Median property rental in Sydney Australia is now AU$460 per week(£309GBP) with Darwin now in excess of AU$500 (£336) per week.

Source-ABC Melbourne

Paying A Premium For The Familiar?

Landlines. I often wonder how long many will put up with them in the face of ubiquitous mobile phones and voip services but seemingly many can’t give up the habit of the familiar. British Telecom in the UK are to increase the cost of daytime calls to 7.95 pence per minute excluding the connection charge and accompany that with an increased line rental.

My pay-as-you-go mobile phone service charges only slightly above that to call landlines and mobiles at 8 pence per minute and free between people on the same network. My home phone voip service charges 0.06 pence per minute to UK landlines. That BT price is hardly competitive is it? And yet the use of landlines still continues.

What is the price rise about? Less people using landlines? Increased costs? Because they can?

Image by HowardLake under this creative commons licence

No More Own Homes

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A quote from an article here discusses where we go now with the British obsession of owning your own home as repossessions rise and banks and mortgage lenders become more wary of lending money.

A Fool For Fuel?

Yesterday’s projected 40% rise in the cost of UK domestic gas and electricity is probably not as great a surprise considering the uncompetitive state of our privatised energy suppliers, the effect that speculative activities is having on the cost of raw materials and how much we in the UK  now rely on imported energy particularly in respect of gas.

Will I change energy supplier.Probably not as we fixed our energy prices a couple of years ago until 2010 and because our annual dual fuel bill is currently still below £550 which is way below what a lot of other larger households would pay. Having said that the price of all fuels are likely to be permanently on the rise as we all have to adjust to new ways of living and consuming energy.

If we did move energy supplier (a process that was fraught with underhand tactics employed to keep us with our previous supplier the last time we did that) then we’d probably move to Ebico the UK’s only not-for-profit energy company where tariffs are simplified & people are not penalised for their chosen method of payment. At least I’d know my fuel payments were not largely destined for the pockets of shareholders.

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Car Park Tax Is Coming

Watch This Space
I read that the go ahead has been given to tax employee car parking spaces. any company with 10 or more dedicated parking spaces may find the spaces taxed in an apparent attempt to discourage car usage. Car parking spaces may cost £350 a year, a cost likely to be born by the employee though it will be the company that is taxed. Car parking spaces look like becoming another tax point or lucrative investment.

Rent Out Your Car Parking Space 
If you live in London  or other in demand location and have a car space outside your house but don’t own a car it’s likely that you could rent the space out for up to £250 a year. We live near an airport so would be happy to rent our space out for those wishing to park reasonably close to the airport and who don’t wish to pay heaven knows what a day(that is when it’s not being nicked by the oh-so-caring-for-the-environment-but-stuff-other-people Mr Prius owning man who thinks nothing of dumping his hybrid car on our drive for 2 week stretches when he jets off abroad) Though I probably always underestimate the amount of people in this country with more than enough money to get by. Divisive times.

Car parking tax source

Rent out your car parking space

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Living In A Travelodge for 22 Years

I was intrigued by a news item on the Beeb news site about a now elderly couple who have been living in a Travelodge motel for the past 22 years. Because one of them needs easy disabled access the Travelodge on the A1 fits the bill better than their own 1st floor flat in Sheffield.

By booking well in advance they pay £90 a week to stay there (£360 a month). It depends where you live but rent at that kind of price went the way of the pear around these parts some time ago.

I was intrigued too because thinking about it the couple would have few bills to pay. Electricity, heating, TV,water and cleaning would all be included and they would, I presume, be exempt from council tax also. If you are able to live in a single room like this then it almost sounds affordable compared to the rising costs of alternatives.

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