Almost every student room in Birmingham is advertised as bills included. Few listings say what that covers, where the limits sit, or what you still pay for yourself. Here is the honest version.
What is normally in, and what almost never is
"Bills included" is a marketing phrase, not a legal definition. It usually means the same four things, and it usually excludes the same three.
| Usually included | Usually not included |
|---|---|
| Electricity | TV Licence |
| Gas or communal heating and hot water | Contents insurance beyond the basic block policy |
| Water and sewerage | Your own mobile phone contract |
| Broadband or building Wi-Fi | Streaming subscriptions, printing credit, room upgrades |
Council tax sits outside both columns. Full-time students are exempt, but in a shared house the exemption is not automatic — you have to tell Birmingham City Council and supply a student certificate. In purpose-built halls it is handled for you.
The TV Licence question
This one is genuinely misunderstood.
If your room is let under its own agreement, you need your own licence to watch live TV on any channel or streaming service, or to use BBC iPlayer, on any device. TV Licensing is explicit: the building's licence covers communal areas and does not cover you in your room. A standard colour licence costs £180 a year from 1 April 2026, up from £174.50.
There are two ways out, both narrower than the rumours suggest. You do not need your own licence if you only watch on a device that is not plugged into the mains — a laptop, phone or tablet on battery — and you are already covered at your parents' address. Plug the laptop in to charge and that cover stops applying. Separately, TV Licensing lets students claim a refund for unused months at the end of the academic year, provided a complete month is left to run. On a 42-week tenancy that is worth having.
Netflix, Disney+ and on-demand YouTube do not need a licence. Live sport streamed as it airs does.
Contents insurance
Most purpose-built halls include a block policy, usually through Endsleigh, at no extra cost. It is real cover, and narrower than people assume. A representative certificate of student room insurance gives £5,000 for contents in your room, a £1,250 single-article limit, £2,000 for laptops and tablets, and a £25 excess rising to £50 on laptops. Phones are covered to £500, and only if someone forces entry.
The gap that matters is location. The policy covers things in your room. Your laptop in the library, your phone on the tram and your bike anywhere are not covered unless you pay for the add-on — the most common claim students try to make, and the most common one that fails.
In a private shared house there is usually no block policy at all. Your landlord insures the building and the furniture; your possessions are yours to insure.
Broadband
In a large building, your Wi-Fi is a shared connection distributed across hundreds of rooms, not a domestic line into your flat. The advertised speed is the building's capability, not a guarantee at your desk at 9pm on a Sunday.
Three questions get a useful answer. Is there a wired ethernet point in the room, which is what you want for a graded online exam? Is there an upgrade tier, and what does it cost? And can you register a console or smart TV, since many managed networks require devices to be added to your account before they connect at all?
Bills-included halls against a shared house
The right-hand column uses Save the Student's 2026 breakdown of monthly bills per person in a four-person house.
| Per person, per month | Bills-included room | Shared house, bills separate |
|---|---|---|
| Gas and electricity | Included | £83 average reported |
| Water and sewerage | Included | £13 |
| Broadband | Included | £7.50, being £30 a month for the house split four ways |
| TV Licence | Not included — £15 if you need one | £15 |
| Contents insurance | Basic room cover usually included | £5 and upwards |
| Council tax | Handled for you | £0, but you must apply |
The energy figure is higher than the regulated maths implies. Ofgem's price cap rises 4% to £1,723 a year from 1 October 2026 for a typical dual-fuel household on direct debit — about £144 a month for a whole house, or £36 each across four. Students report £83 because student houses are not typical households: older stock, poorer insulation, more people, more hours at home, and heating a Victorian terrace in Selly Oak through February.
So when does the house win? When the household is careful, the house is reasonably efficient, and you are prepared to argue about the thermostat. A careful four-bed household costs each of you around £60 a month in bills — and weekly rent in shared housing is usually lower than in a new-build hall, a gap often larger than the bills gap.
When halls win is less about arithmetic: one payment on a known date, no argument over a final meter reading, no housemate who will not transfer their share, and no exposure to a cold winter. If your budget has no slack in it, a fixed number you can plan around has a value the table cannot show.
The questions to ask before you sign
Whatever building you are looking at, these are worth asking.
- Can the rent or the bills element be increased mid-tenancy if wholesale prices rise?
- Is heating individually controlled in my room, or run centrally to a set schedule?
- Is the water metered, and does the included water cover the whole tenancy?
- What broadband speed is actually delivered to the room, is there ethernet, and what does an upgrade cost?
- What is the contents insurance limit, what is the excess, and does it cover anything outside my room?
- Do bills stay on over the summer weeks of a 42- or 51-week tenancy?
At Globe Works, all bills and high-speed Wi-Fi are included in the rent, which keeps this part simple. Your budget goes on food, travel and everything else.