Gas/Electricity in rented prop.

jamieslucky7

I want to change my gas and electricity supplied from British Gas to someone cheaper (not hard).

Should I ask my landlord in advance? Does he have the right to say no?


Thanks.

m_13

It depends. We lived in a rented flat where we were prohibited from changing supplier for gas and electricity. I think it's because during a 6 month let it could take up to 2 months for the bills to catch up.

clairet707

jamieslucky7 wrote: »

I want to change my gas and electricity supplied from British Gas to someone cheaper (not hard).

Should I ask my landlord in advance? Does he have the right to say no?


Thanks.

we asked our landlord via the letting agency and he said as long as he was informed of who we are moving to then we can change..

Of course he has the right to say no but I cant see why he would, its not really affecting him who his tenants pay for their energy..

clairet707

m_13 wrote: »

It depends. We lived in a rented flat where we were prohibited from changing supplier for gas and electricity. I think it's because during a 6 month let it could take up to 2 months for the bills to catch up.

When you say prohibited what do you mean? Did you ask and get refused?

It said in our contract we werent allowed to but we asked and they agreed..

m_13

We did ask and we were told no. Of course this is the flat where the 'big turning off water tap" which has a name that can't be used on this forum siezed and they couldn't find how to turn the water off. The water board had to come out and try to find connection in the road and turned off a variety of people's supplies before they disconnected ours. Then the plumber found he couldn't replace the "big turning off water tap" without taking out the hot water tank. That was a very long day ....

anniecave

theartfullodger wrote: »

The reasons Landlords may want to be asked/informed about changes of suppliers is that they don't want to end up spending weeks (no, really, it can be weeks..) trying to find out who the supplier is after a tenant has left..

It's not that difficult finding out who a supplier is! Honest! The most difficult thing is finding the right number to ring.

They should publish the number in the local phone directory in a place you can find!

anniecave

Oh and we've changed supplier twice since we've been here.

Our landlord and letting agent don't even care. (On the other hand, they don't care about anything else either, including getting repairs done, but that's a different story!)

Planner

OFT guidance is that such terms in contracts not allowing the tenant to change utility supplier are unfair. While this is only guidance, it offers you considerable weight should you LL try and kick up a fuss at the end of the tenancy if you do change. If your deposit is held in one of the TDS schemes, then their arbitrations services are very good at using OFT UFTCC Regs.

If you tell the LL the new supplier or change back just before the end of your tenancy then there is really nothing to ask permission for.