Paying for Landlords Security Lighting!

chris1973

pps - is he up to any other didgy things? Has he a mortgage with permission to rent? Does he declare the rent for tax (you can tell HMRC here if you leave and feel p*ssed off!).

I have no idea, I do know that previously the annexe was used as a holiday let to tourists visiting the area, although there was a previous full time tenant before me, who lived there for just over a year. To be fair i'm not out for revenge, I try and play a fair game, I pay my rent on time - (early sometimes), look after the place and keep myself to myself and lead a peaceful life (part of the reason for choosing a rural location in the first place), its just unfortunate that there are some of the stereotypical 'Rigsby's' still around who don't play fair by their tenants.

I suspect that there wont be a mortgage on the property, as the guy sold a string of businesses for a large six figure sum when he retired, this is what annoys me more than anything, he isn't short of money for bills by any stretch of the imagination.

I think a trip to the Estate Agent to find something else beckons.

poppysarah

chris1973 wrote: »

At nearly 19p per KW/H its costing me the best part of 40p per night to light up his yard, whilst I sit in the cold. Says an awful lot about people I guess.

how much!

Stop topping the meter up and go away leaving him with no lights on for a weekend

Can you switch supplier?

paddyrg

Light the flat with cheap desklights and knock out the whole lighting circuit?

chris1973

Light the flat with cheap desklights and knock out the whole lighting circuit?

Its on a ring main circuit, so i knock out the Microwave, kettle, Fridge, TV, Computer - basically live in the flat without sockets. 2KW is too much to be on any 5A lighting circuit. I'd be punishing myself to make a point to him.

how much!

4x 500W Halogen Floodlights = 2000 Watts of light. The LL / Farmer rents out stables on the property, so people are coming and going all evening, bringing their kids after school and tending to their horses etc, now the nights are getting darker earlier, that inevitably means the lights are running almost permanently as the PIR's around the property perimeter sense cars arriving / leaving and people walking horses around the stables. Hence i'm now noticing the Expense, compared to when it was light until 8 or 9 when most people had left and they were rarely triggered. Now they are triggering from around 4.40 and staying on until 8 - 8.30 when the last people leave.

2000 Watts of light will use 2 units for every hour they are lit, I pay NPOWER 18.85p per KW/H on E7 Pre-Pay at daytime rates, so 2x 18.85p = £0.38p per hour to run them.

Can you switch supplier?

No, its Pre-Pay so utility address is the same as the LL hence he maintains control over the choice of supplier, and I just have the top up key for it. Basically i'd have to pose as the LL to make any changes, which obviously i'm not going to do. Its also a breach of the tenancy if I did. I was aware of that much when I took the rental on, but not that I was / would be footing the bill for his exterior lighting!.

Not that ANY E7 daytime rate is cheap!. Shame they aren't used at 3AM when my KW/H rate is just over 5p!

It seems that if I were to run an extension lead down to his garage and use his sockets to power my heater it would, quite rightly, be 'considered' to be theft, yet it appears little can be done if a landlord does effectively exactly the same to a tenant through fiddling a fixed installation, and appealing to the LL better nature hasn't worked. What a crap situation.

poppysarah

Might be worth ringing shelter and seeing if they can help - or try the local CAB.

It certainly isn't fair at all.

mustrum_ridcully

If there are that many people coming and going the turning the power off for just a couple of hours will probably be enough to prove your point.

Get home, make something to eat, make a hot drink, find a good book/magazine, switch ring main circuit off, read book (as you should still have lighting) and wait for the knock at the door.

poppysarah

mustrum_ridcully wrote: »

If there are that many people coming and going the turning the power off for just a couple of hours will probably be enough to prove your point.

Indeed. Not opening the fridge/freezer whilst power is off should keep the food ok.

If these people are PAYING for a service then why should you be funding the lighting?

mondello

Sounds really unfair and he's being very unreasonable. Personally I would look for somewhere else and give my notice stating why I was leaving.

chris1973

Personally I would look for somewhere else and give my notice stating why I was leaving.

Yes, unfortunately I think this is going to be the best / easiest solution.

Get home, make something to eat, make a hot drink, find a good book/magazine, switch ring main circuit off, read book (as you should still have lighting) and wait for the knock at the door.

I imagine that knock will be pretty quick, as it will be pitch dark out there and no doubt he (LL) wont want to be liable for a child slipping or falling. He already knows that I know about the situation so its not a case of proving a point. When challenged his excuse / attitude was that I use the same driveway as everybody else and park in the same parking area and the lights partly light my car etc so i'm getting some benefit from them so why shouldn't I pay?. I've said before that I didn't mind paying a service charge towards them but I don't see why I should foot the amenity lighting bill for what is, after all, a commercial money making activity for him.

But ultimately its solved nothing

I suspect that, several years ago, the Electrician who fitted them just saw the Annexe's Distribution board several feet away from the location of the control box and thought he'd just tap into it to make his life easier, now the LL probably doesn't want to pay the costs involved with rerouting the cable to the other end of the property where his own meter and fusebox is located. The fact that i'm the one paying for the energy it uses is probably just a bonus to him and not the original intention, but sadly its still a highlighted ongoing problem which he's not the slightest bit interested in resolving.

tazza81

Is it written in your contract that you have to pay for the external lighting? Is the electricity board that feeds the lights within your property and does the lanloard have to go into your property to gain access to it?

If its not written in your contract that you have to pay for them lights then i would'nt pay for them. As the others have stated take the fuse out and then he needs your permission to enter the property while your not there to put the fuse back in, which will be breaking the terms of the contract if he does.

The only way to get any response out of these people is to play them at their own game!!!!!