Average Annual House Maintenance Costs

[Starla]

At least in a freehold home you have some sort of control of your spending on maintenance costs.

I lived in a leasehold flat for 2 years.

In the first year I was billed;

* £1,700 for re-roofing costs (which incidently wasn't even the block I lived in, it was the one opposite - that cost was PER flat btw)

* £550 to have my garage door re-painted and the internal woodwork to the stairs (PER FLAT)

* £600 standard maintenance costs per year (which seemed to account for someone to hoover the stairs and cut the grass on the communal lawns)

That was nearly 3k before I'd even started...

I sold to live with my boyfriend, but quite honestly I'd had enough. If the Leasholders had decided to install an ornamental koi carp pond with fountains ejecting liquid gold then we'd all have to cough up for that as well.

[Mrs Bear]

Agreed, so there is an effective cost to the owner by not improving the property. What I'm trying to find out is how much the average house will cost in maintenance / repair over its lifetime to maintain its value (relative to similar properties - HPI/HPC excluded, ofc).

There's no such thing as an average house. Whatever the type/age, an awful lot will depend on how well previous owners have looked after it.

However, while all houses tend to eat money, it's probably true that old houses tend to eat more than newer ones.

[kazap]

My first house - owned for 3 years, spent £800 on fixing some broken tiles and some re-pointing work. Had one of those all in insurance plans, £40 a month that covered electrics, plumbing, drains, central heating. Never made a claim!

Second house, been here for 3 years, not spent a thing - previous owner decorated, did double glazing, loft conversion etc. Have same insurance. I imagine we'll be here for 5-10 years. Im pretty sure the roof won't cave in by then - but who knows!!

Renting the same house here in Surrey would prob be 500+ more each month so I don't feel hard done by. Got lucky with interest rates thats for sure

[stargazer]

On balance I would suggest 1% of the house value each year if you're willing & able to do some stuff yourself, for example the garden maintenance, painting & decorating, minor plumbing jobs. Of course that can start to seriously cut into your free time. If you pay a professional to do everything than 2% is probably more realistic long term.

The problem is this is just an average. In practice it varies each year from next-to-nothing to £££££, for example if you need a new C.H. boiler.

Some things you can plan for and schedule, such as a bathroom or kitchen refit, but others need more immediate attention - again the C.H. Boiler or major roof repairs. so you need to be prepared for such disasters.

New builds - you can get away with doing nothing (except the garden!) for perhaps 5 years, but then everything seems to need doing at once - decorating, tired carpets, white-goods (depending on quality)

[GinAndPlatonic]

Example: lets say a new kitchen & bathroom every 5 years, at a cost of say £10k each. That gives an annual cost of £20k / 5 years, which is £4k per year on average. That's on top of all the other costs that

Who the hell replaces their bathroom and kitchen every five years...what planet are you on..cannot be bothered to even suggest some figures for you.

Edited July 9, 2011 by GinAndPlatonic

[noodle doodle]

Just get the tenants to do the maintenance

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-stoke-staffordshire-14092572

Nicely sorted

[200p]

Allow 10% depreciation per year! Well that's what my GCSE in Business Studies taught me all those years ago!

[ccc]

My first house - owned for 3 years, spent £800 on fixing some broken tiles and some re-pointing work. Had one of those all in insurance plans, £40 a month that covered electrics, plumbing, drains, central heating. Never made a claim!

Second house, been here for 3 years, not spent a thing - previous owner decorated, did double glazing, loft conversion etc. Have same insurance. I imagine we'll be here for 5-10 years. Im pretty sure the roof won't cave in by then - but who knows!!

Renting the same house here in Surrey would prob be 500+ more each month so I don't feel hard done by. Got lucky with interest rates thats for sure

You have not thought this through - have you.

[Shotoflight]

Electrical fixtures..

...

Need I go on? 1% p.a. (average, long term) is actually looking a little low to me.

Loft/wall insulation.

council tax (may be included in rent)

Pest control - woodworm, wasps nests, mice

Chimney sweep, tv ariel, blocked drains/sewer (storm damage etc.) Scraping the barrel a bit!

Edited July 10, 2011 by Shotoflight

[Lepista]

Example: lets say a new kitchen & bathroom every 5 years, at a cost of say £10k each. That gives an annual cost of £20k / 5 years, which is £4k per year on average. That's on top of all the other costs that

Who the hell replaces their bathroom and kitchen every five years...what planet are you on..cannot be bothered to even suggest some figures for you.

