Calculating rent refund

ashananme

Hi there. This is my first post on the forums, so apologies if I've put this in the wrong place! This also may be a bit of a long story, but I hope someone can help...

I moved into the house I currently live in back in September and paid 6 months rent up-front. The house was great to start with, but then I received my heating bills for the winter months - absolutely astronomical! I have since found out why - the EPC for the property only registers as a 7 out of 100! Stupidly I didn't ask for this info at the beginning of my tenancy, but the estate agent also never showed me/gave me a copy.

After a lot of back-and-forth with the estate agent, they have agreed to end my tenancy early and we're currently in the process of working out a refund. I moved in to the property on the 27th of September, with the tenancy ending on 26th of March. I will be moving out tomorrow (Tuesday 4th March), meaning I have 22 days left on my agreement.

The estate agent has come back with a figure of £379.68 for the refund of these 22 days, which to me seems a little low. I have worked it out one of two ways;

1. The rent is £550 per calendar month (as noted on my tenancy agreement) - this calendar month (27th Feb - 26th March) is 28 days, so that’s £550 / 28, a rate of £19.64 a day, at 22 days left on the contract, this appears to me to be £432.14
2. At worst, I’ve paid £3,300 for 180 days (27th September - 26th of March), so £18.33 per day of my contract, so if I leave with 22 days left on my contract, this would amount to £403.33.

In my mind, my contract clearly states £550.00 per calendar month, so I have paid £550 for the period 27th Feb - 26th March, so no.1 above seems logical to me. Can anyone help with how I should be working this out/point me to any legal rules surrounding this? Any help would be very much appreciated!

donfanatico

I would work it out like this:

550x12=6600pa/365=£18.082 per day.

which for 22 days makes it £397.80

moromir

My understanding is that it should be calculated as follows;

So vacant period 5th - 26th March = 22 days

Annual rent = 550 * 12 = 6600

Daily pro rata 6600 / 365 = 18.082191780821917808219178082192

18.082191780821917808219178082192 * 22 = 397.81 (rounded up)

Pro rata rent for 22 days = £397.81

ging84

legally the way it should be worked out would be the number of remaining whole rent periods x the rent amount
which sounds like 0 x 550 is what you are legally entitled to
so i would not push it too far over £40

ashananme

That's great, thanks ever so much both. Normally I wouldn't really quibble, but as I say the bills have been sky-high, and quite frankly the landlord and estate agents have been rather nasty!

Flashmanchop

what type of property is it? what level of expenses did you expect?

your expectation and what is relevant may be miles apart - and on this instance seem to be. we need figures to appreciate. how much gas did you use per week, and how much electric did you use? did you monitor it properly, and take regular meter readings?

I have had the boot on both feet, from my own point of view and a tenants point of view.

BitterAndTwisted

Quite honestly, to quibble about a couple of quid might make the landlord reconsider his position. You are not legally entitled a single penny. Tread very carefully!

jjlandlord

Why do you guys use the annual rent to apportion within a month when rent is per calendar month?

Re. The legalities, unless it is agreed, tenant is not entitled to any refund in the scenario being discussed. Thus it is really down to whatever is agreed.