Gas/Electric dispute

axxxr

Have a question regarding a problem in my flat that i am renting,the house is basically devided into two seperate flats with seperate door numbers and entrances so technically there are two seperate houses,yet the Gas and Electric meters and bills are shared by both the property's are bills are in the landlords name which he then comes to collect from us and splits the bills in half for us to pay even though both I and the other tennent in the other property have different usage amounts, so its not a fair system.

Now the problem is the landlord in question won't provide us seperate meters even though we have asked on many occasions,he simply says he cannot afford it as it costs 3 to £4000 to get installed which is true because its a new property and energy companies have to dig up the roads etc in order to do it. But upon moving into the property the lanldord had agreed with both tenants from that he would provide seperate metres in in a matter of a few months which he than went back on and there is nothing in our tenancy agreement either to say if bills are to be paid this way.So i want to know is it legal to have Gas/Electric metres split in this way?

property.advert

I do not know but surely you knew about this before you move in ? In any case, it is the landlord's bill and his responsibility to pay !

Do you have an AST ? does that not state that bills must be in your name ?

If your usage is less then the other party, I would simply state that to the landlord and make a stand. He cannot take a bill in his name from your deposit that I know of and he cannot legally prove any power usage due to your tenancy. All he could do would be to have the rent as inclusive of bills for utilities. The benefits people will have amounts they use for averaging in this regard but they will probably be very high and perhaps not good for your argument.

If it worries you a lot, I guess moving is the answer.

KimYeovil

The bill can be split equally. You can argue it can be split according to size of each property but you can not claim for different useage patterns (other than voluntarily with the other tenants - you are still due to pay half to the landlord.)

axxxr

property.advert wrote: »

I do not know but surely you knew about this before you move in ? In any case, it is the landlord's bill and his responsibility to pay !

Do you have an AST ? does that not state that bills must be in your name ?

If your usage is less then the other party, I would simply state that to the landlord and make a stand. He cannot take a bill in his name from your deposit that I know of and he cannot legally prove any power usage due to your tenancy. All he could do would be to have the rent as inclusive of bills for utilities. The benefits people will have amounts they use for averaging in this regard but they will probably be very high and perhaps not good for your argument.

If it worries you a lot, I guess moving is the answer.

When i moved in the landlord told me that he would provide me a seperate meter within 3 months and said exactly the same to the other tennant in the other flat but then did not. Sorry but what is a AST?

I have no way of measuring who is using how much as obviously the meters are one for both property's,so its a case of his word against mine and not fair on either of us.

macman

AST is Assured Shorthold Tenancy. What does your tenancy agreement say about the billing system?

axxxr

AST is Assured Shorthold Tenancy. What does your tenancy agreement say about the billing system?

Thanks!

There is nothing in the Tenancy about the billing system at all, everything was agree verbally upon moving into the property.

So question is it legal to split meters between two seperate property's and is it legal?

Premier_2

axxxr wrote: »

Thanks!

There is nothing in the Tenancy about the billing system at all, everything was agree verbally upon moving into the property.

So question is it legal to split meters between two seperate property's and is it legal?

What was agreed verbally with regards to paying the bills, particularly prior to any individual metering being installed?

There is nothing illegal in regards to having two or more separate premises being supplied through one meter ... and in fact it happens quite often.

axxxr

Premier wrote: »

What was agreed verbally with regards to paying the bills, particularly prior to any individual metering being installed?

There is nothing illegal in regards to having two or more separate premises being supplied through one meter ... and in fact it happens quite often.

Is that really legal though when when the Gas,Electric and Water are supplied to two seperate property's with the bills not even the tennants names but the landlords?

Verbally what was agreed was that (prior to moving in) that the landlord agreed to provide seperate meters within 3 months and that was over 2 years ago,uptil now he has just be turning with bills in his own name which he has forwarded to his address and then makes us the tennants from two seperate property's split them.

KimYeovil

Yes it is legal. There are farmhouses with converted barns (hundreds of feet away) that do not have separate meters. There is absolutely no obligation for 'separate' properties to have their own individual meters.

As already mentioned, all you can possibly appeal is for bills to be split according to floor area. Any claim for a split by your promised frugal use is a non-enforceable private arrangement between tenants. You are liable for your equal share of the bill to the landlord. If the other tenant does not play ball you have no recourse.

Your landlord's verbal promise for future improvements is worth the paper it was written on.

axxxr

There is a big difference between barns and domestic accommodation, so the question is do the same rules apply here?

How can i appeal for the bills according to floor when there has never been any kind of written agreement to pay the bills in the first place? everything in terms of bills has been verbal, both the other tennnant and myself are fed up with the arrangement and wan't an alternative?

I know verbal agreements are not worth anything, but i was thinking technically i could refuse to pay any bills and there is nothing the landlord could do since all the bills are in his name...maybe that would then force him to do something about the current arrangement which isn't fair

dunloadin

Getting your own meters shouldnt be too much of a problem.....as long as the flats do not share the same circuits/fuseboard. Got a sneaky suspicion that they do though....and the cost of rewiring to split the flats properly is what the landlord is wanting to avoid.

There should be no need to dig in new cables as the incoming supply can be split to the flats at the point where the meter is now (provided the maximum load of the two properties allows it).