Tenant refusing to pay bills

[Deleted User]

G_M wrote: »

What is the wording in the tenancy agreement.....?

"To pay all charges in respect of any electric, gas, water, sewage, internet and telephonic or televisual services used at or supplied to the Property and Council Tax that might be charged in addition to or replacement of it during the Term"

A_Lert

Yup. You are liable to pay the bills to the energy supplier. The tenant is liable to pay the bills to you.


It's the same as how if your tenant doesn't pay their rent, you still have to pay any mortgage you have on the property.

G_M

kydsnr wrote: »

"To pay all charges in respect of any electric, gas, water, sewage, internet and telephonic or televisual services used at or supplied to the Property and Council Tax that might be charged in addition to or replacement of it during the Term"

1) "to pay all charges..." - I thought it was split between multiple tenants? So clearly a %, not "all charges".
2) No idea what " in addition to or replacement of it" is meant to mean. Maybe I'm being dumb.
3) similarly CT - how much (%?) is the tenant required to pay?

Or do you expect each tenant to pay all the charges? Nice profit potential!


You need to to get your TA re-written!

sal_III

kydsnr wrote: »

Okay thank you very much - that sounds more like a better solution actually.

The only issue is they still have just under 4 months left of their 6 months fixed term tenancy contract, so slightly wary about the grounds in which to kick them out, as they have only been at the property for 2 months.

We'll just have to see if they pay they are willing to pay the bills for the remaining months..

If the deposit is enough to cover the 6 months bill, you don't have to go down the eviction route.

As a first step I would discuss this with the tenant and point out that you will deduct the amount from the deposit at the end, so they might as well start paying now or risk eviction. If they still refuse to pay, you are likely better getting rid of them sooner rather than later.

[Deleted User]

G_M wrote: »

1) "to pay all charges..." - I thought it was split between multiple tenants? So clearly a %, not "all charges".
2) No idea what " in addition to or replacement of it" is meant to mean. Maybe I'm being dumb.
3) similarly CT - how much (%?) is the tenant required to pay?

Or do you expect each tenant to pay all the charges? Nice profit potential!


You need to to get your TA re-written!

Guess that's where I was going wrong - make 'em pay all %!

On a serious note, I guess the way we've always interpreted it is that the bills are the tenants responsibility, and the final amount on the bill is up to them to pay up - how they pay/split it doesn't concern us. Be obviously we usually recommend and make it clear that you can divide it amongst the tenants.

Good point - need to add a an extra section which states that they must pay a minimum %, or make it clear that ^ that is the way the bill should be interpreted.

[Deleted User]

sal_III wrote: »

If the deposit is enough to cover the 6 months bill, you don't have to go down the eviction route.

As a first step I would discuss this with the tenant and point out that you will deduct the amount from the deposit at the end, so they might as well start paying now or risk eviction. If they still refuse to pay, you are likely better getting rid of them sooner rather than later.

Thank you very much - that was really helpful advice!
I'm not sure if you can also help with this question, but we recently switched energy providers (beginning of Jan, so the first bill hasn't arrive yet) - do you think it's worth changing the name on that, so it's a contract between them and not me, to avoid the hassle for the remaining months that they will be at the property?

G_M

sal_III wrote: »

If the deposit is enough to cover the 6 months bill, you don't have to go down the eviction route.

But fi they've refused to pay this month/period, they are likely to repeat. So even if the deposit covers the current debt, using the deposit just mean no way to cover future debt.

Evict.


(though the TA is so poorly drafted the tenant could claim the clause is unreasonable and unenforcable......)

theartfullodger

kydsnr wrote: »

"To pay all charges in respect of any electric, gas, water, sewage, internet and telephonic or televisual services used at or supplied to the Property and Council Tax that might be charged in addition to or replacement of it during the Term"

Whoever wrote that and/or decided to use it should start with some basic landlord-ing courses.


Terrible, dumb, own-goal!

Niv

Would it be easier to just add £100pm onto the rent next time and include electricity? I guess that's open to abuse but figure £100 would add enough slack for that?

Comms69

I dont understand why you arent letting out with all bills included and increase as appropriate?