If you'd have actually read the mail, it was in response to a specific scenario - obviously _some_ people do do such a thing, I doubt it is a very big proportion of people.

//www.housepricecrash.co.uk/forum/index.php?showtopic=166228&view=findpost&p=3047100

[GinAndPlatonic]

If you'd have actually read the mail, it was in response to a specific scenario - obviously _some_ people do do such a thing, I doubt it is a very big proportion of people.

//www.housepricecrash.co.uk/forum/index.php?showtopic=166228&view=findpost&p=3047100

Oh its a scenario..?

Is this 3. There's also "true" maintenance costs - such as getting someone in to blast the driveway each year, clean the guttering, external painting, etc.

you did say "as I see it"

External painting only really needs doing every 3 to five years depending on the quality of work done. I had a new boiler fitted 9 years ago and it hasnt cost me a penny since. Not one penny ! I do not pay ludicrous so called maintenance contracts.

Blasting the driveway each year ...what? use a broom and dont worry about the bricks discolouring even blasting will not stop that ultimatley and will wear bricks down if done continuosly.

Carpets? if looked after and decent ones bought up front will last for donky`s years.

Roofing.? I havent had any work done on ine in 10 years, apart from a coweling placed on the chimney..I bought it for a tenner and the roofer placed it for £90.

A half decent fitted kitchen ( same with a decent bathroom) will last for 15 years of much much longer.It all depends if someone has that throw away mentality, that has been garnered by big retailers.

My loft and wall insulation cost me £199 with a deal from one of the big enrgy companies in alliance with govenrment subsidy to help so called global warming blah blah..anyway that will last for at least 30 years! at least.

I mean come on.. all these figures being bandied about are pure fiction and look nice on paper as an academic excercise, but bear no semblance to reality, when looked at from a common sense approach to owning a house.

...........................................................................

As an ex- BTL landlord for 10 years, was always advised 2% of capital value pa. If you have several houses you know that you're in for

Admittedly this was student lets; you might get away with less with family tenancies; but then they want a higher standard. Students at least understand that if they don't make a fuss about blu-tack marks on the walls they won't be billed if there are a few more at the end. (Wish the same could be said of their Mummies and Daddies!)

A place that is let out will more often than not have a much higher chance of being neglected and so will obviously cost much more in maintenance.

Edited July 10, 2011 by GinAndPlatonic

[SarahBell]

A half decent fitted kitchen ( same with a decent bathroom) will last for 15 years of much much longer.It all depends if someone has that throw away mentality, that has been garnered by big retailers.

A hand crafted (shelves made from tea chests) had lasted 45 years I reckon in one house I've been in - would have been fine for another 45 if you didn't mind the 12 layers of paint.

[GinAndPlatonic]

A hand crafted (shelves made from tea chests) had lasted 45 years I reckon in one house I've been in - would have been fine for another 45 if you didn't mind the 12 layers of paint.

All my units, along with extra thick quality surfaces cost me circa £1500. I fitted them myself and still look fine after 9 years, not because of me fitting them... but because they were well made and sturdy. I did fit a hob but missed my eye level grill so took it out, and have a free standing cooker instead. I was suckered into buying something (hob) that just isnt as practical as an item which was designed in the 30`s...this cooker cost me £300 6 years ago...still working fine. It can just be pushed to one side to get at the pipes at the back of the washing machine too...

Edited July 10, 2011 by GinAndPlatonic

[winkie]

Both the tenant and the owner-occupier have a choice whether to live in a poorly- maintained, or a well- maintained place.

All rented property should be well heat insulated and maintained, which is entirely different to being a matter of opinion ascetically pleasing to the eye....a loo is a loo is a loo....a working hot shower with good water pressure is exactly what it says it is....people are free to waste good money pulling out a existing decent kitchen to put in an all whistles and bells different decent kitchen that they may find appealing but nobody else does...and nobody will want to pay for, be it in rent or a sale price.....

[Stay Beautiful]

i. replace roof every 100 years if tile, slate etc

ii. replace windows every 50 years (some buildings have window frames of oak that are several hundred years old, but some new builds from the 1990s already needed new windows due to kiln drying and rot).

iii. bathroom every 20 years

iv. kitchen every 15 years

v. boiler every 15 years

vi. rewire every 50 years

vii. carpets or flooring every 15 years

viii. repoint once a century

v. redecorate every 5 years

Theres £35k there for a terrace house up north.

[JonoP]

Many landlords never expect there to be a day of reckoning - they have no intention of putting a single additional penny into the property other than is required to keep the renter from moving out (or avoiding voids).

