Extortionate rise in communal electricity service charge - help!

Fire_Fox

steph2479 wrote: »

Hi all

Sorry to hijack your post but I couldn't figure out how to start my own!
I wondered whether anyone has come across this particular scam before and how you dealt with it. I bought a leasehold flat in 2007 and after several months of receiving electricity bills that were far too big for a 1 bed flat discovered that the management company (and owners of the freehold) hadn't provided a communal electricity meter and were instead routing all their communal electricity to my flat. After 12 months of stress and inconvenience to my partner and I to get it sorted out (their solution was to just move it to one of the other flats) they have merely offered to knock the money they owe me for the electricity off the service charge I owe. I've been told by several people that what they've done is illegal and I think they should be held accountable. I've logged a case with the Residential Leasehold Tribunal Service and contacted Leeds City Council. Does anyone know of anything else can do?

Many thanks

Is is the the managing agents or the freeholder you have a beef with? They should not be one and the same. Can you prove the present owner knowingly did this, or has the developer sold the building on? How does the management company know how much money you are owed? Have you been charged VAT on the amount charged/ refunded?

Premier_2

Energyman wrote: »

...Most landlord meters would be on a commercial tariff - especially if you are using a property management company!

Suppliers should classify gas and electricity consumers according to the primary use of the energy.

But that does rely on the consumer telling the supplier of thr primary usage, else you are correct, a supply registered in a company name will generally be classified as a business account.

Energyman_2

Premier wrote: »

Suppliers should classify gas and electricity consumers according to the primary use of the energy.

But that does rely on the consumer telling the supplier of thr primary usage, else you are correct, a supply registered in a company name will generally be classified as a business account.

Most of these meters are listed on ECOES (the meter registration system) as 'Landlord' or 'services' or similar, so it is fairly obvious what they are.

If the meters are registered to a company (which is highly probable) they would most probably be registered as 03 meters or even if they are still 01 they are likely to be on a business tariff. The management company will probably use a broker / consultant/ advisor, particularly if they have numerous meters, which is usually the case. The management company will want their name on the bills for accountancy purposes.

Many landlord bills are for totally insignificant sums of money (to a management company) but multiplied by numerous sites the savings could be more quite large.

anniecave

communal lighting in my experience is always charged on a commercial tariff anyway. But if it's only a few lights it shouldn't make much difference. Have you asked to see the bills for the electricity?

anniecave

maybe someone has read a meter wrongly for example?

DRO31

Similar issue..... Budgeted £600 now want to charge £5564.48...! Please find an extra £409.28 per apartment with no questions asked...:mad:

These people either get things totally wrong or are taking us all for fools... £5.5k for lighting and a door entry system?

The property management company isn't mainstay is it...?

[Deleted User]

Get your owners together and buy the freehold then form your own management company. It can be done and we are in the process even though we are part of a large complicated group

Management companies in general are getting away with extortion at the moment. Don`t forget the LVT either. We did that and it makes the MC sit up if nothing more

kippen_noedel

Something is 100% wrong, I have many flats where the lighting and door entry costs are divided between each flat. Highest I pay is £135 FOR A YEAR with NPower the supplier & 2 lifts in the building. (not including service contract for the lifts or door entry)

my average is around £60 per year for lighting.

Fire_Fox

I've just looked up our communal electricity charges for a block of 15 flats - NPower invoiced just over £2K in 2008/09 which includes lighting, fire alarms, door entry but no heating.

Bizarrely our management company (incompetent/ negligent) have estimated £750 for 2009/10. Something tells me there will be extra levies ..... :rolleyes: