Water Bill - Legal Issue?

jjlandlord

It's not common to have a clause stating that the landlord will pay half the water bill (why would he?)
Did you query the clause before signing?

Now, the clause is either badly drafted or was aimed at a previous situation as suggested by silvercar.
The question is whether it is likely to be interpreted by deposit adjudicators or a court as implying that your landlord is shared your water supply in exchange of paying 50% of the bill.

I have my doubts because it seems that (1) the situation was not explained to you, (2) the clause is unclear, and (3) it probably gives an unfair advantage to your landlord.
Thus, I think that you as a consumer would probably win if you claimed that they show pay their fair share (but it's not an exact science).

xylophone

Why can't each property have its own meter?

Strebor123

Hoploz wrote: »

I wonder whether you could discuss it with them in a reasonable way and try and make them see they are no contributing sufficiently. It shouldn't make any difference to them really, as it will either come out of letting agency running costs or profits from the rent, so nobody is personally responsible (on the other side I mean). Maybe if you showed them evidence that you regularly used a very small amount at your previous address they might take your point about the unevenness of the usage?

I'm a firm believer in trying to resolve issues amicably. However I was slightly alarmed when the woman said to me "Well, why do you think we pay half?"

She made me sound like I was an idiot for questioning my water bill. So it makes me think their defence is going to be "Well, we pay half so it doesn't really matter" But it does matter to me because they never told me they were paying half because they also use my water.

I just wanted some advice from a legal perspective. There's no mention in my tenancy regarding their water use.

fishpond

Ask the LL to fit a separate water meter for your flat, then have the bill apportioned accordingly.
Water meters are cheap enough and it will be accurate enough for your needs.

Strebor123

jjlandlord wrote: »

It's not common to have a clause stating that the landlord will pay half the water bill (why would he?)
Did you query the clause before signing?

Now, the clause is either badly drafted or was aimed at a previous situation as suggested by silvercar.
The question is whether it is likely to be interpreted by deposit adjudicators or a court as implying that your landlord is shared your water supply in exchange of paying 50% of the bill.

I have my doubts because it seems that (1) the situation was not explained to you, (2) the clause is unclear, and (3) it probably gives an unfair advantage to your landlord.
Thus, I think that you as a consumer would probably win if you claimed that they show pay their fair share (but it's not an exact science).

Thanks for the advice. If they offered to pay 70% (costing them an extra £15 a month maybe?) then I'd drop the issue. I just feel like they had plenty of opportunities to inform me this was the case (during the viewing, when I was signing etc etc.)

And to whomever asked whether I questioned why it was 50% (sorry I can't see your name on this reply page)
I didn't, I assumed it was just a less generous offer of the very common agreement where the landlord pays for all the water. They already pay my heating so in my head I was just thinking that they were throwing in the water as a bonus, but didn't want to have to pay for all of it.

Pete9501

10cu m a month is tiny, how much is the total bill and does it include drainage?

Strebor123

Pete9501 wrote: »

10cu m a month is tiny, how much is the total bill and does it include drainage?

1 cubic metre is 1000 litres. 10 in a month is 10,000 litres. Considering neither of us shower at home and we have an A+++ rated washing machine we use maybe once or twice a week, you can soon start to see why we questioned our water usage.

The total bill from Mid octo to the end of Jan was over £170, that's including drainage etc.

Like I said, earlier. We used 0 water today between 8am and 5pm, but our metre went up 2/5 of a unit. That's all the office usage and if you extrapolate that over a 3 month period (excluding Sundays etc) they're making up a pretty sizeable amount of the bill I'm getting.

jimbog

Pete9501 wrote: »

10cu m a month is tiny, how much is the total bill and does it include drainage?

Really? I use on average 13 cm every 3 months - living on my own

atrixblue.-MFR-.

Why not call LL and ask to have an internal stop tap meter plugged in so you can pay your own bills and have the outside meter allocated to the offices above. That would be the right way to go about it rather than pay 50/50.

stockton_2

My LL pays for all my water consumption but does not use any himself. He does not live here. The policy is intended to make his flats more attractive to prospective tenants. I can quite see why the o/p was misled into thinking that the LL was simply subsidizing his water usage.

It is not a situation I could tolerate. If your water usage is less than theirs then you are basically subsidizing them.

The answer would seem to be to get the LL to pay separately through their own meter.

It is not just the money it is the principle of the thing. If they left the tap on upstairs over the weekend then you would cop for half of that bill too. Your water usage should be entirely separate from that of the LL or EA.