Additional charge on top of rent

DRP

If i were the tenant i would ensure that i see some kind of itemised bill rather than simply hand over the rather conveniently round figure of 30 quid.

Given the slapdash nature they were informed of the water payments i wouldnt give the LL the benefit of doubt on anything from now on...

martindow

I would be concerned that the LL might pocket the £30 and not pay the water bills. Wouldn't the water company chase the resident for payment?

anotheruser

But then what is the service charge for exactly? The gardens? A groundskeeper?

I would have thought for a flat with no water metres then a flat rate/charge would be in place, which I would think would fall under the "service charge" as I have seen before.

RupertTheCat

In most cases with a rental property you would be expecting to pay the water bill separately, so I would say they should have budgeted for that. It's more unusual to have it built into the services charges I think.

The £30 is probably based on the breakdown in the service charges - the property owner will be paying the service charge each month which will include the water bill, so it will get paid, it's not like the landlord will be able to just hold onto the money. I know with a property I own with the water rates built in to the service charge I only know what the rates will be when I get sent the yearly service charge in advance.

I don't charge my tenants separately for the water, but instead build it into the rent. I don't suppose everyone will do that but it makes sense to me.

I know rental charges often seem steep, but by the time you've finished factoring in service charges, ground rent, insurance etc the owner does have to pay quite a lot. I have a flat where the service fee is £300 a month, just because there's so much damage done to the building!!

kylararlin

Well they went to pick up the keys yesterday and it appears that the LA just phrased it badly, the water charge is paid on top of the rent but not as a separate amount. As the primary concern was that this money was being paid to a 3rd party which they had no control over they are satisfied and have signed for the property.

RupertTheCat, I think you hit the nail on the head there that it just makes sense to build it in to the rent and I think we naively thought that would be the case. The service charges here are extortionate and rising rapidly, the residents committee are even trying to change the management company, we certainly wouldn't consider buying here currently even though we love the area

I have a feeling that this may be a LA issue given that they signed a "12 month contract running from May to November" (obviously checked, the signed contract is 6 months) and the contracts themselves had to be printed out 3 times to correct spelling errors!

tim123456789

martindow wrote: »

I would be concerned that the LL might pocket the £30 and not pay the water bills. Wouldn't the water company chase the resident for payment?

It's a communal bill paid by the block management company. A bill which is fully the responsibility of the leaseholder

There is no chance of the water company chasing a sub-tenant.

The only issue is one of quantum and IME part share of communal metered bills are significantely less than 360 pounds per annum

neverdespairgirl

gayleanne wrote: »

Quite a few landlords do it this way to make sure the water rates are paid on time. £30.00 a month is actually very good for water rates our water rates were 69.50 per month until I had a water meter installed.

In our old flat, it wasn't possible to have water meters, because of hte way in which the pipes had been installed.

We initially paid a massive amount (£650 / year in 1998) because it was based on ratable value. Then it changed, to an average of use for metered property in that area of a similar size, and cost £19 / month (in 2011). So £30 / month sounds high to me. This was a 3 bed place.