, 13.5% semi-attached, and 11.5% terraced-house. If you are looking to live near the town centre, you will need to expect to live in a terraced house. Perhaps the best of both worlds, would be to live in a semi-detached which means that only one side of the house is attached to another. Until the 1970s many homes only had one or no cars so people lived close enough to the town centre so that they could walk to the shops, the station and to work.  It wasn't until around the 1970's that women started to drive cars. This is why there is limited parking and the roads are narrow. My husband does like to remind me that a lot of these houses were built before cars even existed. The older houses are more solidly built. The houses from the 1970's to today aren't as they were trying to cope with a large population that needed homes.

To have an opened planned house is rare (whilst it takes a while to get used to it, it appears that people really like this!). There is a fire safety code that states that there must be a door between each room. Also to save money, its best to close doors to rooms you do not want to heat. Check out my other tips on how to save on utilities. Most British houses do not have closets or other cabinets for storage; instead, they often have wardrobes where they store stuff. Although a lot of people recommend you take only half of your stuff and get rid of the rest!

You will get more home for your money the farther from base you live but not near popular cities such as Cambridge (a lot of people that work in London commute from Cambridge). The sizes of the houses that people in my survey range from 900-2800 square feet. Half of the people responded said that their home was not smaller than the last house that they lived in the US.

Kitchens and laundry facilities can also become a shock to Americans. There are no garbage disposals. Most English homes have a washer machine in the kitchen (some houses do not have space for a dryer). It wasn’t until after the 1970's that washer machines became common in the home and driers in the last 15-20 years.  You will need to read my post about washing clothes practices to know that a lot of English was their clothes when dirty and not just when worn and will generally line dry in the nice weather and use a clothes horse in the winter. Also you can hang your clothes in the airing cupboard which is where the boiler is and it will dry your clothes quickly. Remember that energy is expensive compared to the US so these are also ways that you can cut back on your expenses. The refrigerator wasn't common until the 1970's but women would go shopping at their small local grocer everyday or every other day. That is why you will see a lot of Co-operatives around. They used to store meat in a larder which is a small cabinet that keeps cool, mine is under the stairs.

The bedroom sizes are not generally as big as US ones and some rooms would not be considered bedrooms at all in the US. Rooms are generally long and narrow. They are also smaller as most people just sleep in these rooms and spend time in their living/sitting rooms, that is why these rooms are usually bigger.

Bathrooms are a bit different than in the US. It is not as common anymore but do not be shocked to see an outdoor loo. Some bathrooms are baths that have showers added at a later date; it appears to be in the 1980’s, which is in line when England caught up with the US and other appliances that were common in the USA became common here. You might also find your bathroom might be split into two rooms, one where the toilet is in one and the another is where the bath and sink are. Some bathrooms might have carpet. There are no outlets for curling irons but there are ones for shavers only, this is because the voltage is twice the strength of the US and it is dangerous to have electrical items that might get wet. That is why the lightswitch is either outside, or a string to pull, because with wet hands you could get a shock. Many bathrooms do not have mirrors in them as women would have gotten ready at a vanity table. You might also have a half bathroom on the ground floor. Also there are usually are no mixer taps in the bathrooms.

Carpets is an interesting topic that came up. Carpets like many things is expensive. The kind of carpet is different as well. They tend to have the short length style. An interesting thing that I found out is that when people moved home, they used to take the carpet with them. This is less common now a days. If you have a child with allergies, its best to find a home without carpets.

Some houses do have garages but the British often use them more for storage rather than parking the car in it.

There are not porches over here as you know them in the US, but a lot of houses have conservatories which are made up of windows. They catch the sun when its out and are a nice place to sit when its raining outside. The British would never sit out in the front of their house. The front garden is for show and the back garden is to enjoy.

Another thing that they mentioned is that heating your home by oil is expensive so if you can find one with a good energy rating and doesn’t use oil, that would be preferable. Also central heating wasn't seen in England until the 1970's.

It doesn’t happen very often but we do get hot weather. The heat mixed with the humidity gets the Americans pining for their air conditioners but it’s a luxury over here. They recommended that if you have one, bring it with you but remember that they will need to use a transformer which will rack up your energy bills. Also windows do not have screens in them.

A lot of people commented on how expensive the houses were. The reason housing is so expensive is not particularly because of the US market nowadays, it is because the value of the house and the land it stands on is so high. Generally, landlords work out rent on an annual return basis of around 6 - 8%, so if a house is worth £100,000, they would expect a rent of £8000 per year, ie £650 per month.  So it follows that a £200,000 house, the rent would be £1300 or so.

Pets can make a home harder to find. Some landlords will not accept any pets or will require a double deposit.

Almost 75% respondents said that all over their furniture fit in their house. One tip was if you have a bed that is Queen or bigger, its best to have a box mattress that is split to aid the bed getting up to the room that you want in.

One person said that if you are open minded about how you want to school your children perhaps send them to British schools and that means you can be more flexible with where you live (and your children will be 1 1/2 years ahead of American children!).

Some things that shocked people about homes over here:

• How small the washer and dryers are (read my explanation here)
• Most things don’t fit up the stairs.
• The houses were as small than I thought.
• Living here has shown us how spoiled Americans are.

Things that people liked:

• You can adjust the temperature of each room by the knobs on the radiators.
• Security of the doors and windows.
• Small water heaters.
• Small fridge = less junk food
• History that the houses have (used to be the Old Village Hall)
• The houses have character!
• If you live in the right town, everything is walking distance.
• That you can turn off the outlets at the wall to save on electricity. 
• Conservatories!
• They are more eco-friendly here. We only heat our water 3 times a day instead of all day.
• They make you realize that you really can live without things you took for granted before. You also learn to appreciate them more.
• I like that I am learning to live in a different manner. Making do with less, and living a bit simpler, if more cramped life!
• Towns are made to be pedestrian friendly which is nice! 

Tips that they wished someone told them:

• Ship your Household Goods ASAP so that they arrive here by the time you do.
• Check the energy rating of your home, the better it is the less you will spend on heating it. (High D and above will be covered by the money you get for utilities).
• It is hard to mount TVs.
• Do not bring little appliances (vacuum) with you or anything with US plug. Transformers are pains and eat up a lot of energy (which means they cost you more money!). You can also check your electronics to see if they automatically handle the voltage, if so you just need an adapter to fit it in the wall.
• Use cleaners from off base because they are developed for the water over here.
• Take photos of house before you move in for any stains and marks for your records.
• Take your time to find a house you like but once you find one, jump on it as they go quickly!
• Use this as a chance to get rid of things that you don't need.
• Move off base if you feel like you can be part of the local culture but in order to do that you must leave your expectations behind and embrace the differences.
• You will hate it here if you only go to base and back. Make the most of the opportunity to travel, learn and grow.
• Do NOT bring your washer and dryer!!!!
• Look further from base, you get more for your money!
• Set up a British bank account because they have chip and pin and a lot of places do not accept the swipe card you get from banks on base!