Renting a one-bed alone in Lewisham at the borough’s average rent of £1,457 a month (ONS Price Index of Private Rents, August 2026, on the London Rent Index on FTR London) costs about £538 a month more once council tax, energy, water, the TV licence and a Zones 1–3 Travelcard are added, and about £3,138 up front before you move in. Those are the costs this guide calls hidden: not secret, but easy to leave out when you compare rents. Every figure below was checked on 24 September 2026, and the rules are those in force in England since 1 May 2026.
What you pay before you move in
Since 1 May 2026, the most you can be asked for before a tenancy starts is a holding deposit, a tenancy deposit and one month’s rent. No rent can be taken before you sign, and no more than one month’s rent between signing and the start date (GOV.UK: Tenant Fees Act guidance).
- Holding deposit: at most one week’s rent, to take the property off the market. It can be credited towards your deposit or first month’s rent. It must be returned within 7 days if the landlord doesn’t go ahead, and can be kept only in set cases, such as giving false information or failing the right to rent check.
- Tenancy deposit: at most five weeks’ rent, or six weeks if the annual rent is £50,000 or more. It must be protected in an approved scheme within 30 days (GOV.UK: deposit protection).
- First month’s rent: at most one month’s rent, payable only after you sign.
| Home | Average rent | Five-week deposit | Total before move-in |
|---|---|---|---|
| One-bed, London average | £1,760 | £2,030.77 | £3,790.77 |
| Two-bed, London average | £2,232 | £2,575.38 | £4,807.38 |
| Three-bed, London average | £2,643 | £3,049.62 | £5,692.62 |
| One-bed, Lewisham | £1,457 | £1,681.15 | £3,138.15 |
A week’s rent is the annual rent divided by 52, so a five-week deposit is about 1.15 times the monthly rent. The holding deposit usually comes off these totals.
Some landlords offer a deposit replacement product instead of a deposit: you pay a non-refundable fee and remain liable for any damage or arrears. Flatfair charges 28% of a month’s rent or £120, whichever is greater, plus VAT (flatfair), and Reposit one week’s rent with a £150 minimum (Reposit). It must be your choice, not a condition of the tenancy. It lowers the cash you need up front, but the fee doesn’t come back, and a normal deposit does if you leave the flat in good order.
Fees you can’t be charged
Since June 2019 the Tenant Fees Act has banned almost every fee that used to be added to London tenancies: no charges for referencing, credit checks, viewings, inventories, check-out, or setting up the tenancy. The only payments a landlord or agent can take are rent, the capped deposits, and a short list of defaults: interest on rent more than 14 days late (at 3% above the Bank of England base rate), the evidenced cost of replacing lost keys, up to £50 to change the tenancy at your request, and, if you leave early by agreement, no more than the rent due to the end of the notice period (GOV.UK: Tenant Fees Act statutory guidance). A block’s service charge is not a permitted payment either; it can only be built into the rent. Being asked for anything else is a red flag.
Council tax: the biggest cost most renters miss
If you rent a whole home, you pay the council tax (GOV.UK: who has to pay). In a house let room by room, the landlord is usually liable instead and builds it into the rent. London’s average Band D bill is £2,068 for 2026/27, up 4.4% (MHCLG), but the borough matters far more than the average: Wandsworth’s Band D is £1,020.35, the lowest in England, and Westminster’s £1,047.85, while Kingston upon Thames charges £2,608.12, the highest in London.
Your home’s band decides the bill. Band C pays eight-ninths of Band D and Band A two-thirds, so check the band on GOV.UK before you sign.
If you live alone you get 25% off, and households where everyone is a full-time student pay nothing. In Lewisham, a Band C bill for someone living alone comes to about £124 a month. Bills are usually split into ten monthly payments rather than twelve, which makes each payment higher; you can ask your council for twelve. Our guide to council tax and utilities in a London rental explains how to set it up.
One thing to watch: Wandsworth has written to residents about a possible large rise for 2027/28. It has not been decided and won’t be until early 2027, but it matters if you are choosing Wandsworth for its low council tax.
Energy, water and the TV licence
Energy. Ofgem’s price cap for October to December 2026 is £1,723 a year for a typical dual-fuel household paying by Direct Debit, up 4% on the summer (Ofgem), about £144 a month. A small flat may use less. Electricity carries no VAT from 1 October 2026 to 31 March 2027, and Ofgem says fixed tariffs are available at £100 or more below the cap. Check the flat’s EPC rating before you sign: a poorly insulated home costs more to heat (see our EPC guide).
Water. The average household water and sewerage bill in England and Wales is about £639 a year for 2026/27 (Water UK, via Discover Water), about £53 a month. A water meter is usually fitted free, and may cut the bill for a single person or couple (CCW).
TV licence. £180 a year from April 2026 (GOV.UK), £15 a month, if you watch live TV on any channel or service, or use BBC iPlayer; on-demand streaming such as Netflix doesn’t need one. In a shared home, one licence covers a joint tenancy, but tenants with separate tenancies each need their own.
Broadband, phone and contents insurance vary too much by address and provider for an average to mean much, so price them for the specific flat. A landlord can’t make you take out contents insurance as a condition of the tenancy.
