Ayodele Oyewole

It now costs an eye-watering £1,000 a month on average to rent a property in the UK. Combine that with cost of living hikes elsewhere and it's a perfect storm. To help with the squeeze, we've compiled 50+ tips for renters. Some adapt our usual MoneySaving tips specifically to help if you're renting, some help with the process of renting itself and others with special issues that only affect renters. Here are just a few, as a deposit...

Struggling to pay rent? Don't panic - there's help available. If the soaring cost of living means you're finding it hard to pay your rent each month, the first thing to do is talk to your landlord to let them know you're struggling, and to see if you can agree a payment plan to ease the pressure. It's also worth checking if you qualify for benefits or grants. Yet even if you're further down the process and facing eviction, there's still hope - see eviction help.
Make the most of where you live - easily & cheaply boost storage & spruce up your space. You usually can't make permanent changes to the decor or layout if you're renting. But from sticking up temporary wallpaper to storage hacks if you're short of space, we've 25 tips and tricks to make the most of where you live.
If your deposit's not protected, you could get it back... plus THREE TIMES the value. With most tenancies, your landlord/letting agent MUST put your deposit into a Government-backed protection scheme by law. If they don't, you've rights to redress. See deposit protection.

Renters can slash household bills by £100s too

If you pay a bill, you are usually allowed to choose the supplier, and can therefore switch and save money - as long as you're not altering the property. So unless you pay an 'everything included' rent, don't rest on your laurels, do some saving. Though for courtesy it's worth letting the landlord know what you're doing. Check you're not paying too much on your bills...

You can usually switch your broadband & phone line - and can often save £100s a year. Millions are being fleeced, having to pay up to £45 a month for slow broadband and line rental, when faster speeds are available for as little as a third of that.

Unless your tenancy/rental agreement explicitly bans switching, you should be fine to do it without your landlord's permission, unless you require a new line fitted (for example, you're switching to cable). As most homes already use BT Openreach - the system used by most providers including Plusnet, Shell and Sky - switching's usually very simple.

To find all the latest deals for your home, use our Broadband Unbundled comparison. Current cheapest deals for broadband AND line rental include...

- Basic speed: Plusnet 10Mb '£12.74 a month'
- Fast fibre: Shell Energy 35Mb '£16.58 a month'
- Superfast fibre: Shell Energy 63Mb '£18.58 a month'

If you're on universal credit or similar benefits, special social broadband tariffs may be cheaper.
Can switching to a water meter save you £100s a year? (If it can, you're allowed.) Martin's water-meter rule of thumb for those in England and Wales is:

If there are more bedrooms in your home than people, or the same number, check if a water meter will save you money.

If that's you, use a water meter calculator to estimate savings. Mike did and emailed us: "We recently switched to a water meter in our new house. Our bill for two adults in a three-bed semi went from £62 a month to £32 a month [saving £360 a year]. Thanks for the tip."

As for whether you're allowed, the Water Industry Act says if you've a fixed-term tenancy agreement of six months or more, and you pay your water bills yourself, you DON'T need your landlord's permission - though again courtesy says it's worth discussing with them.

In Scotland / Northern Ireland? Meters aren't free in Scotland, and Northern Ireland has a different system. So this is mainly for those in England and Wales.
Half of renters DON'T have contents insurance - but it can cost less than £10 a month. Your landlord is responsible for buildings insurance, but you need to consider insurance for your contents (essentially the stuff that'd fall if you turned your home upside down).

It's worth thinking about what this would cost to replace, in the (hopefully theoretical) event all your belongings were ruined or stolen. If it's a high figure you couldn't afford, consider cheap contents insurance for tenants. That link takes you through it, but in short:

- Speedily get quotes from comparison sites. Try Confused.com*, Compare The Market*, MoneySupermarket* and Gocompare to speedily bag a decent number of quotes. Then check Direct Line*, which isn't on comparisons.

