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.

How to make the most of living here

I decided this year I would give you tips on living here frugally since the major complaint that Americans have is how expensive it is to live here. This is kind of inspired by The Budget Loving Military Wife. She does great analysis to help you save money on shopping.

It took me a long time to get a grip on my spending. I paid off all my debts, car loan and credit cards two years before I got out. I have moved several times since living in the UK and I have parted with a lot of stuff that I didn't need. I even took a year off from buying clothes after having worked at Sweaty Betty. I have started to think more actively about my spending and think that others should too. It is expensive to live here but I try to make the most of it and am always looking for a bargain. I will provide you with ways I save!

Few tips before you move over here whether it is with the USAF or otherwise.

1. Have a clear out. Let go of the things that you do not need. This will allow you to be able to get a smaller house (which has great implications- less time cleaning, less utilities and more choice for location).
2. Sign up for Martin's Money Saving Expert newsletter.
3. Cook from scratch.
4. Get rid of the big US vehicles. Although some people say that they have no problems with their big trucks, they have larger engine sizes, are less fuel efficient and you have to pay more for road tax. Nothing makes you stand out as an American than a F-150.
5. Look at your debts before you move. If you have large debts, it will be a struggle but hopefully I can give you some pointers.

I hope that you find my future posts helpful.

Kimx

Why are rental prices so high around the bases?

This post was spawned off another comment made in a FB group. For Americans that are reading my blog that have nothing to do with the military, I will first explain the situation that the USAF personnel are in. When they are stationed overseas, they are given money to pay for their rent and utilities. In the US, they get to pocket the difference whereas in overseas territories they only get the amount agreed up to their cap.

Many Americans not used to living overseas often ask why are the rental rates around the base are so high? There are several reasons:

1. There is a housing shortage in England. There have been reports about it recently and I really think you should watch this Panorama report. This report mainly covers London but it is happening everywhere. I know I have just gone through it buying our first house which I will write about in another post. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01pc1qb

2. USAF tenants are only temporary so the landlord has to plan for the months they may not have tenants. So while the Americans will pay more over a year, the locals move less because they cannot afford to because they are paying for their rent themselves. Also the Americans are able to get out of their lease due to the military clause, where if they are offered base housing after 6 months of their lease, they can get out of it. Locals have to stay at least a year and if they get out of it before that, they still have to pay out of the rest of the lease.

3. Americans requirements have changed since I have been here. I have lived in homes that Americans associated with the bases would not even consider taking a look. Let's face it, they want something over 1,000 sq feet with everything they had at home BUT this is England and they don't build homes like they do in the US. So the higher the OHA goes, the more buying power that the Americans have. Houses that were suitable for new families in the USAF six years ago, are no longer suitable and are now rented to locals. The newer housing developments are built more for the American tastes, such as Red Lodge and young local families could only dream of being able to afford many of the houses that the Americans can due to their OHA. This will stop if the OHA doesn't go up but then American families would not have the advantage on the rental market as they do, which would make finding suitable housing even more difficult. 

4. House prices are insanely high when you compare them to the US. This is tied to the housing shortage. Its true, you get more room for your money in the US, but this isn't the US. If you are outraged by the rental prices, you can live in a 'two up, two down' like I did when I got out. But then you will have to get rid of a lot of your furniture like I did. So you cannot have a huge home and not pay for it when space is hard to come by in the UK.

5. Renting property is a business. Landlords look to make 7% from their property per year. Depending on if they bought their house when the prices were high or low makes huge difference.

6. The original post was saying that Americans were being discriminated against but all businesses have a target market. So in this case she was saying that there are two different markets for letting agents, locals and Americans and that it is not right to have two different prices. In this case, it favours the Americans because they can afford the bigger homes. Americans are getting the cream of the crop in houses in the local area. They also generally do not have to pay for background checks, don't believe me what about the ads that say "no fees for USAF"? If you go to Cambridge, there are several target markets, students, academics, commuters and everyone else. The post was saying how it was putting the locals at a disadvantage but the situation in England is not so affected by the American influence. It is happening EVERYWHERE, that people who work in one place cannot afford to live there. Like me, I work in Cambridge and if I want to get the most for my money, I have to look elsewhere. This situation is only going to be solved by having a living wage and more houses to be built.

7. It is expensive in England. That is the truth, everything costs more here so why would the housing be any different. I pay more in taxes here than I ever did in the US. 

So my advice is: either downsize your expectations and take a smaller house that is below your cap, live farther away from base and get more for your money or realize how lucky you are to live here with all of your bills paid and not have to worry how you will make ends meet with your paycheck.

Sorry for the rant!

Kim