deposit deductions for phone calls made

lewishardwick

True. I guess probably better for 1/2 bed flats but not for large family homes.

Brightspark87

lewishardwick wrote: »

True. I guess probably better for 1/2 bed flats but not for large family homes.

Hi this isn't true either - we pay £70 a month for water and live in a 2 and 1/2 bedroom house. If we were on a water meter we would pay £15 a month as there is only 2 of us. However, landlord won't let us fit one as they feel it would be a downside for any families. When I lived at home we had a 4 bedroom house with 6 of us in it and a water meter and that was only £50 a month but landlord still won't budge.

G_M

The pros & cons of meters is a different issue.

Yes, it depends on size of property, number of ocupants, and their lifestyles (bath or shower? Daily washing machine or live in the same clothes for weeks?).

I read somewhere a rough guide is to compare number of bedrooms with number of occupants, but that is, as I say, a very rough guide.

The issue here is that the LL's future plans for the property are unknown so whether he will benefit or not from a meter is beyond the tenant's ability to guess.

And whatever the tenancy agreement does or does not say, it has a legally implied term that the tenant will return the property in the same condition as when they moved in (ie not with different coloured walls, different contents..... or different plumbing)

princeofpounds

Water meters are usually positive things. They will continue to be until most people are on them, to drive adoption, then they will no longer be.


There is clearly a conflict between the 'right' of a landlord to have the property condition preserved, and the 'right' of a tenant to pick their own utilities supply.


Anyway, I did a little research on this through a wonderful tool through google.


It turns out that although the law is not particularly well-drafted in this area, the main clause is:


Water Industry Act 1999 Section 11
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1999/9

So basically, if you are on a fixed term tenancy of over 6 months then no tenancy term (whether written or implied) can restrict the tenant from exercising their right, and it specifically says no consent is required.


It's badly-drafted because there are many other tenancy and tenancy-like situations where this might be an issue, but it's pretty clear in respect to where it does apply.


But I think that settles it.

G_M

Thanks for the link princeofpounds.

That does indeed seem to settle it.

CharlieRabbit01

We had a water meter fitted, in the SE where our supplier is/was rolling them out to all homes but you could request one early.

They also had the 6 month clause that princeofpounds mentions, however I did check with my LL first.

Harvey85

As a new member it won't allow me to add links to my post but I have a letter direct from United Utilities stating the removal of the water meter is 100% free of charge.

The water board told me that the landlord is informed about this but each time the landlord speaks to me she is aggressive and keeps saying she is deducting over £300 from the deposit because she has had to pay for removal of the meter but United utilities say she hasn't been charged a penny and she wont be charged, the woman I spoke to actually said it sounds like the landlord is trying everything to get money from me.

The landlord also had new tenants in her house less then one week after my tenancy ended so no void period.

Back to my question, can the landlord claim from the deposit for phone calls made to the water board?

FBaby

They can claim for any loss. Whether it will be accepted is another matter. Their argument though will probably be that you should have made the arrangements yourself before leaving, and therefore the phone calls yourself. If so, they might have a case, but really, how much can they claim £10? Can't you just agree on that amount?

Frankly, if this goes to arbitration, it is insulting for the adjudicator who is legally trained and am sure has much better use of his time than to deal with such a petty dispute.

giddypenguin

As an aside, I rang my water company this morning, an 0345 number which is included in my free minutes - so LL can't be claiming for much!

Harvey85

FBaby wrote: »

They can claim for any loss. Whether it will be accepted is another matter. Their argument though will probably be that you should have made the arrangements yourself before leaving, and therefore the phone calls yourself. If so, they might have a case, but really, how much can they claim £10? Can't you just agree on that amount?

Frankly, if this goes to arbitration, it is insulting for the adjudicator who is legally trained and am sure has much better use of his time than to deal with such a petty dispute.

But I did make all the arrangements myself and the phone calls, over 7 calls to United Utilities. As I said this is just another tactic from the landlord.

The problem is that the landlord should have returned all or part of my deposit 10 days after leaving which was the 17th January but as of yet I haven't received a penny, the landlord is refusing to speak to me by any means and told me if I contact her she will go to the police for harassment so I have had no choice but to go to an adjudicator.