- Check cashback websites before buying. Once you've found the right policy for you, check if a cashback website will pay you for getting the insurance through it - though always double-check the price is the same.

- If struggling to find cover. Specialist brokers Home Protect* and Intelligent Insurance* can help, or the British Insurance Brokers' Association can find you a broker.
Check if you're due a council tax discount worth £100s. You could be eligible to have your council tax bill reduced - by anything from 25% to 100% off - depending on who lives in your home. Check Council tax discounts for the full list, but it's likely you're due a discount if:

- You live alone or only with those aged under 18.
- You're in an all-student household.
- You're a non-student living with students.
- You're on a low income or get pension credit or other benefits.

Plus use our check & challenge system to see if your home's in the wrong council tax band.
In a house- / flat-share? Use a free app to split the bills. Keeping track of bills can be a complete nightmare, especially if there are a few of you. Fortunately, a free app can help you keep track.

Furnish your home for FREE with sofas, beds, sofa beds, TVs & more. If you've rented unfurnished or part-furnished, online giveaway sites can help you find what you need for nowt. eBay's also worth checking for cheap stuff too - see our 41 eBay buying tips.

It worked for Henry B, who tweeted: "@MoneySavingExp I got a Robin Day 675 chair on Freecycle." (These normally go for £100+ on eBay.)
Letting fees are BANNED - beware bogus charges. Some landlords and letting agents charge £100s for credit checks, photocopying and so on. But since 2019 many such fees have been banned across England, Scotland and Wales (though some are still allowed in Northern Ireland). See our full guide to what they can and CAN'T charge and what to do if you're wrongly asked to pay.

PS: In London? Check if your home's properly licensed. You could be owed £1,000s if your landlord hasn't followed the rules. Use the property licence checker.
Save 60%+ on rent by becoming a 'property guardian'. For those who can be flexible about where they live and how often they move, you can baby-sit empty properties to deter squatters. These can be private homes, office blocks, fire stations, churches, schools and more. Rent's usually a fraction of what you'd normally pay - for example, this week we found properties (with bills included) in Newcastle for £190 a month and Kent for £300 a month. Full info in property guardians.
Paying rent on time can boost your ability to get credit. Private renters and social-housing tenants can opt in to free schemes that record rental payments on their Experian, Equifax or TransUnion credit reports (though it'll cost if you want to report to all three).

If you pay on time each month, it could help you demonstrate a good payment history and boost your chances of getting a mortgage, credit card and more in future. Yet if you don't pay on time it'll hurt your credit history, so think carefully about joining if worried you may pay late. See make rent boost your credit chances.
Sharing a joint account with a flatmate can be financially risky. Apply for a loan, credit card, mortgage, mobile phone contract or other debt and the lender will use your past actions to predict future behaviour.

And if those past actions include a joint account with someone with a dodgy credit record, even if it's just a flatmate, you need to know that their credit history can affect yours. So while joint bills accounts with flatmates can be easy and convenient, think carefully before linking up.

And if you've moved out and are no longer financially linked with old flatmates, ask credit reference agencies for a 'notice of disassociation'. More info and how to unlink in Credit scores.
If you're in dispute with your landlord, help's available - and they have responsibilities too. If you think you've been unfairly treated during your tenancy - or your landlord hasn't kept the home safe and in good working order - there are official bodies to help you complain (though they have limited powers). See landlord responsibilities and your rights.
Saving to buy? Get a FREE £1,000-a-year boost towards a deposit on your first home. Not everyone who rents wants to buy. But if you do, it can be challenging to build up a big deposit while simultaneously paying lots in rent - especially with other bills also soaring.

One way to boost your deposit is to open a Lifetime ISA, where you can save up to £4,000 a year and get a 25% bonus from the state (max £1,000 a year). You can open one if you're aged 18 to 39 and have never owned a home.

It's also worth downloading our First-time buyers' guide - it's got all the info you need to know before stepping on to the property ladder.

DON'T believe the fake 'Martin Lewis' or 'MSE' ads
Lots of scam ads litter social media and even newspaper websites - some of these lie that we or Martin promote Bitcoin, binary trading etc. See Fake ads warning.

New. FREE £175 to switch bank (+ play the system to grab 1.5% easy-access savings on top)

This week HSBC launched a massive £175 bank switch bribe - the biggest upfront cash offer we've seen for over two years. But if you're willing to play the system, you can combine banks' offers to grab 1.5% savings and 1% cashback too. Here's how...

Get £175 to switch bank, or £150 + top service. Switching's easy - just open the account (passing a not-too-harsh credit check), then use the new bank's official switch service and it's all done in seven working days. Current top deals include...
- New. TOP FOR UPFRONT CASH: HSBC - free £175. New switchers to the HSBC Advance* account can get a free £175 (only through our link or MoneySupermarket). It's the biggest upfront cash offer we've seen since before the pandemic. Yet in our latest customer service poll, it only scored 38% 'great' for service.

- TOP FOR SERVICE: First Direct - free £150 and 0% overdraft. If great service is key, newbies to First Direct* can get a free £150 to switch to it, or £20 to try it* (if you want to switch later on, you can call it to get the extra £130). Plus it gives many a £250 0% overdraft. It's currently rated 90% 'great' for service, and has been top or near top in every poll we've ever done.

See full switch bonus and eligibility info, plus details of four more £100-to-£150 switch offers, in Best bank accounts.
Combine the free switch cash with Chase's TOP 1.5% SAVINGS and 1% cashback. Open the app-only Chase current account* and you can get its linked easy-access savings account, which pays 1.5% AER variable interest on up to £250,000 (though only £85,000 of that has UK savings safety protection). You also get 1% cashback on all debit card spending for a year (activate it in the app) and it's a top pick for spending overseas too.

As you DON'T need to switch to Chase to get all this, you could switch to HSBC or First Direct for the free cash, then put your savings in Chase, and filter some of your cash in there to spend each month to get the cashback. Do that and you've a corking combination.

As the war in Ukraine continues, here's how you can donate money or help.

40+ coupons, including veggies for 1p, free £1 pork scratchings, £15 off £60 at Sainsbury's & more. See April's supermarket coupons round-up.

Warning. Councils report £150 energy rebate delays. Many households in council tax bands A to D have been told they now WON'T get their rebate in April. See full info, including how to set up a direct debit to prevent further delays.

Free £14 seeds & a year's 2for1 garden visits (for Kew, Warwick Castle & more) via £7.50 magazine. Valid at 392 UK gardens (seeds not available in Northern Ireland). Gardeners' World

90 ways to survive the cost of living crisis. In case you missed Martin's cost of living survival kit last week, see how to cut back, be thrifty, and access little-known support, to keep afloat in difficult times.

New. Pay interest on credit card debt? Shift it to 0% for 34 months (2.7% fee). A balance transfer is where you get a new card that repays debt on old cards, so you owe it instead, but interest-free. This new Virgin Money card* gives accepted newbies 34 months at 0% - the longest interest-free period out there. Though it's best to check your acceptance odds before applying. Golden rules: Repay at least the monthly minimum, and clear the card before the 0% ends or it's 21.9% rep APR. Full help & options in Top balance transfers (APR examples).

Extra 750,000 households qualify for warm home discount this winter - will you get it? But the rule change also sees 300,000 households currently eligible lose out. See who now qualifies.

New. Samsung S21 FE 5G with 100GB data for £23/month - cheapest we've seen. MSE Blagged. Buying a new smartphone isn't MoneySaving, but if you'll buy one anyway, do it the cheapest way. If you're new to network Three, you can get a 128GB Samsung S21 FE 5G* with 100GB/month of data for £23/month with nowt to pay upfront, via Affordable Mobiles. It's £552 in total over the two-year contract, £207 less than a similar deal from Three itself. Want a different handset? Use our Cheap Mobile Finder. Note: Three's responsible for the contract, Affordable Mobiles for the handset.

