Tenancy agreement question 1 March 2016 at 10:12PM in Water bills 3 replies 1K views

TheLuckiest

Hi guys

Bit of a funny one but here goes..

My girlfriend is going to be handing in her notice on her rented house in the near future so we've just been looking over her tenancy agreement.

I noticed it says..

"The landlord will pay the water charges for the property..."

There's no mention of water charges under the tenant obligations. However, my girlfriend has been paying water rates the whole time she's been there which is about 4 years!

Where would she stand legally with this? Would she be entitled to this money back from the landlord? Over 4 years it adds up to a fair amount!

macman

She would appear to have a watertight case (no pun intended\). A pity though, that she didn't read the tenancy agreement when she signed it, rather than 4 years later...
Obtaining a refund of all charges paid, however, may require her to pursue a civil action against the LL.
Is her deposit protected?

Cardew

Agree with the post above, however it is not really a 'water' issue, but rather a rental tenancy agreement issue.


Who drew up the agreement? The Landlord or the Letting agent?

macman

With respect Cardew, I don't quite see the relevance of that detail. Assuming that the LL signed it, it's legally binding on them, and if the agent screwed up the drafting, then that is a dispute between them and their client-nothing to do with the tenant.
However it would be an unusual arrangement in which the tenant paid the gas/electricity bills but not the water-is this a metered supply, or is the property a bodged conversion where the supply has not been properly divided? It's not an HMO?