landlord utilities dispute

idrbn41

ok want to keep this concise-firstly my landlord issued me with a bill for electricity usage after 4 years-during this time i had made numerous enquiries as to who i should pay.turns out landlord was reselling-not a problem-i asked landolrd for bills and how he apportioned between tennants.i have recieved nothing.landord wanted over 2k after a lot of phonecalls to utility providers who were under no obligation to help me offered 1.3k,which they accepted after yet more calls and letters asking for detail came against brick wall,therefore did not pay.lanlord then issued court summons for FULL amount(over 2k) i was happy to go to court an challenge,they then retracted case and said they would accept what i offered.since then i have upskilled myself on the utilities act,re-selling of electricity legislation etc and now know that on nearly every level my landlord has failed on his duty to me as a tennant-i am willing to pay but how much? i have not lived there for a year what can he legitimatley backbill me for and can he issue a court summons again for the same issue? i have refused to back down on this as my landlord has resorted to intimidation tactics and also harrassed my father(guarantor)even though i have been in contact with him.....sorry not as concise as i thought!

Garz

You should have a record of the reads when you moved in and the current reads to deduce an approximate fee you have consumed. However getting copies of what the landlord was actually billed by the supplier would settle this. Try offering a sensible amount that your happy to part with else it is just going to get messy.

Vestra

Was your supply metered? Or was it just one meter for the block and no sub meters?

Premier_2

idrbn41 wrote: »

...lanlord then issued court summons for FULL amount(over 2k) i was happy to go to court an challenge,they then retracted case and said they would accept what i offered....

You mean they withdrew the summons before you actually made an offer and settled up?

If so, let them whistle for it.

Pantha_2

Were living in a flat in a building made up of nine flats, we have meters but just recieved a large bill, we have just questioned the cost of OUR bill and now turns out that they are charging us for things we were originally told were included in the rent. All ive really asked for it the price per unit as i have full meter readings from when we moved in, but they keep trying to fob us off though. I found a document by Ofgem about electricity resale but is there anything else i can do?

Premier_2

Pantha wrote: »

Were living in a flat in a building made up of nine flats, we have meters but just recieved a large bill, we have just questioned the cost of OUR bill and now turns out that they are charging us for things we were originally told were included in the rent. All ive really asked for it the price per unit as i have full meter readings from when we moved in, but they keep trying to fob us off though. I found a document by Ofgem about electricity resale but is there anything else i can do?

You've found the document on the Ofgem site, presumably the one that states a LL cannot re-sell electricity at a profit.

However, it might be that the LL pays a standing charge (of which you should pay pro-rata) or recives some form of discount (again which you should benefit from pro-rata) so comparing unit prices alone may not provide the full picture. Ask the LL to detail how the cost has been arrived at with evidence to back up his bill e.g. by seeing the the full bill the LL received.


Edit: you say they are charging you for things in your electricity bill already accounted for in the rent. Like what?

savemoney

OP hasnt been back online since asking question

idrbn41
Last Activity: 24-01-2009 8:25 PM

Premier_2

savemoney wrote: »

OP hasnt been back online since asking question

idrbn41
Last Activity: 24-01-2009 8:25 PM

True, not really a surprise based on my post#4, but I was mow responding to Pantha's post of 4:01PM today

Pantha_2

Sorry i havent been online for a while, my LL still hasnt sent me the breakdown of the bill showing me how they have come to the figure stated. They agreed that we didnt have to pay until they had sent us this letter. When we agreed for the property then they said that the laundry and comunal area lighting was included in the rent, and when we payed the first bill in September we were told again that the bill was just for our metered electricity and not comunal areas, now they tell us that the laundry is divided between all the flats in the three houses with access to it (aprox 19 flats). What has made me question it is that the total they have asked us to pay from September to end of December is £88 but we have worked it out from our meter readings (which seems a little low) to under £30, bit of a diference. And i have no problem with paying for what i have used, but the letting agency actually told us to take meter readings, and when we first moved in would not tell us who provided the electricity and we spent forever on the phone to transco who told us there was no record of our flat, turned out the letting agency finnaly told us that the landlord pays then we pay the landlord, therefore resale of electricity. At the moment i feel like im hitting my head against a brick wall, and after looking it up in the agreements and everything the laundry isnt mentioned at all, the nearest mention is that it is our responsibility to pay the service providors for electrricity and gas, although our gas is through British Gas, any way ive gone on about it enough.