Poll: How much has your energy direct debit increased by? The energy price cap rose 54% on 1 April, sending bills skyrocketing. But many report higher percentage rises, so please tell us how much your direct debit's gone up by.

BLAGGED FOR MSE

- Samsung S21 FE 5G with 100GB data '£23/month' Ends 30 April
- £4 razor & refill starter kit (normally £8) 3,000 available

DID YOU MISS?

- Is it time to get solar panels?
- Happy New Tax Year - check your new take-home pay
- Ends today (Wed). Extra 20% off Amazon's 'hidden' Warehouse
- Around 700,000 miss out on passport fee savings
- Achoo - 180 hay fever tablets for £4.79

'I saved £213 a year switching bills - and I now feel so empowered because I've done something about my finances'

We love hearing your MoneySaving successes, and while we often highlight the very biggest savings and reclaims in our Success of the Week, Sam's tale of how she saved just over £200 a year on her bills (without cutting back) using our tips is no less inspiring. It shows how saving a little off this bill and a little off that one can really add up and make a difference...

To: successes@moneysavingexpert.com
Sent: 6 April 2022, 4.37pm
Subject: Savings successes

Hi guys & gals,

I am 65 on universal credit with uplift for disability, so have a fixed income.

I used your Car Insurance Multi-Compare tool and saved £53 on last year's price. My contents insurance has a valuable zero compulsory excess, so I wanted to keep the policy, but managed to politely haggle the renewal price down £32 to last year's cost with no loss of cover.

I also used your advice re: broadband social tariffs [for those on universal credit and other benefits] and saved £5 a month with BT. Another thing I did was contact my water company, and after a quick round of questions I now receive a 20% discount - that's about £40 a year. I have also saved £60 a year by changing my mobile Sim - and got a better connection.

On top of that, I set up a standing order from my First Direct current account to my cash ISA for one-twelfth of my annual bills, and I popped £3,000 of savings into it too that was doing diddly-squat elsewhere.

All totalled up that's £213 a year, plus the little bit of interest from the ISA. It won't cover the energy increases, but I've gone from being very worried to concerned, and I feel so empowered because I've done something about my finances. Keep up the great work.

Kind regards & ever grateful for your tips - which feel like having a hug.

Sam

Egg-citing free (or cheap) ways to keep kids entertained this Easter. Including homemade 'Play-Doh', virtual tours, restaurants where kids eat 'free' or for £1, and family movies on free TV. Easter kids' activities

£4 razor & refill starter kit (normally £8). MSE Blagged. This was mega popular last time we featured it, so we've blagged another 3,000 half-price kits. Brighter Shaving

Boots 'Price Advantage' offers now available online - but how good are the deals? Special discounts for Advantage cardholders also now include 100+ more products, but they're not usually cheapest. See our full Boots analysis.

New. Cheapest ever 2.7% loans - if you NEED to borrow. Last week, Novuna Personal Finance* (best to check your eligibility odds before applying) launched 2.7% rep APR loans for those borrowing £7,500 to £15,000, equalling all-time lowest rates. (Note though that 'rep APR' means only 51% of applicants need get that rate - others can be charged more.) IMPORTANT: Never borrow just because loans are cheap - only do it for something budgeted for and affordable, which you NEED. Plus minimise the amount, never miss a payment and repay ASAP. Full info in Cheap personal loans (APR examples).

B&Q £5 off £30 spend. For newbies to its free loyalty scheme. See how to get £5 off at B&Q.

Martin: 'What happened to my pledge to give £10 million to charity (spoiler: it's now £20 million).' As it was a public pledge, Martin does this every year or two for transparency. Find out how much, who benefits and how he decides.

