Water bill disputes

wildmanmatt

Hi,

I rent a house that's been split up from 3 properties. Each has individual electricity and gas meters, but a shared water meter which the landlord divvies up every 6 months.

In previous periods, the landlord has split this equally between the 3 properties.

In my property, there are 2 people, there are 2 in the other and the third has anyone from 3 - 8 people (depending on who's staying there - the landlord uses it as a short-stay place for people who work for him charging fixed rent and paying all the bills himself)

The bill is normally between £70 and £90 per 6 months.

However, this period, the bill for the three properties was £457. The landlord has assigned £337 of this to me and split the remainder between the other two properties (£60 each).

The justification for this is that he says I watered my garden in the summer (as did the other 2 person property) and that I filled a summer pool.

I worked out how much water went into the pool and wrote back to him saying that I was willing to pay the same as the others plus that amount, but he is refusing to accept this and insists that I pay the £337 figure that he has seemingly plucked out of the sky.

The landlord also came by with a plumber in December saying that they would have to divert the water supply at some point because a pipe in our main supply line had sprung a leak and we were using double the amount of water of 3 normal properties this size.

Unfortunately my landlord is a most unreasonable person.

I'm not sure what's best to do here, either about the bill or about moving forward. Ideally, I would like a water meter for myself, but one that's not managed by the landlord.

Any thoughts would be much appreciated...

Thanks,

Matt

agrinnall

What does it say in your lease about how the water charge is to be split? I don't know much about mnetered water as we don't really have it in Scotland but if the water company allows a single supply to be split between multiple properties there may be some regulations about how much the person who pays the bill can charge, as there is with electricity.

DVardysShadow

In writing ask him to produce his calculations and assumptions. Offer to pay your share of the metered consumption. You also need to challenge him that while the leak remains, he cannot assign excess usage to you.

G_M

Ask for a refund due to the leak.

I also don't know the rules about 1 meter serving multiple properties, but if it were me I'd contact the water company for advice.

I'd also write tot he LL asking that the bill be divided according to umber of people.

2+2+(say average) 6 = 10

So you pay 2/10th or 1/5th of the bill.

Norman_Castle

The landlord also came by with a plumber in December saying that they would have to divert the water supply at some point because a pipe in our main supply line had sprung a leak and we were using double the amount of water of 3 normal properties this size.

As you rent the property, the leaking pipe is not your responsibility.

This might help http://www.ofwat.gov.uk/mediacentre/leaflets/prs_lft_101117meters.pdf

Water resale order
http://www.ofwat.gov.uk/legacy/aptrix/ofwat/publish.nsf/AttachmentsByTitle/water_resale160306.pdf/$FILE/water_resale160306.pdf

wildmanmatt

I only have my initial shorthold tenancy agreement that started on 7/8/07 and expired on 6/8/08 (I'm guessing that the stuff in there carries forward?)

The part about utilities states the following:

15.1. To notify the suppliers of gas, water, electricity, other fuel and telephone services to the Premises that this Tenancy has started.
15.2. To apply for the account for the provision of those services to be put into the name(s) of the Tenant.
15.3. Not to tamper, interfere with, alter, or add to, the installations or meters relating to the supply of such services to the Premises This includes the installation of any pre-payment meter.
15.4. To inform the Landlord, or the Agent, of any change of telephone number within a reasonable time of the Tenant being given the new number.
15.5. To inform the Landlord or the Agent within a reasonable time of a utility being transferred to a new supplier.
15.6. To provide the name, address and account number of the new supplier within a reasonable time of transfer.
15.7. To pay any costs incurred by the Landlord or the gent in transferring the account back to the original supplier at the end of the Tenancy.
15.8. To pay the Landlord all costs incurred in the reconnection of any service (including any arrears of payment) following disconnection of any service whether caused by the Tenant's failure to comply with clause 9.2 or by anything done or not done by the Tenant.
15.9. To arrange for the reading of the gas, electricity and water meter, if applicable, at the end of the Tenancy and the departure of the Tenant from the Premises.
15.10. To pay all outstanding accounts with the utility service providers during and at the end of the Tenancy.
15.11. To permit the Landlord or Agent at the termination or earlier ending of the Tenancy to give the forwarding address of the Tenant to the suppliers of the service providers set out in clause 15.1 and to the local Authority.

For reference, 9.2 states:

Further Charges to be paid by the Tenant
9.2 To pay all charges falling due for the following services used during Tenancy and to pay such a proportion of any standing charge for those services as reflects the period of tie that this Agreement was in force:

• gas
• water (including sewerage and other environmental services)
• electricity
• any other fuel charges
• telecommunications.

Does this change anything? I'm still not sure where I stand with the landlord. Is he able to just charge me what he likes? Or what he thinks I am responsible for? How could he justify it? Is there somewhere codified in law that I can only be held responsible for a certain percentage of the bill unless there's some form of meter?

Thanks,

Matt

Norman_Castle

Is there somewhere codified in law that I can only be held responsible for a certain percentage of the bill unless there's some form of meter?

http://www.ofwat.gov.uk/legacy/aptrix/ofwat/publish.nsf/AttachmentsByTitle/water_resale160306.pdf/$FILE/water_resale160306.pdf

wildmanmatt

Norman_Castle wrote: »

Water resale order
ofwat.gov.uk/legacy/aptrix/ofwat/publish.nsf/AttachmentsByTitle/water_resale160306.pdf/$FILE/water_resale160306.pdf

Thanks Norman, I didn't see this... makes it very clear!

Matt

DVardysShadow

Norman_Castle wrote: »

http://www.ofwat.gov.uk/legacy/aptrix/ofwat/publish.nsf/AttachmentsByTitle/water_resale160306.pdf/$FILE/water_resale160306.pdf

Clickable.

From TFA:

There are leaks on the site and I think I’m
paying for leaked water. What should I do?
Your re-seller is normally responsible for fixing leaks on
the site’s pipework. If you think there are leaks, you should discuss this with your re-seller. If there is significant leakage on a site, your local water
company may ask the re-seller to fix any leaks.

So dob the Landlord in to the water company?