Popularity of ‘bills included’ rental properties soars
As the cost-of-living crisis continues, it is causing a massive increase in people seeking bills included rental properties.
In a study of Zoopla data, Money.co.uk has revealed the top 10 cities in England and Wales for bills included rentals.
Areas in the UK with highest percentage of rental properties with bills included
Preston was the city with the highest proportion of rental properties listed as having bills included. Of 809 properties listed in the area overall, 488 have bills included, this is a whopping 60.3%.
Preston has a size of 142.3 km² and a population of 147,900, so rental properties are in high demand.
The city with the second highest amount of rental properties with bills included is Middlesborough. This city has just 157 properties listed in the area overall, however, 93 offer bills included, making up 59.2% of all rental properties.
Although just 1.1% less than Preston, the city is considerably smaller in size at just 53.88 km², so there are far fewer properties on the market.
Lincoln is the UK city with the 3rd highest amount of rental properties listed as having bills included.
Lincoln has 355 rental properties listed overall, with 185 of these stated as having bills included in the price. This makes up just over half of all total properties at 52.1%, 7.1% less than Middlesborough.
The Top 10 areas in the UK with ‘bills included’:
| Rank | City | Properties | Properties with bills included | Properties with bills included (%) |
| 1 | Preston | 809 | 488 | 60.3% |
| 2 | Middlesbrough | 157 | 93 | 59.2% |
| 3 | Lincoln | 355 | 185 | 52.1% |
| 4 | Coventry | 1,399 | 701 | 50.1% |
| 5 | Gillingham | 69 | 31 | 44.9% |
| 6 | Derby | 295 | 132 | 44.7% |
| 7 | Leicester | 1,594 | 703 | 44.1% |
| 8 | Stoke-on-Trent | 361 | 153 | 42.4% |
| 9 | Carlisle | 57 | 24 | 42.1% |
| 10 | Newcastle-under-Lyme | 126 | 52 | 41.3% |
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Member Since November 2013 - Comments: 65
11:46 AM, 14th March 2023, About 3 years ago
Given the expectation that utility prices are about to fall, why would any LL want to take on the risk of uncapped usage from Tenants? Surely the better option for T would be to manage their own usage (and hence costs) to make some savings. Passing the risk on to the LL is only going to increase their overall costs – which will, in turn, need to be covered by the rent.
Member Since October 2013 - Comments: 1647 - Articles: 3
12:09 PM, 14th March 2023, About 3 years ago
Zoopla doesn’t say if the rents have increased for those properties including bills.
With the demand for rentals far outstripping supply, why would a LL include bills at no additional cost?
Member Since January 2015 - Comments: 1454 - Articles: 1
4:20 PM, 14th March 2023, About 3 years ago
Any landlord who includes “bills” in the monthly rent, unless short term rentals, are I think, bonkers, unless you cap the bills at £x per person pm in the Tenancy Agreement and then if they use more the tenant(s) is/are then contracted to pay the difference.
Member Since November 2022 - Comments: 1
8:32 PM, 14th March 2023, About 3 years ago
Is this trend not showing the growth in SA and Holiday / Student Lets as as pose to ASTs
Member Since July 2013 - Comments: 122 - Articles: 1
3:33 PM, 23rd March 2023, About 3 years ago
I put “bills inclusive” on my houseshare adverts, but explain this means that £150 of their monthly payment goes towards their share of the bills, with a top-up payment required if the average over 3 months exceeds £150, and a refund given if it is less than £150.
Either way, there is no way in a million years I am *really* including uncapped bill payments in the rent. It virtually guarantees wasteful and excess energy use. If you seek to control this by using times and restricting the house temperature to 19 degrees, you then have a load of complaints.
Tenants need to learn that they must budget their energy use just as they are meant to be grown up enough to budget the rest of their lives.
Member Since September 2018 - Comments: 3550 - Articles: 5
5:42 PM, 23rd March 2023, About 3 years ago
Can I ask for a own home mortgage deal with bills included please…..?