Tenancy agreement and water bills

TheLuckiest

I' posted this over on the water bills section of the forum but thought it'd be more appropriate here..

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!

Marvel1

Have the bills been sent in her name?

TheLuckiest

The bills have been in my girlfriends name as she wrongly believed was responsible.

[Deleted User]

I think she needs to have a conversation with the LL..,but not expect too much. Its a bit late to notice this now. It could be said that she should have noticed this in her TA earlier (its there to be read obviously) and her paying it implies she accepted she needed to, regardless of what the TA said.

She could visit the CAB and see what they say.., or see what Shelter says.

But of course, then she has to get the LL's agreement and a payment from him/her. Neither is the easiest thing to acheive.

LadyDee

Thinking back to my many years working in legal offices, my understanding is that the terms of a written agreement cannot be altered verbally, although if there is no written agreement then a verbal agreement is binding. I'm pretty sure your girlfriend could claim the water rates back from the landlord.

TheLuckiest

I would agree that she should have noticed that this was in her agreement, although by the same token the landlord should have known it was in the agreement too and has avoided this liability for all these years.

She likes her landlord so isn't sure whether she wants to take it any further, but I think it's worth a conversation at least.

Guest101

LadyDee wrote: »

Thinking back to my many years working in legal offices, my understanding is that the terms of a written agreement cannot be altered verbally, although if there is no written agreement then a verbal agreement is binding. I'm pretty sure your girlfriend could claim the water rates back from the landlord.

I don't think that's correct. Any agreement can be altered by mutual consent. Written does not override verbal.

Guest101

Friendly chat
Letter before action
Court

There's a clear loss

AnotherJoe

Also it shouldn't be a loss to the LL, he can claim this back. Bit of a pain to do that unless he can pile it all into this year, so it might be fair to offer a discount off the total amount, maybe 10% ?

HappyMJ

AnotherJoe wrote: »

Also it shouldn't be a loss to the LL, he can claim this back. Bit of a pain to do that unless he can pile it all into this year, so it might be fair to offer a discount off the total amount, maybe 10% ?

Claim it back from who? If I'm reading it correctly the tenant wants the landlord to pay. If the landlord is going to claim it from the tenant then it makes no difference whether the tenant pays the bill or gets the landlord to pay it.

Guest101

HappyMJ wrote: »

Claim it back from who? If I'm reading it correctly the tenant wants the landlord to pay. If the landlord is going to claim it from the tenant then it makes no difference whether the tenant pays the bill or gets the landlord to pay it.

Presumably offset tax