FREE National Running Show tickets (normally £10). For Farnborough, 7-8 May. 5,000 available. On your marks

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AT A GLANCE BEST BUYS

New. Longest 0%: Virgin Money (check eligibility / apply*) - 34 months 0%, 2.7% fee (21.9% rep APR interest)
No-fee 0%: Santander (check eligibility / apply*) - 21 months 0% (20.9% rep APR) or NatWest - 22 months 0% if you're a NatWest/RBS customer (21.9% rep APR)

Standard (10Mb+): Plusnet '£12.74/month'
Fibre (30Mb+): Shell Energy '£16.58/month'
Superfast fibre (55Mb+): Shell Energy '£18.58/month'

Top easy-access: Chase 1.5%, no min
Top one-year fix: Jordan International Bank 1.9%, min £10,000

Try our new MSE Car Insurance Multi-Compare tool

Cheapest, £5k-£7.5k: MBNA (check eligibility / apply*) - 3.4% rep APR interest
Cheapest, £7.5k-£15k: Novuna Finance (check eligibility / apply*) - 2.7% rep APR interest

New. £175 to switch: HSBC
£150 to switch + TOP service: First Direct

Up to 3GB data: Lebara, £3.90/month for 1GB, unlimited mins & texts
4GB-9GB data: Lebara, '£4.28/month' for 5GB, unlimited mins & texts
10GB+ data: Lebara, '£4.86/month' for 12GB, unlimited mins & texts

THIS WEEK'S POLL

How much has your energy direct debit increased by in the last two months? The energy price cap rose by an average 54% on 1 April, with millions seeing their energy bills skyrocket. But many are reporting higher percentage rises, so we want to know how much firms are increasing direct debits by.

Energy smart meters get mixed reviews. Last week, we asked what you thought of smart meters. Of the 11,000 people who voted, just over half already had smart meters. Of those, 47% liked not having to send meter readings manually. However, 26% reported installation or service problems and 22% said their meters had gone 'dumb' after they'd switched supplier. Of those who don't have smart meters, a whopping 80% said they didn't want them. See full poll results.

MSE NEWS

- Top story: Increases to universal credit and other benefits take force - check you're not missing out
- British Gas doubles its prepayment meter emergency credit limit to £10
- Funeral plan provider Safe Hands goes into administration
- Tesco to axe Clubcard double up perk for mobile phone holders from 15 June
- Over 1.2 million subscriptions cancelled as people feel the squeeze

MONEY MORAL DILEMMA

Should I ask my dad's wife to pay me for my house plant? Five months ago, I asked my dad's green-fingered wife if she could use her skills to nurse an orchid back to health for me. It's now looking healthy and pretty - but on their windowsill. Should I ask her to pay me for it if she wants to keep it, or should I just let her have it as she saved it? Enter the Money Moral Maze: Should I ask my dad's wife to pay me for my house plant? | Suggest a Money Moral Dilemma

- Tips for making your own chocolate eggs
- Cheap/free Easter egg hunt tips
- Homemade Easter craft ideas
- Strange hot cross bun flavours - can you find deals?

- Win flowers, chocolates & candles
- Win 'Paddington's Easter Egg Hunt' book
- Win a hanging egg chair worth £1,139
- Win various Mini Eggs prizes

MSE TEAM BLOG

- Hippos, robots & comfort cake - last week's MSE Forum highlights

MSE TEAM APPEARANCES (SUBJECT TBC)

Tue 19 Apr - BBC Radio Cambridgeshire, Mid-morning with Jeremy Sallis, from 12.40pm

WHAT'S THE LEAST MONEYSAVING THING YOU'VE EVER DONE?

That's all for this week, but before we go... we asked you to tell us what the least MoneySaving thing you've ever done is. Many told us about buying cars, costly trips overseas and even horses. But as well as those splashing out to treat themselves, we saw a few MoneySaving missteps. There was the man who paid £55 for a haircut at a posh salon, when the local barber does a better job for £10, and - amazingly - the lady who nipped out for a lunchtime sandwich, but arrived back to work with a £1,500 diamond ring. Share yours and read more in our What's the LEAST MoneySaving thing you've ever done? Facebook post.

We hope you save some money, stay safe,
The MSE team

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