Researched and sourced from official UK data. Educational, not advice.
Excluding a mortgage or rent, a typical UK home costs around £470 to £700 a month to run: the bill stack (council tax, energy, water, broadband and the rest), plus what owning adds on top, mainly maintenance and buildings insurance.
Add housing and most households reach £1,850 to £2,300 a month. Food and everyday spending sit on top of that.
What you actually pay varies most with your home's size, how energy efficient it is, whether you own or rent, and where you live.
You may see a higher headline of £700 to £1,000 a month quoted elsewhere for "running a home". That usually folds in groceries, which we treat as a separate living cost, not a cost of the property itself.
The cost of running a house in the UK, at a glance
Running costs group into a few buckets. The bill stack is the same for renters and owners; owning adds maintenance and buildings insurance. This table is the aggregate. For the typical figure behind each individual bill, see our average monthly bills breakdown.
About these figures: "running costs" means the bills and upkeep that keep a property going. It excludes rent or a mortgage (shown separately below) and food (a living cost). "Typical" means a mid-range UK household on the latest 2026 figures. These are national averages for context, not a quote for your home.
| Cost bucket | Typical / month | Applies to |
|---|---|---|
| Household bills (council tax, energy, water, broadband, TV, insurance) | ~£470 to £490 | everyone |
| Maintenance and repairs | ~£208 | owners |
| Total running costs, excluding rent, mortgage and food | ~£470 to £700 | renting to owning |
- Household bills£490
- Maintenance and repairs£208
Rent or a mortgage then sits on top, and it is the biggest single line for most households. Average UK private rent is £1,381 a month (ONS, May 2026), though how much rent you can afford depends on your own income. The average mortgage payment is around £1,355 to £1,592 a month in 2026, with first-time buyers nearer £975. So all-in, most renting or recently-mortgaged households spend roughly £1,850 to £2,300 a month on housing plus running costs, before food. A mortgage-free owner pays little beyond the running costs above.
What counts as "running a house"?
Running costs are the recurring costs of keeping a property going: the household bill stack (council tax, energy, water, broadband, a TV licence, and insurance) plus, if you own, ongoing maintenance and buildings insurance. They do not include the rent or mortgage itself, one-off furnishing, or food. Keeping housing and food separate is what lets renters and owners compare like for like.
What owning adds on top of the bills
Renters and owners share the same bill stack. What separates them is the upkeep layer, which only owners carry.
Maintenance and repairs
Owners take on repairs a landlord would otherwise handle. A common rule of thumb is to set aside about 1% of your home's value a year for upkeep, rising to 2 to 3% for older or period properties. On a £250,000 home that is roughly £2,500 a year, or about £208 a month set aside. It is not a monthly bill: the money goes on occasional big jobs like a boiler or a roof, so averaging it over the year is what makes it comparable to the other running costs.
One-off replacements
Some costs are not monthly but land in large lumps: a new boiler can be £2,000 to £3,500 every 10 to 15 years, a roof far more. The maintenance reserve above is what those are for. Spreading a little each month means a failure is a nuisance rather than a crisis, which is also what an emergency fund is there to absorb.
Buildings insurance
Owners insure the building itself, not just its contents. Combined buildings and contents cover averages about £375 a year (£31 a month), and is usually cheaper paid annually than monthly. Renters only need contents cover, which is cheaper, because insuring the building itself is the landlord's responsibility, not the tenant's.
A worked example: what one household pays
Take an owner-occupied three-bed house on a mortgage. The bill stack is around £490 a month, and maintenance adds about £208, so running costs come to roughly £700 a month. Add a £1,473 mortgage and the all-in housing-plus-running cost is about £2,170 a month, before food.
A household renting the same house skips maintenance and buildings insurance, so their running costs are nearer £470 a month. Add £1,381 average rent and they are at about £1,850 a month, before food. The gap between the two is mostly the upkeep an owner takes on in exchange for building equity.
Does where you live change the cost?
Yes, more than most people expect. Council tax and water are set locally, and housing swings hugely by region. Average rent runs from around £1,438 a month in England to £834 in Wales (ONS, May 2026), and an average mortgage from roughly £2,312 in London to £734 in the North East. Council tax on the same band can differ by hundreds of pounds a year between authorities.
See what your home actually costs
These are national averages. Your real running cost depends on your band, your home's efficiency, your usage and whether you own or rent. keel shows what you actually spend across every account, so you can see your own number rather than a typical one, and what to do about it. It brings your spending together from your bank statements, whichever UK bank you use. See how keel works.
Estimator
What would your home cost to run?
Start from typical 2026 figures for your home, then edit any line to match what you actually pay. National averages for context, not a quote.
That’s a typical estimate for a home like yours.
keel works out your household’s real running cost for you, automatically, so you see your own number rather than a national average.
Figures are sourced 2026 averages from ONS, Ofgem, Water UK, gov.uk and the ABI (see Sources below). They are national context, not advice on your own finances.
Common questions
What is the average cost to run a house in the UK?
Excluding rent, a mortgage and food, a typical UK home costs around £470 a month to run if you rent and about £700 if you own, once maintenance is counted. Add housing and most households reach £1,850 to £2,300 a month. Your figure depends on size, efficiency and location.
How much does it cost to run a 3-bed house?
An owner-occupied three-bed house typically runs to around £700 a month excluding the mortgage: roughly £490 of bills plus £208 of maintenance. Renting the same house is nearer £470, without the maintenance and buildings insurance. Council tax band and energy efficiency shift the total more than the extra bedroom does.
How much does it cost to run a 4-bed house?
A larger four-bed home runs higher than average, mainly on energy, council tax and maintenance. Owner running costs are often around £800 to £850 a month excluding the mortgage, against roughly £700 for a typical three-bed, because a bigger home costs more to heat, light and keep up. Its EPC rating and council tax band move it most.
Does the cost to run a house include the mortgage?
No. Running costs are the bills and upkeep that keep the property going, shown here as around £470 to £700 a month. The mortgage or rent is a separate housing line that sits on top, and it is the biggest single cost for most households.
Are running costs higher for older homes?
Usually yes. Older and period properties tend to have lower EPC ratings (so higher energy bills) and higher maintenance, often 2 to 3% of value a year against about 1% for a newer home.
Is £200 a week enough to live on after bills?
That is about £867 a month for everything beyond housing and running costs: food, transport and everyday spending. The average UK household spends closer to £1,000 a month on those (ONS total spend of £2,930, less housing and bills), so £200 a week is workable for a smaller household but leaves little slack, and depends on where you live. General context, not advice on your circumstances.
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