Also the renters themselves have no reason to improve (with short term tenancies) and they won'd want to spend much on furnishings on temporary accommodation either.

Total kryptonite to the superman consumer economy.

Hmmm, this is an interesting point. I should imagine that there are many landlords out there who bought a BTL with the intent of ‘selling it in a couple of years when prices have gone up’. As such, they would not have factored maintenance in to their budget (or set aside any money to cover the costs) as basically their BTL plans revolved around easy lending and using a tenant to cover their costs for a couple of years before benefitting from capital appreciation.

However, we are now a few years down the track and prices have not ‘gone up’ as expected. The landlords are probably on a crazily low interest rate for their mortgage, but I bet many of them have still not been putting money aside.

So, we may potentially start seeing large numbers of houses hitting the market that are in need of major repair. I cannot imagine that tenants would be prepared to rent a house that had no heating/no hot water/a leaking roof/a ‘non-functioning kitchen etc

As for the running costs question, I reckon 1.5% for a non-furnished place and 2% when you take in to account furnishings.

Edited July 10, 2011 by Pond321

[Lepista]

Oh its a scenario..?

Is this 3. There's also "true" maintenance costs - such as getting someone in to blast the driveway each year, clean the guttering, external painting, etc.

you did say "as I see it"

External painting only really needs doing every 3 to five years depending on the quality of work done. I had a new boiler fitted 9 years ago and it hasnt cost me a penny since. Not one penny ! I do not pay ludicrous so called maintenance contracts.

Blasting the driveway each year ...what? use a broom and dont worry about the bricks discolouring even blasting will not stop that ultimatley and will wear bricks down if done continuosly.

Carpets? if looked after and decent ones bought up front will last for donky`s years.

Roofing.? I havent had any work done on ine in 10 years, apart from a coweling placed on the chimney..I bought it for a tenner and the roofer placed it for £90.

A half decent fitted kitchen ( same with a decent bathroom) will last for 15 years of much much longer.It all depends if someone has that throw away mentality, that has been garnered by big retailers.

My loft and wall insulation cost me £199 with a deal from one of the big enrgy companies in alliance with govenrment subsidy to help so called global warming blah blah..anyway that will last for at least 30 years! at least.

I mean come on.. all these figures being bandied about are pure fiction and look nice on paper as an academic excercise, but bear no semblance to reality, when looked at from a common sense approach to owning a house.

...........................................................................

A place that is let out will more often than not have a much higher chance of being neglected and so will obviously cost much more in maintenance.

A hand crafted (shelves made from tea chests) had lasted 45 years I reckon in one house I've been in - would have been fine for another 45 if you didn't mind the 12 layers of paint.

You both make a good point, and it is one of quality. A well-made item, made with good, quality materials, and installed professionally and correctly should last a long, long time.

You do pay through the nose for it though - I wouldn't be surprised for a kitchen made to such standards to cost 3-4 times the cost of the MFI units that are only going to last sub-10 years. Either way, you then pay for it.

Depends on whether you're happy to take the chance that you're not going to damage the expensive kitchen somehow in the meantime, I suppose.

Oh, one other thing to add - an incoming owner will often want to put in their "own" kitchen, decoration, etc so if you are someone who's moving every few years, unless you're happy to put up with the previous owners taste, then it will be a fairly large expense perhaps sooner than would otherwise be the case.

Leads me onto one other final point - some people above are saying "It's not an owners cost, because that work was done my the previous owner, therefore it's not cost me a penny"... well, the previous owner WAS the owner, and hence, IN THE LONG RUN, these costs HAVE been bourne by the owner - just not the present one (yet).

[Lepista]

Hmmm, this is an interesting point. I should imagine that there are many landlords out there who bought a BTL with the intent of ‘selling it in a couple of years when prices have gone up’. As such, they would not have factored maintenance in to their budget (or set aside any money to cover the costs) as basically their BTL plans revolved around easy lending and using a tenant to cover their costs for a couple of years before benefitting from capital appreciation.

However, we are now a few years down the track and prices have not ‘gone up’ as expected. The landlords are probably on a crazily low interest rate for their mortgage, but I bet many of them have still not been putting money aside.

So, we may potentially start seeing large numbers of houses hitting the market that are in need of major repair. I cannot imagine that tenants would be prepared to rent a house that had no heating/no hot water/a leaking roof/a ‘non-functioning kitchen etc

As for the running costs question, I reckon 1.5% for a non-furnished place and 2% when you take in to account furnishings.

Maybe, when considering properties to buy, one question you should routinely ask is: "Was the property previously a rental?"