True Cost of Owning a House — Monthly Running Cost Calculator (UK 2026)

Most buyers budget for the mortgage and forget the rest. This calculator adds council tax, energy, service charge, ground rent and insurance to your mortgage repayment to show the true cost of owning a house — per month or per year, freehold or leasehold. Enter what you know; leave any line blank and we exclude it honestly rather than guessing. The Complete report fills these lines in for a specific address using the real council tax band, EPC energy estimate and leasehold history.

Tenure:

Add the running costs you know — leave any blank and we'll exclude it honestly

From the property's council tax band

The EPC estimates this

Buildings + contents estimate

Instant calculation. Mortgage uses the standard amortisation formula.

Instant tool. The full property report is £9.99 Lite / £24.99 Complete — one report, one price, no subscription.

Why the mortgage isn't the real number

Ask most buyers what a house costs per month and they'll quote the mortgage. But the mortgage is only one line. Council tax, energy, insurance and — on a leasehold flat — service charge and ground rent can add hundreds of pounds a month on top. Budgeting on the mortgage alone is how people end up stretched after completion. This calculator builds the true cost of owning a house by adding every recurring line you know, and lets you switch between a monthly and an annual view.

The lines that make up the true cost of owning a house

  • Mortgage repayment — loan (price minus deposit) amortised over the term at your rate, using the standard repayment formula.
  • Council tax — set by your property's band and local authority; the England average is around £1,966/year. Enter the annual figure and the calculator divides by 12.
  • Energy — the property's EPC estimates a typical annual energy cost; enter it as an annual figure.
  • Service charge — leasehold flats only, paid monthly for building upkeep, insurance of the structure, lifts and communal areas. Switch the toggle to freehold and this drops out.
  • Ground rent — leasehold only, paid to the freeholder.
  • Insurance — buildings and contents (buildings cover is a lender requirement; on a leasehold flat the structure is usually insured through the service charge).

Honest gaps, not invented numbers

If you leave a line blank, the calculator does not guess it. It excludes the line from the total and tells you exactly which lines are missing — so a total of "£1,420/month excluding insurance" is honest about what it does and doesn't include. Most static "cost of owning a home" articles quote a single national average; this tool instead stacks your numbers and is upfront about every line it had to leave out.

Freehold vs leasehold — and what the hazards add

Freehold houses skip service charge and ground rent entirely. Leasehold flats carry both, and the service charge is the most variable line and the one most likely to surprise a buyer — they can rise sharply, and disputes over them are common enough to have their own tribunal. Beyond the obvious lines, the property itself can quietly raise your bills: a home in a flood zone can face a buildings-insurance uplift, a poor EPC band means higher energy costs, and subsidence risk can affect premiums too. The running cost isn't just the price tag.

Leasehold buyers: check the service charge history

Before you commit to a leasehold flat, check whether the building has a history of service-charge tribunal disputes — a pattern there is a material fact you'd want priced into your decision, and it directly affects the line that varies most. Lease length matters too: a lease under 80 years triggers marriage value and a costlier lease extension.

Get the real numbers for a real address

This calculator is only as good as the figures you feed it. The HouseCheckup Complete report pulls the actual council tax band, the EPC energy estimate and the leasehold context for a specific address, and folds the True Monthly Cost in alongside stamp duty, flood, crime and 70+ other checks — so the figure isn't a guess.

Frequently asked questions

The true cost of owning a house is your mortgage repayment plus every recurring cost of ownership: council tax, energy, buildings and contents insurance, and — for leasehold properties — service charge and ground rent. The mortgage is often only 60–75% of the real monthly outgoing. This calculator adds the lines you know into a single figure and tells you which lines it excluded.
Beyond the mortgage, the typical recurring monthly costs are council tax (England averages around £1,966/year), energy (the EPC estimates this), buildings and contents insurance, and ongoing maintenance. Leasehold flats also pay a service charge (commonly £100–£400+/month) and ground rent. Water, broadband and TV licence sit on top. This tool stacks mortgage, council tax, energy, insurance and the leasehold lines into one figure.
The mortgage line uses the standard repayment (capital-and-interest) amortisation formula, based on the loan amount (price minus deposit), the annual interest rate, and the term in years. A 0% rate is handled as straight-line repayment. This is the same formula UK lenders use to set monthly repayments.
Because guessing a number is worse than admitting a gap. If you don't enter council tax, energy, service charge, ground rent or insurance, the calculator excludes that line from the total and tells you it has done so — rather than inventing a figure that makes the total look precise when it isn't. Add the lines you can and the total sharpens.
For leasehold flats, service charges commonly run from around £100 to £400+ per month depending on the building, lift, concierge and grounds, and ground rent has historically ranged from a peppercorn to a few hundred pounds a year. Freehold houses pay neither — switch the tenure toggle to freehold and those lines drop out. Always check the actual figures for the specific lease, as they vary enormously and can rise.

Related tools

Mortgage CalculatorStamp Duty CalculatorService Charge Dispute Check

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