3 Months later in rented flat and STILL no electric reading

kgldsun

Can you please help a friend? She moved into a flat three months ago after somebody moved out. The electricity meter is apparantly in a locked cupboard. Too many telephone calls to mention have been made to both letting agent and Electricty company. The electric company say its law, they have to gain entry and its up to the landlord. The letting agency just fob her off.
In the meantime, the guy whom has moved out has had no accurate reading and my friend whom moved in as stated 3 month ago will have a very large guess-tamated bill from when he left!
Surely somebody can help?
Any advice please? many thanks in anticipation.

missile

Presumably she knows which cupboard?

Break it open and take a reading and submit online.

PS: If tenant/LL refuses access to read the meter, the electricty company have to get a court order to gain entry.

kgldsun

Mmmm very naive, they dont even know where the meter cupboards are located. That is a point to break in if its found, but whom is going to decide who would pay what from when the previous tennant moved out, having not had an accurate meter reading?
This will be the situation when it is eventually located........what should they accept as a reading?

angelsmomma

In our flats the meter was in a locked cupboard under the stairs in a communal hallway. I phoned the managing agent for access and he said it was for safety reasons.

The electric reader couldn't get in and didn't know anything about it so used to ring all the flat bells trying to get us to let them in.

One of the other tenants couldn't be bothered with having to ring and make appointments with the managing agent so the lock was forced by someone every time it was fixed someone broke it again and in the end the agent stopped fixing it.

dancingfairy

I am not an expert by any means but here are some suggestions:
1) get everything in writing - at the moment it sounds like it's all been done in telephone calls which nobody can prove who said what and when. If she must use the telephone follow it up with a letter (and keep copies -obviously).
2) Write to the landlord - the letting agents may or may not be passing on the messages. Also no training or legal requirements (or very few) are required to be a letting agent so they may well not give 2 hoots about your electric problem (the landlord should though).
3) Generally tenants have to pay the electric bill as far as I know and she would need legal advice as to what happens if she cannot pay because the landlord is blocking access to the meter. The more evidence she can get to prove the landlord is making life difficult regarding the meter the better in case it gets legal.
4) I would set aside a reasonable amount per month in case she has to pay at a later date - 40 a month would seem a reasonable starting point - what was it at a previous place as a guide? Is she paying anything towards the account at the moment?
5)Your friend may want to get help from the CAB or local legal aid place if the landlord starts being difficult but as has been said before you do not know if any messages have actually been passed on or not yet.
Best of Luck
df