Is my landlord scamming me????

MonkeyMad

He cannot use your metric figures with an imperial conversion factor (well he could but he would have to convert them to imperial first so would be pointless). Long and short is work out your bill using your method, using the unit price he has, and that is what you should pay (ignoring standing charges etc, which you can tack on). Based on what you have said he is wrong

HappyMJ

yvonneb21 wrote: »

Not for cooking, that's all electric. I have one shower per day, do the washing up once a day, washing once a week and generally restrict myself to the bedroom and use the oil filled electric radiator on a low setting. It would literally be the gas central heating on for an hour tops per day on average. I agree, I think he just thinks that is far too low for a gas bill but I'm extremely energy conscious (again thanks to moneysavingsupermarket)

Is this your first bill? I hope so. Just pay what you think the bill should be based on your calculations and let him try and prove it otherwise. He'll probably give you notice to terminate the tenancy for non payment so you can then defend that in court.

yvonneb21

MonkeyMad wrote: »

He cannot use your metric figures with an imperial conversion factor (well he could but he would have to convert them to imperial first so would be pointless). Long and short is work out your bill using your method, using the unit price he has, and that is what you should pay (ignoring standing charges etc, which you can tack on). Based on what you have said he is wrong

Thank you very much for taking the time to help me with this query. As I said, it seems simple to me but he seems to think there is some sort of relationship between the two meters and the way he is billed that effectively makes my (as he called it) "just a check meter" redundant. I'll confront him with my findings and report back to the thread. Thanks again.

yvonneb21

HappyMJ wrote: »

Is this your first bill? I hope so. Just pay what you think the bill should be based on your calculations and let him try and prove it otherwise. He'll probably give you notice to terminate the tenancy for non payment so you can then defend that in court.

Thank you for the response. Yes, this is my first bill. I have a good relationship with the landlord and he's always about because he works in the office below. He was willing to get to the bottom of it and told me to withhold payment before it was settled. He doesn't actually personally make the bill, one of his staff does.

The problem is, for him that there is another tenant who has lived here for 3 years in an identical flat above me and he is being charged the same way. I'm sure you can see the financial consequences of that if I'm proved to be correct. Thanks again, I'll let the thread know the outcome. Yvonne.

Norman_Castle

I am sure he is charging me for an imperial meter but he says that because of the way the meters are configured, his calculation is correct. Is there any reason why I should not be able to calculate gas usage directly from my metric meter within my flat independently of his meter?

If the meter in your flat measures all the gas you use why does the landlord convert and charge from another meter?.
My yearly gas bill in a one bed flat with gas heating, water and cooking is approx £220.

yvonneb21

Norman_Castle wrote: »

If the meter in your flat measures all the gas you use why does the landlord convert and charge from another meter?.
My yearly gas bill in a one bed flat with gas heating, water and cooking is approx £220.

Thank you Norman. That's almost the same usage as my calculation. The more I look into it, the more I am standing by my original theory. I should not have let him bamboozle me. Many thanks Norman.

Norman_Castle

The problem is, for him that there is another tenant who has lived here for 3 years in an identical flat above me and he is being charged the same way.

Do the the combined charges for two flats the match the single bill for the communal meter?

yvonneb21

Norman_Castle wrote: »

Do the the combined charges for two flats the match the single bill for the communal meter?

I'm afraid it's more complicated than that because there is a shop below and 3 offices which all have "check meters" in a similar way to mine. They all receive their bill the same way I do. I don't know what their bill is or whether they have imperial or metric meters. I know the flat upstairs has a metric meter because the flat is an identical copy of mine. British gas have apparently been promising to come and rectify the situation for half a year or so, the landlord tells me.

I hope I'm not being naive when I say that I believe this to be a genuine mistake on the part of his staff member who arranges the bill.

I'll summarise my argument here-

I've got a metric meter in my flat. I've used X amount of units. I'll convert that to kwh using the standard calculation and this is how much gas I'll pay for regardless of any other meters/billing methods.

Thanks for helping me clarify.

tyllwyd

There is a very clear explanation here
http://www.bbc.co.uk/watchdog/consumer_advice/latest_meters_pic.shtml

On the face of it, it seems quite straightforward, and if you have a metric meter you don't need the conversion factor, which would match with what you've said.

It seems quite odd - if all the bills are being calculated in the same way, he will end up collecting more money than he is being billed. Even if some of the meters are imperial, he would still end up overcharging on the metric meters.

MonkeyMad

yvonneb21 wrote: »

Thank you very much for taking the time to help me with this query. As I said, it seems simple to me but he seems to think there is some sort of relationship between the two meters and the way he is billed that effectively makes my (as he called it) "just a check meter" redundant. I'll confront him with my findings and report back to the thread. Thanks again.

There is a relationship and it is defined by the conversion factor. If you clock up 1000 units on your meter (metric) if his also measures the gas you use, it won't clock up as 1000 units on his (imperial) but will show about 350 units. That's why there is the conversion factor.

Your 'check meter' is showing the gas used by your flat so how can it possibly be redundant?How would he know what you charge individual tenants? Stick to your guns and show him the maths (or ask him why he is applying an Imperial TO Metric conversion to a number ALREADY in metric)?