Final Electricity Bill Issue - Where do i stand?

dougie1142

Hi All,

This may seem like a fairly obvious but I would just like some clarity on where i stand.

I recently moved out of a property on the 20th November 2017 - that's when the keys went back to the letting agency.

This was based on an early surrender (see attached), as the tenancy end date was originally meant to be the 20th December 2017, however the Landlord agreed 20th November 2017.

The early surrender letter template that the letting agency provided me failed to mention that I would be liable from the 20th of November until the next tenant moved in, however on the 20th of November when i went to hand my keys back I was told in person that they have 9 days post me moving out where they clean the flat etc, this wasn't mentioned anywhere. They also confirmed when i handed the keys in that they had secured the next tenant but due to this 9 days they give all flats then this new tenant wouldn't move in to the flat until the 29th November and I was liable for all bills in this time.

So fast forward to today - I gave the electricity company SSE my final meter readings on the 20th November as I would have no access post this date - I paid this bill with no issue on the 6th December. Today i receive a letter for a final bill from the 20th November until the 29th November claiming I owe £60.86.

Now i could understand £20, but £60?!

This has been broken down to
- £37.27 for heating control ( we use storage heaters here, so they are wired in to a seperate tariff).
- £18.35 of standard energy
- 9 day standing charge of £2.35

What really gets me here is that for a supposedly "empty" flat for 9 days they have incurred almost £40 of electricity charges, they must have left all the storage heaters on full blast for the 9 days! I think that's more than i ever paid for storage heaters in a month, and then £20 of standard electricity makes me think they had left all the lights on too.

Where do i stand with this? I signed to leave the flat on the 20th November, then was verabally made aware that i would still be liable until the 29th, even though the letting agency agreed the 20th November.

Don't get me wrong, it's not a lot of money but still on principle i'm not very happy.

Thanks for all your help.

Douglas

This is the template supplied by the agency, and signed and dated by myself for early surrender on the 20th November 2017.

System

You will get many opinions but my advice is talk to Citizens' Advice. The Letting Agent/landlord would want to make sure that there were no risks to the property when it was left vacant so I am not sure that they can be criticised for leaving the storage heaters on. Personally, I would be more worried about paragraph 4 (the re-letting fee): has this been waived?

HampshireH

Have you checked the meter readings?

Do they reflect those that you provided when you left?

In your complaint it may be worth referencing the real costs from last year when the property was lived in 're these you have been given for a pretty which has not been lived in.

Sounds like an error has been made somewhere but you should have the readings in the bill to be able to identify this if it's the case.

Alternatively..... Did you already owe money which has been amalgamated into this bill?

LewisHamilton

This is clearly a landlord and tenant dispute.

My view is that if you left the property on 20 November 2017 and the landlord agreed to this, then the landlord should be paying the bills from 20 November 2017 until the new tenant moved into the property. There is no reasonable circumstance (where the landlord has agreed to the early vacate and you have handed back the keys) that you should be liable for any bills after the point you left.

If the landlord did not acknowledge or accept the early termination of the tenancy agreement then its reasonable you are responsible for the bills until the end date of the tenancy agreement.

Based on what you have said, your early termination of the tenancy was accepted so you should not be paying for the bills after this point.

I would dispute the charges after 20 November 2017 (preferably pay under dispute if you can afford the bills to avoid debt collection letters etc) then take the matter to the energy ombudsman who can make a determination on the matter. If they rule in your favour then you will get the money back.

GrumpyDil

This isn't really an energy question and would probably be best on the renting board. However, it is perfectly reasonable for the landlord to make the tenant liable for charges up to finding a new tenant, they could have chosen to say no to an early surrender and held the tenant to the full term of the tenancy agreement instead.

Note that acceptance of the early termination was conditional with the terms set by the termination agreement.