Landlord, water and electricity

Madmel

OP if it helps, I'll give you our figures for comparison. We can't get a water meter due to the location of the pipes and stop-tap. Although we have our own sewerage system, we have mains water supplied and pay £32pm for this in a 4 bed house with 3 or 4 adults/older teens. I also do all the laundry for my holiday cottage here (the cottage has a meter). This is with SW Water who are not the cheapest supplier apparently. Yours seems very high.

I agree with turning off the power for a few hours. I would also be reading the electricity meter weekly. You know what you are using yourself, so extra must be from the stables. Then go back to the LL with your figures and ask for the figures from the meter in the stable and note these down next to yours. Hopefully you will soon get an idea of whether £25pm is an insult or not...

Sibz

What does your lease say regarding G&E etc? Are you also paying your LL for this as you say the other tenants are? I'd assume not if you are being billed directly by the supplier(s) - maybe it's worth contacting the suppliers to say that another property is being run off your supply without your authorisation?
Have you discussed this scenario with your LL? - he would most likely need to rectify it then, or he'd want you out - or both.

Looking for somewhere else? I'd expect you'd at least be let out the agreement and refunded your deposit - Can't see how the LL hasn't broken the law by running another property off your supply, though I'm not entirely clear on the set up

lincroft1710

If you're paying water based on the old RV of the house then that is a fixed price More or less water usage will not affect the price you pay.

Mr.Generous

The outbuilding electrics for the stables should be capable of being separately isolated from the house, and depending how long ago wired protected by an RCD. Even if they were there years ago they should be capable of being separately isolated, ie switched off. I'd do that until they agree to pay it.

Landlord can get a sub meter installed (at great expense) but to let the stables he needs to do this really.

Why did you agree to any of this in the first place?

unforeseen

Is the water possibly on a business rate (if such a thing exists) hence the high price

MissC101

I didn't agree to any of it!

Good thinking on the business charge thought on the water. I will check with Wessex Water on Monday.

Ms_Chocaholic

Can you ask the people who rent the stables how much they pay the landlord for water and electricity or is it all lumped together.

Marvel1

MissC101 wrote: »

The LL is charging the tenants for electricity and water in their rent. But the LL isn't the one paying for it as I am.

The cheeky !!!!er :mad:

Fixed water seems really high, ask the provider what it should be for personal use.

Switch off electric for the day that supplies the stables - and do things you normally do to record how many units are used and the same when putting it back on.

D_M_E

You have no access to the meter, so also have no access to any reading taken when you moved in.

You cannot therefore see by how much the stables have increased your bill so have no idea of what they are using.

Probably also cannot cut off the power to the stables as most likely they will be on a seperate feed from the meter which is locked away inside the stables - it's probable that your supply comes off the fuseboard or RCD which is supplied by the meter.

Do you pay concil tax? If not, try contacting the council and telling them you are in residence - landlord may not have registered the property and council don't know about it.

Sure, you may get a backdated bill, just make sure you ask for the single occupant's discount, but the landlord could be in big trouble renting out an unlicenced property.
Doing this may give you some leverage to terminate the tenancy by mutual agreement but cannot say for sure.

dawyldthing

Do you have a smart meter for the electric? As this is one of the cases it will be really useful as if you switch all your electric stuff off for 10 minutes then take a reading you’ll have an idea of the hourly rate and can work out roughly the cost per month. If it’s a barn with many lights I doubt £10 per month will be enough tbh.