Clause in lease agreement states I must retain phone service??

jenniferfluff29

Hi all


Has anyone had any experience of this? Going to move out of lease home in a couple of months. The following clause is in the tenancy agreement:



"The Tenant undertakes to retain the telephone service to the Property for the duration of this Lease."


Does this mean that I have to keep the line in use with BT until the termination date? Don't want to disconnect phone before this date if it causes problems for LL.


Thanks

poppysarah

I wouldn't want to keep a phone line on where I couldn't control it's use.

jenniferfluff29

Hi poppysarah

Never explained myself properly. I am buying another house and there is an overlap for us to fix up new house & still live in rented. We will have control of the phone up to termination date, no issue of anyone else using it. However, we will probably move out of rented house a week before the termination date of the lease (obviously paying the rent for the full month) & I would have got the phone disconnected then.

I don't want to jeopardise my deposit. How will the LA know when I disconnected the phone? A new tenant may not move in straight away anyway.

Zelie

My contract says that I am to retain the phone number I moved in with but doesn't specify a service provider. I'd think you'd want to check the wording on your lease carefully to see whether it's specifying that you *must* maintain a service with a particular provider. This could be deemed unfair as that might not be the provider who gives best value for money etc - possibly worth challenging your LA on.

(For me I only use the landline for internet access and the provider is cheap so it's not really an issue).

tbs624

I would read that as saying that *a* telephone service must be maintained: basically the LL does not want to be lumbered ( or have the next tenant lumbered) with a reconnection charge. If the property is provided with a telephone service it is reasonable to expect a T to either keep it in place or cough up for any relevant charges.

I would, however, challenge any LA/LL who tried to insist on a specific provider whether for phone or gas/elec.

You could always ask your LA to clarify exactly what they thinks the clause means, however many LAs have no training, qualification or particular expertise so you may want to seek your own clarification after they confirm

Edit- just re-read your post. If you are moving out early confirm to the LA in writing that whilst you will be meeting line rental costs for the full period, you will not be responsible for any calls made from the property after xx date but clearly you can only push this one if you personally return your keys early.

poppysarah

You just ring bt and tell them you're moving. Let BT deal with it.