Can the landlord make us use a particular cleaning company?

Out,_Vile_Jelly

allyc22 wrote: »

Thanks for the advice The landlord didn't do a check-in inventory when we moved in although he says he intends to do a check-out inspection when we leave.

Hang on- if there was no check-in done and no inventory, then I don't think the LL can demand anything about the state of the property upon departure. Others on here should be able to advise.

G_M

Out,_Vile_Jelly wrote: »

Hang on- if there was no check-in done and no inventory, then I don't think the LL can demand anything about the state of the property upon departure. Others on here should be able to advise.

See post 2 above.

Herbalus: To my mind it makes no sense for the landlord to be responsible for the council tax while there is a tenant - regardless of whether the tenant is living there.

I agree. It makes no sense. Unfortunately what you and I believe to be sensible is irrelevant. As jjlandlord said:

If the tenancy is periodic, the landlord becomes liable for CT to the council as soon as the tenant moves out, and not when the tenancy ends.

Guest101

mchale wrote: »

Sorry but problems can occur, just had tenants move out and they gave eon wrong meter readings, I contact eon with new tenants details & correct meter readings, 5 days later I get bill for £43.00 for gas & elec supposedly used in 1 day whilst house was getting cleaned,
The hassle i'm having getting eon to accept correct meter readings is unbelievable, so next time no deposit returned until I see bill with correct meter readings on it.

But it won't be upto u. What u should've done is contacted eon when they moved out and given meter readings in your name.

mchale

Guest101 wrote: »

But it won't be upto u. What u should've done is contacted eon when they moved out and given meter readings in your name.

That's what I did, but eon are billing me because tenant's gave wrong meter reading's prior to the correct readings I gave.

Guest101

mchale wrote: »

That's what I did, but eon are billing me because tenant's gave wrong meter reading's prior to the correct readings I gave.

But did you do it same day?

You said they are billing you for one day, so i presume it was two days later?

Also just so you are aware, you cant withold deposits for this, the arbitators will find in the tenants favour every time.

Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc

mchale wrote: »

Sorry but problems can occur, just had tenants move out and they gave eon wrong meter readings, I contact eon with new tenants details & correct meter readings, 5 days later I get bill for £43.00 for gas & elec supposedly used in 1 day whilst house was getting cleaned,
The hassle i'm having getting eon to accept correct meter readings is unbelievable, so next time no deposit returned until I see bill with correct meter readings on it.

Hi mchale

Bit tricky this one as it sounds, from what you've said, as though this is now a third party dispute.

I suspect, if the meter readings your tenants gave were in line with previous readings and usage patterns, we'll have accepted them in good faith and closed their account to these.

To change them now, we'll need the permission of the previous tenants as this will result in another bill going to them.

If I'm right and this is now a third party dispute, it's unlikely we'll become involved any further.

Sorry I can't offer anything more positive here mchale.

Malc

nobblyned

E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc wrote: »

Hi mchale

Bit tricky this one as it sounds, from what you've said, as though this is now a third party dispute.

I suspect, if the meter readings your tenants gave were in line with previous readings and usage patterns, we'll have accepted them in good faith and closed their account to these.

To change them now, we'll need the permission of the previous tenants as this will result in another bill going to them.

If I'm right and this is now a third party dispute, it's unlikely we'll become involved any further.

Sorry I can't offer anything more positive here mchale.

Malc

Sounds like a pretty shoddy way to wash your hands of it. If mchale can offer evidence that the meter readings were higher directly after the tenancy it is clear that the meter readings from the tenants were wrong. Using the excuse you accepted them in good faith and hence closed the account to then push the liability onto someone else is pretty slippery.

Anoneemoose

nobblyned wrote: »

Sounds like a pretty shoddy way to wash your hands of it. If mchale can offer evidence that the meter readings were higher directly after the tenancy it is clear that the meter readings from the tenants were wrong. Using the excuse you accepted them in good faith and hence closed the account to then push the liability onto someone else is pretty slippery.

I have nothing to add to the thread but I have to say I completely agree with this. Similar thing happened to us with a different supplier and it took a lot of hassle to sort out. I think they hope you'll just give up and accept it. Very sneaky indeed!

chanz4

Its the correct way with suppliers, as the contract is not a 3 way agreement. The landlord has zero right to see a final bill, any disputed usage should go under an occupier account.

L/lords have as much power as the milk man , also I had a similar experience with a letting agents that gave a higher reading to the supplier than me, unknown to them I had photos of the meter and were qualified unlike the agents.

m0t

Our letting agent attempted to do something similar which involved a cleaning company that were a wholly owned subsidiary of the letting agent. We also didn't have a check in inventory and they apparently got the cleaning done after we left and tried to deduct from our deposit.

We had to take ours to dispute. The dispute service ruled that since there was no check in inventory there was nothing to compare the check out to and therefore they couldn't judge whether cleaning was necessary and so disallowed it. They also judged that the £300 charge was excessive given the size of the property and that had the need for cleaning been proven the amount would have been reduced to a market rate.