Dodgy Stipulations in Tenancy Agreement

VespaRick

Hi guys,

I'm just about to sign a tenancy agreement on a flat but there are a few paragraphs in the agreement that I think are a bit unreasonable and perhaps against the law. one paragraph is stipulates that I take over the existing utilities accounts including existing telephone and that I can not change these without the Landlord's consent. And that if the landlord does consent to the change of suppliers I need to supply all the account numbers and details. Here are the exact words from the contract:

6.2 Pay all water rates/charges and Council Tax (or any substitute or replacement
therefor either in whole or part) payable in respect of the Property or its
occupation during the Term and take over the existing accounts for the supply of
gas and electricity and keep the same connected throughout the Term and pay
for gas and electric light and power which shall be consumed or supplied on or to
the Property during the Term and the amount of all charges made for the use and
rental of the telephone (if any) on the Property during the Term or a proper
proportion of the amount thereof to be assessed according to the duration of the
Term
6.3 On or before the start of the Term enter into contracts for the supply of mains
services with the respective authorities and take over the telephone(s) as the
same now exist at the Property and keep all such (if any) connected at all times
during the Term and pay promptly all monies properly demanded in respect
thereof and pay for any reconnection costs in the event of disconnection and:-
6.3.1 Not change the supplier of the services referred to above without the prior
consent of the Landlord or the Landlord’s Agent. Such consent will not be
unreasonably withheld. Where such consent is given, the Tenant undertakes to
promptly provide the Landlord or the Landlord’s Agent with full details of the new
supplier and account numbers etc. The Landlord reserves the right to withdraw,
for reasonable grounds and upon reasonable notice, any such consent previously
given. Should the Tenant fail to do so the Tenant shall pay the Landlord’s
Agent’s fee of £30.00 including VAT for arranging the takeover of each
service at the end of the Term

Would just like your view as to what I should do about these stipulations.

thesaint

The terms are legal, but more than likely unenforceable.

A landlord can evict you for not liking the colour of your shoes if he wanted, so I would think carefully about signing an agreement with the intention of breaking the terms you agreed to.

princeofpounds

The terms are legal, but more than likely unenforceable.

Let's be clear, writing almost any nonsense into a contract is legal, without the ability to enforce it's almost entirely meaningless.

A landlord can evict you for not liking the colour of your shoes if he wanted,

Only at the end of the fixed term

Not change the supplier of the services referred to above without the prior
consent of the Landlord or the Landlord’s Agent

This is definitely unenforceable. You can do whatever you want with the utilities.

promptly provide the Landlord or the Landlord’s Agent with full details of the new
supplier and account numbers etc. The Landlord reserves the right to withdraw,
for reasonable grounds and upon reasonable notice, any such consent previously
given.

Ditto

Should the Tenant fail to do so the Tenant shall pay the Landlord’s
Agent’s fee of £30.00 including VAT for arranging the takeover of each
service at the end of the Term

Ditto. Plus this would likely be a penalty, which cannot be charged in a consumer contract. The only annoying thing is that they might try to bill you for this, but you should win in arbitration/court.

As for all this 'taking over' business, it's totally unclear what that even means. I wouldn't accept assigning an account with any debts, but of course you are going to want your name on the utilities supplies.

All this is typical stuff for a badly-drafted AST written by someone with little lettings law knowledge (or someone who has the knowledge but wants to bamboozle tenants into behaving as they desire)

VespaRick

Thanks for you reply Princeofpounds. That is exactly what I thought, and to back what you say above I have found information from the OFT website which specifically stipulates that forcing me into a specific utility provider is a no no and against the law. (Page 109 in the OFT's Guidance on unfair terms in tenancy agreements document)

Pixie5740

I had some terms like that in my last tenancy agreement and I just ignored them along with most other clauses as they were unenforcable nonsense.

The way that tenancy agreement, and my old one, are written it's as though the utility bills belong to the property and not the individual. That's what I take the "taking over" to mean when in actual fact you will be opening your own accounts with the utility companies that have SFA to do with the landlord.

My last landlady kept trying to get my account number for the gas & electricity company I used and I had to keep telling her to !!!!!! off because it was MY account, not the property's. I did give her the meter readings though since she doesn't know how to read a meter apparantly

mgarl10024

My only thought is about cases where changing the utilities would mean a modification to the property? Perhaps the landlord is sensitive to that. I'm not thinking gas/electric here, but more if you switched from a BT phone to a cable phone, or wanted Cable/Sky TV installed. In this case, the landlord would likely want to be informed as you are modifying the property (installing Satellite dishes, drilling holes, etc.).

However, changing the supplier at the end of the existing phone/gas/electricity connections should be up to you. I've no idea about who my tenant is using as their phone or energy provider.

Perhaps you should suggest to them that they up the rent a little but provide the utilities inclusive.

SerialRenter

It's amazing the rubbish that can appear in the tenancy agreement when the landlord has just copy pasted it from the internet.

Like my current agreement states i'm responsible for keeping the garden in order and to only dry laundry in designated areas. Only the property doesn't have a garden. I asked the letting agent what constitutes a designated area for drying clothes "oh, there's no designated area". *facepalm*

System

take over the telephone(s) as the same now exist at the Property

Is he expecting the number to stay the same? Quite a few areas (BT anyway) will give a new number on change of account holder

VespaRick

I've sent the contract back asking for clarification and pointing them in the direction of the OFT website. Let's see what the reply is. I have no intention of keeping the same telephone number, as I'm not interested in receiving calls for previous tenants. I just want to choose the utilities provider that meets my requirements and that provides the best value for money.

Herbalus

Tenancy agreements are curious things. I went through my first one with a fine tooth comb and negotiated on everything I wasn't happy with. In my current flat the landlord has used the template offered by the letting agent and wasn't even aware of the "no pets" clause when I asked if it was ok to get a cat.

You obviously don't want to be signing up to anything unreasonable, but when there are unfair and unenforceable conditions in contracts I simply ignore them and sign anyway. It's not worth the hassle of pointing out that they have unenforceable conditions in their contracts because the letting agents around here don't seem to understand what that means.

Pixie5740

VespaRick wrote: »

I've sent the contract back asking for clarification and pointing them in the direction of the OFT website. Let's see what the reply is. I have no intention of keeping the same telephone number, as I'm not interested in receiving calls for previous tenants. I just want to choose the utilities provider that meets my requirements and that provides the best value for money.

The thing is that you don't want to be labled a troublemaker before you've even signed the tenancy agreement in case the landlord changes their mind and decided to rent to someone else.

I'd just sign it and then change the utility companies to suit myself.