Moving on New Year's Day

purplestar133

Hi all,

I am moving into a new rented property on 1st Jan. Currently, my rent includes bills so when I move to the new property I will need to set up completely new accounts for internet/phone, gas, electricity and tv licence (council tax and water are included in rent).

I am starting to panic though as, with 1st Jan being a bank holiday, how will I be able to set up bills etc? I know I cannot buy a tv licence in advance. Will I be penalised for buying a tv licence a few days late? Can a new TV licence be set up at the post office? I probably won't be able to get the internet connected in time unless...

Can I set up accounts for elec, gas and internet in advance and have them become active only from 1st Jan?

I am most concerned about the internet as I am likely to need that to get the best deals when joining suppliers! :money:

I am new when it comes to arranging bills, have always had them included in my rent or already set up when I moved in.

Thanks for your help!

pink68

we found when we moved into our current rental house that the gas and elec just stayed under the owner until we told the companies otherwise. As we spent a week moving from one house to another i didnt get round to setting them up for several weeks but as long as you tell them the date you took the lease from they will be fine. same with the water.

obviously telephone and internet they wont set up until you ask them to!

and as long as you have a tv licence you can change the address over the phone on the first working day i think...

sooz

Is the property vacant at the moment, or is someone moving out on 31st December?
Do you already have a signed copy of your AST?
If you are certain that you are moving on 1st, I'd ask the LL for the phone number & supplier, so that you can go ahead & set up your internet in the next few weeks, to start on 1st January.
Don't worry about the tv licence. Whenever you buy it in January, it will be backdated to the 1st.
For the gas & electricity, you MUST read the meters on the day you move in. Take a photo of the readings too. Then, call & give the suppliers your reading & your name & date of move later in the week.

purplestar133

sooz wrote: »

Is the property vacant at the moment, or is someone moving out on 31st December?
Do you already have a signed copy of your AST?
If you are certain that you are moving on 1st, I'd ask the LL for the phone number & supplier, so that you can go ahead & set up your internet in the next few weeks, to start on 1st January.
Don't worry about the tv licence. Whenever you buy it in January, it will be backdated to the 1st.
For the gas & electricity, you MUST read the meters on the day you move in. Take a photo of the readings too. Then, call & give the suppliers your reading & your name & date of move later in the week.

The property is vacant at the moment. There is no phone line/internet connected. I haven't signed the AST yet, will be doing that on Sunday. Will I have to pay a connection charge to get the phone/internet set up from scratch? There is a cable there that must have been used in the past but the previous tenants didn't have it connected.

BexInLondon

It might be an idea to get confirmation that the council tax is being paid, or perhaps ask for a deduction from the rent and pay for it yourself. I seem to remember a few threads on here where people were being chased by bailiffs for council tax that should have been paid by their landlord, and their only recourse seemed to be paying up then suing the landlord. I wouldn't trust a landlord to pay council tax for me!

sooz

purplestar133 wrote: »

The property is vacant at the moment. There is no phone line/internet connected. I haven't signed the AST yet, will be doing that on Sunday. Will I have to pay a connection charge to get the phone/internet set up from scratch? There is a cable there that must have been used in the past but the previous tenants didn't have it connected.

Are you going to the property to sign? Or ask if you can go there before signing. Take a basic phone with you. Plug it in & dial 17070. It will tell you if the line is still active & if so, what the phone number is.
If it's not active, you will probably be charged to reconnect it, unless you can negotiate this with the LL BEFORE you sign.

Fire_Fox

I don't like the council tax being included in the rent, screams dodgy at me!! I would be wondering if the landlord has not properly registered the property as being tenanted - either the flat has not been converted properly and the council haven't reassessed for CT (could get hefty backdated bill), or the lender hasn't been informed (could get evicted at short notice), or they are not paying income tax (doesn't matter to you).

I would ask to see consent to let from the lender and I would ask to pay my own council tax with the money knocked off the rent. As the resident you are legally liable for council tax if it is not paid, your AST cannot override this. If your landlord didn't pay you would have to and then take him to the small claims court to get the money back. If the landlord won't play ball, then contact the council to find out what the liability is, unfortunately they won't tell you if it is in arrears unless you are named on the bill.

purplestar133

The property is a granny flat attached to the landlord's home which was originally built 20 years ago to house one of their parents. It is fully self-contained. Does that make a difference to the council tax situation?

Fire_Fox

purplestar133 wrote: »

The property is a granny flat attached to the landlord's home which was originally built 20 years ago to house one of their parents. It is fully self-contained. Does that make a difference to the council tax situation?

If it is fully self-contained and occupied by a separate household, the annexe needs to be assessed for it's own council tax. I believe this can be backdated, so you could be there six months and find you have a hefty bill to pay.
http://www.voa.gov.uk/publications/public_fact_sheets/self-contained-units-factsheet.pdf
If the landlord hasn't done this properly I'd wonder what else isn't being done properly - you need a gas safety certificate on your first day for a start.