Good Learning Co.
SavannahYear 8
← Citizenship
CitizenshipRenting and buying a home30 min★★★ difficulty

The true cost of running a home

Rent or mortgage is only the headline. Council tax, energy, water, insurance and the one-off taxes of moving all land on the same doormat. This lesson builds the full monthly picture and finds where it can be cut.

Lesson overview

What you'll learn in this lesson

Understand a range of financial products and services, and how public money is raised and spent

Key learning points

  • • The bills nobody advertises
  • • Reading an energy bill
  • • One-off taxes and fees of moving
  • • Where the total can actually be cut

This lesson at a glance

  • 30 minutes
  • 18 parts to scroll through
  • 4 quick checks
  • Marked quiz at the end
  • Gentle pace: short sittings with pauses

Words to know

financialproductsservicespublicraised

Scroll down — the lesson carries on below

Part 1 of 18 · Discover6%
1

Watch & discover

Part 1 of 18

Watch first

The true cost of running a home

An English teaching video on this topic from Valuation Office. Watch it, then scroll down for the lesson.

In a nutshell

Understand a range of financial products and services, and how public money is raised and spent

2

What you already know

Part 2 of 18

Before we start

What you already know

You can work out a monthly total from a list of costs and find a percentage of an amount.

Recap: Renting your first place
3

Key words

Part 3 of 18

Key words

Words you'll need today

Council tax
A tax on homes that funds local services, set by band A to H.
Standing charge
A daily fee on an energy bill you pay before using any energy.
Unit rate
The price per kilowatt hour of gas or electricity used.
Stamp duty
A tax on buying property above a threshold.
Buildings insurance
Cover for the structure itself, required by mortgage lenders.
Contents insurance
Cover for your belongings inside the home.
4

Learning cycle

Part 4 of 18

Learning cycle 1 of 2

Adding up the real bills

A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.

5

Explore the idea

Part 5 of 18

Learn

The bills nobody advertises

A two-bedroom house: mortgage £820, council tax £148, energy £95, water £34, broadband £27, buildings and contents insurance £21, TV licence £14. Total £1,159 — the mortgage is 71% of it. A household planning only for £820 is £339 a month short, which is exactly how people end up on a credit card for ordinary bills.

6

Explore the idea

Part 6 of 18

Learn

Reading an energy bill

Energy has two parts. The standing charge is a daily fee whatever you use: 55p a day for electricity is 55 × 31 = £17.05 in a 31-day month, before a single light goes on. The unit rate then charges per kilowatt hour used: 240 kWh at 25p is £60. Total £77.05. Knowing the split explains why a small flat's bill is never tiny, and why 'use less' only cuts one of the two parts.

7

Quick check

Part 7 of 18

Quick check

Mortgage £820 of a total housing cost of £1,159. The mortgage is about:

8

Reset break

Part 8 of 18

Pause

That's sitting 1 of 2 done

Stretch, get a drink, look out of the window. There is no timer and nothing is counting down — your place is saved, so you can come back in five minutes or tomorrow.

Stop here for now
9

Quick check

Part 9 of 18

Quick check

A 55p daily standing charge over a 31-day month costs:

10

Learning cycle

Part 10 of 18

Learning cycle 2 of 2

Taxes, cover and cutting the total

A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.

11

Explore the idea

Part 11 of 18

Learn

One-off taxes and fees of moving

Buying adds costs that never appear again: stamp duty above the threshold, roughly £1,200 in legal fees, £400 or so in survey and searches, plus moving. Renting adds the deposit and the first month up front. In both cases the sensible plan is to save the moving costs separately from the deposit, because spending the deposit on removals is how a purchase falls through.

12

Explore the idea

Part 12 of 18

Learn

Where the total can actually be cut

Some costs are fixed by law or band and will not budge — council tax depends on the property's band, not on how careful you are, though single-adult households get a 25% discount. The movable ones are energy tariff and usage, broadband at the end of a contract, and insurance at renewal, where loyalty is usually punished rather than rewarded. Ten minutes comparing insurance beats a month of cutting back on food.

13

Quick check

Part 13 of 18

Quick check

240 kWh at 25p per kWh plus £17.05 standing charge comes to:

14

Quick check

Part 14 of 18

Quick check

An adult living alone can claim what council tax discount?

15

Common mix-ups

Part 15 of 18

Common mix-ups

Things people often get wrong

  • Thinking a bill of £0 is possible if you use no energy — the standing charge still applies.
  • Confusing buildings insurance (the structure) with contents insurance (your things).
  • Assuming council tax falls if you use fewer services; it is set by band.
16

Challenge round

Part 16 of 18

Game · Sort it

Which of these are true?

Drag each card into the right column. Tap a card first if dragging is fiddly.

True

Not true

17

Mastery quiz

Part 17 of 18

Marked quiz

End of lesson quiz: The true cost of running a home

3 questions, marked with the reasoning shown. No timer.

  1. 1. Which cost is easiest to reduce?

  2. 2. Which insurance does a mortgage lender require?

  3. 3. Why save moving costs separately from a deposit?

18

Lesson round-up

Part 18 of 18

Lesson round-up

Ready when you are

Quiz score

Not sat

Games

Not played

Points this lesson

0

Best run

0 in a row

Luna: 0 out of 4 on the practice checks. Only if you feel up to it — one more?

Ask Luna

Do the work

Your written work for this lesson

This is the part you'd do in your book at school. Pick the pieces below, write here or on paper, and photograph anything you draw or work out.

Case study

Should the town centre have a curfew for under-16s?

After a rise in reported vandalism, Harbrook council proposed that under-16s should not be in the town centre after 9 pm without an adult. Police recorded 62 incidents last year, most between 9 pm and midnight. Shopkeepers signed a petition supporting the plan.

A youth council objected. They pointed out that most young people in town at night were going home from sports clubs or work, that the plan punishes a whole group for the acts of a few, and that the library and the bus interchange are in the town centre. They asked instead for a late bus and a youth space.

The council voted to trial the curfew for six months and to publish the crime figures at the end.

Written for Good Learning Co.

Reading questions

  1. Give the strongest point on each side of the argument, using a fact from the case.
  2. Whose rights and whose responsibilities are involved here? Explain both.
  3. Write your own view on the curfew with reasons and one example.

  • Reading and response

    Reading

    Read the case in the lesson again and write what you think should happen, and why it is fair. Use one fact from the case as evidence.

    2 paragraphs (PEE)

  • Extended writing

    Writing

    Write your answer to the lesson's big question in full: the strongest point on each side, then your own view with reasons and an example.

    250–350 words

  • Reading log

    Reading

    Find one news story this week that links to this lesson. Note the headline, where you read it, and how it connects.

    1 story, 4–5 sentences

  • Two sides of the argument

    Writing

    Write the strongest point for, the strongest point against, and then your own view with a reason.

    3 paragraphs

  • Poster or leaflet plan

    Diagram

    Plan a leaflet that explains this right or responsibility to someone your age, then photograph it.

    1 planned page

Saved as you type.

Part 1 of 18 · Watch & discover

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