Leaving rental property guess what- a dispute

wrightk

We moved out of our rented property on saturday left everything clean tidy etc.no dispute about that

We got permission from the letting agent to get a gas meter installed, when we left we phoned british gas several times to get the meter removed and they refused, saying that if the landlord is moving back in they can phone up and get it removed or set up an account to use it, naturally we have taken the gas card as it has our account on it and an outstanding balance.

The letting agent is saying if someone from the gas board doesnt come and remove the meter today they will call an emergency plumber and get the meter removed (this is illegal?)and take their charge off our deposit money.

We have also apparantly broken our contract by taking the gas card with us (nothing in the contract states this only that we should have consent to change suppliers which we got permission on the day we moved in)

Could anyone advise please?

pimento

I'm pretty sure the meter is the property of British Gas and removing it is illegal.

What's their objection to having a gas supply?

G_M

I assume you mean a pre-payment meter?

Ask for your deposit back, in writing. If the LL/agent refuses or makes a claim for the deposit from whichever scheme is holding the deposit, use the scheme's arbitration process. Make sure the scheme has your new contact details so they can advise you if the LL requests release of the deposit to himself. Whether you win in arbitration is another matter.

Did you get the LL's permission to install the meter IN WRITING?

Try to get BG to confirm what they've said to you IN WRITING.

wrightk

sorry, to clarify yes its a prepayment meter, nothing in the contract states we have to ask to have a prepayment meter installed only changing suppliers which we did and we do have confirmation of.

When i asked (which i didnt have to apparantly) to have a prepayment meter installed the LA told me that they cant refuse anyone installing a prepayment meter

Jowo_2

When my friend, a landlord, took their property back from a tenant that had switched to a prepayment meter, it was simple for them to get a replacement gas card from the supplier and a new account in their name. Though the energy supplier wanted £50 per meter (gas and electricity) to switch them back, they simply found another energy supplier to do it free of charge, though they had to be a customer with the new company for a month or so and pass a credit check.

G_M

Making any material or structural change to any tenanted property would require the landlord's permission whatever the contract did/did not say. Contracts cannot cover everything - you wouldn't install double glazing without permission would you? Even thought the contract says nothing about permission being needed?

Landlord's dislike pre-payment meters being installed because
a) it puts off many subsequent potential tenants who dislike them (they are an expensive way to buy gas)
b) it usually takes time, and costs money, to get them removed after the tenant has moved out

G_M

Jowo wrote: »

When my friend, a landlord, took their property back from a tenant that had switched to a prepayment meter, it was simple for them to get a replacement gas card from the supplier and a new account in their name. Though the energy supplier wanted £50 per meter (gas and electricity) to switch them back, they simply found another energy supplier to do it free of charge, though they had to be a customer with the new company for a month or so and pass a credit check.

Exactly. A lot of time/hastle for the LL. He "had to be a customer with the new company for a month or so and pass a credit check" .... so could not re-let the property.

Jowo_2

G_M wrote: »

Exactly. A lot of time/hastle for the LL. He "had to be a customer with the new company for a month or so and pass a credit check" .... so could not re-let the property.

In their case, they had no plans to re-let the property and it has been sold.

And to be honest, I can't see the hassle if it was going to be rented again. It is fairly standard for new tenants to take responsibility for getting all household service accounts set up and the type of tariffs they prefer with the supplier directly - we are talking a couple of minutes of phone calls here. Tenants moving in should find it easy to open up an account with a service provider that they've used before as a customer, anyway.

I think the OP should challenge any deductions out of their deposit through the tenancy deposit scheme. I'm not aware of any legislation that forces a tenant to use a particular energy provider under a particular type of tariff, nor permits the landlord to make any deductions relating to switching suppliers.

The comparison with double glazing is worthless - this is equipment that belongs to the energy supplier, not the infrastructure of the property owned personally by the landlord.

Hammyman

wrightk wrote: »

When i asked (which i didnt have to apparantly) to have a prepayment meter installed the LA told me that they cant refuse anyone installing a prepayment meter

Wanna bet? Any tenant of mine doing that to MY property without my permission will be handed a Section 21. A new tenant had moved from a property where she was on a slot meter. She asked if she could have one and I said no. When she rang British Gas, they said no problem and sent out a payment booklet which she takes to the post office.

Meatballs

When we moved into a prepayment property we used the old cards/key for a little while but the energy company sent us new ones and told us to use them in future. Don't know why, maybe so the money was going on 'our' account etc.

You shouldn't have any money on the actual 'card' itself, assuming you have updated your meter with it after getting it topped up? Once it goes in the meter the charge transfers. We just asked the LL to add the positive balance of gas/elec to our deposit at the end.

If you got permission from the LA to have a prepayment installed, and there were no stipulations about removing it at the end then they cant charge you to remove it. If they did say it'd have to go then you need to get it removed or pay the cost. That said I don't think they can pay an 'emergency plumber' to remove it as I think it belongs to the provider/gas board? Any work they have done not performed by a national grid engineer would probably be illegal?

Did you phone supplier AFTER vacating the property and the end of your lease? If so they probably right as you shouldn't be able to requests changes to services on a property you no longer live in or have any legal claim to.

Any costs associated with an 'emergency' call out for what is a non-emergency situation should be disputed. At most you should have to pay the cost the gas supplier/national grid charge (if any) to change it back plus any difference in standing charge between pre-payment and a normal service, the latter is probably negligable.

wrightk

Hammyman wrote: »

Wanna bet? Any tenant of mine doing that to MY property without my permission will be handed a Section 21. A new tenant had moved from a property where she was on a slot meter. She asked if she could have one and I said no. When she rang British Gas, they said no problem and sent out a payment booklet which she takes to the post office.

but we aren't talking about your property. i was given permission to put in a gas meter after i had a £700 gas bill for 3 months last winter.

The property is not going to be re- let it is on the market as the landlord has been told she is not to let it out again until the awful condition inside is repaired to a satisfactory standard as to be able to live in again, so instead of doing the repairs we got kicked out a week before christmas and now shes selling the house to avoid the costly repairs.disgusting doing that to a young family with nowhere else to go.

If the property is on the market why would she care about removing the meter so quickly anyway, so she can blast the heating up and then after the house is nice and warm for a week or so phone up the gas board and give false meter reads to try and tag it onto our final bill (like our last landlord did) i dont think so