Getting around
A monthly adult Travelcard costs £171.70 for Zones 1–2, £201.60 for Zones 1–3, £246.60 for Zones 1–4, £293.40 for Zones 1–5 and £313.40 for Zones 1–6, and prices are frozen until March 2027 (TfL 2026 fares). If you commute only a few days a week, paying as you go is usually cheaper: the daily cap for Zones 1–3 is £10.50, so three days costs at most £31.50 against a weekly cap of £52.50. Buses and trams cost £1.75 a journey until 1 November 2026, then £1.85, with the daily bus and tram cap rising to £5.55.
Students aged 18 and over can get an 18+ Student Oyster photocard for a £22 fee, which gives 30% off Travelcards and bus passes. Santander Cycles cost from £1.65 per 30 minutes, or £120 a year for membership. If you bring a car, check the Congestion Charge (£18 a day in the central zone at charging times) and whether your car meets the ULEZ standard (non-compliant cars pay £12.50 a day, London-wide). Our guide to London rent by Tube zone sets rent against fares zone by zone.
A full monthly budget, worked through
Take a renter living alone in a one-bed in Lewisham, commuting into central London five days a week.
| Cost | Per month | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| Rent | £1,457.00 | ONS average one-bed, Lewisham, August 2026 |
| Council tax | £124.30 | Band C, 25% single-person discount, 2026/27 |
| Energy | £143.58 | Ofgem typical dual-fuel bill, October–December 2026 |
| Water | £53.25 | England and Wales average, 2026/27 |
| TV licence | £15.00 | £180 a year |
| Travelcard, Zones 1–3 | £201.60 | TfL 2026 |
| Total | £1,994.73 | Before broadband, phone, insurance and food |
The £538 of extras adds 37% to the rent. On the median full-time salary of London residents, £46,414 in April 2025 (ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, provisional), take-home pay after 2026/27 income tax and National Insurance, with no pension or student loan deductions, is about £3,078 a month, so this budget takes about 65% of it before any other spending. The ONS estimated that a London private-renting household on median income would spend 41.6% of its gross income on an average rent in the financial year ending March 2024 (ONS), well above the 30% it treats as affordable. That is why sharing, or a cheaper borough, is how many Londoners make the numbers work: see our comparison of renting alone and sharing.
Where the rent is lower, the extras don’t always follow
A cheaper borough doesn’t always mean cheaper living. Crossing a borough boundary can make a large difference to rent: the average one-bed is £1,992 in Tower Hamlets and £1,630 in next-door Newham (ONS, August 2026). But council tax can run the other way: Westminster’s Band D is less than half of Croydon’s or Bexley’s, and the outer boroughs usually need a more expensive Travelcard. Add the three together before you decide. In Greenwich, where Woolwich and Abbey Wood are on the Elizabeth line, the average one-bed is £1,563, but average rents for all homes there rose 6.1% in the year to August 2026, the second-fastest rise in London after Islington.
What changes once you’re in
Rent increases. Since 1 May 2026 your landlord can raise the rent only once a year, not in the first year, and only by serving a Form 4A notice at least two months ahead. If you think the new rent is above the open market, you can ask the First-tier Tribunal to decide, and it can’t set a higher rent than the landlord proposed (GOV.UK: assured periodic tenancies). Budget for a rise each year: London one-bed rents rose 3.7% in the year to August 2026 (ONS Price Index of Private Rents), which on the £1,760 average one-bed is £65.12 a month. Our guide to negotiating rent covers how to respond to a Form 4A.
Repairs. Your landlord must keep the structure, heating, hot water, electrics and plumbing in repair (Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, section 11). You pay for damage you cause, and for things the tenancy makes your responsibility, such as replacing light bulbs.
Leaving. You can end your tenancy with two months’ notice, or less if an agreement signed before May 2026 allows it. At the end, deductions are typically for damage beyond fair wear and tear, cleaning to return the flat to its condition at the start, and unpaid rent or bills; there is no check-out fee. Our guide to getting your full deposit back shows how to protect it.
How to budget before you sign
- Add council tax for the specific band and borough to the rent, not the London average.
- Price energy using the flat’s EPC rating and ask the landlord what the last tenant paid.
- Work out your travel: Travelcard or pay as you go, depending on how many days you commute.
- Set aside the deposit plus first month, less any holding deposit, before you view.
- Allow for a rent rise after the first year.
- Check the landlord or agent: the Land Registry confirms who owns a property for £7, and letting agents must belong to a redress scheme (The Property Ombudsman or the Property Redress Scheme).
Ready to look?
Compare one-bedroom flats to rent in London or rooms in shared flats, where bills are often included. On FTR London, landlords list their homes themselves and you contact them directly, so you can ask about council tax band, EPC rating and bills before you view.
Landlords: renters now compare total monthly cost, not just rent. State the council tax band, EPC rating and what’s included in your advert, and list your property on FTR London.
How we researched this: rents from the ONS Price Index of Private Rents (August 2026); council tax from MHCLG (2026/27); energy from Ofgem (October–December 2026); water from Water UK (2026/27); fares from TfL (2026); pay from ONS ASHE (April 2025, provisional); fees and tenancy rules from GOV.UK and legislation.gov.uk. Checked on 24 September 2026.
Correction, 24 September 2026: this guide was rewritten. Earlier versions gave outdated council tax, TV licence and Travelcard figures (including a Westminster Band D of £608 and Kingston of £1,989), said service charges could be passed to tenants, applied a leaseholder consultation rule to renters, and described rent increases and early termination under the rules before 1 May 2026.
