UNDERSTAND COSTS
Rent and costs, explained
Straightforward answers to the questions behind the numbers, from what's in your rent to how we protect your details.
Base rent or total rent: what's included?
Check which bills are included in a rent figure and which you'll need to budget for separately.
Which bills come on top of your rent?
Understand service charges, heating and electricity so you can work out your monthly housing costs without counting anything twice.
What does rent per square metre tell you?
Use the price per square metre to compare homes, then check whether the full monthly rent fits your budget.
Middle figure or average: why are they different?
A few expensive rents can pull up the average. See why DimeTrace also shows the middle figure, with a simple example.
What does the price range mean?
See what the central half of reported rents tells you, and why costs outside that range can still be valid.
Why can the official average look so different?
Understand whose rents go into official figures and how the costs people share can help with your own search.
Could you get that rent too?
A low rent is only useful for your search if you could qualify for it. See why we ask how people got their price.
Why does a comparison need five people?
How we protect individual households, check contributions and keep old costs out of current comparisons.