Landlord rights to read tenants contracts with provider meters

diggingdude

He could be acting as an agent for the LL?

scopio

His designated role is a property steward a sort of property manager to look after the maintenance of the building.

[Deleted User]

Seeing as you've been in the property for 20 years, and presumably want to see out your days there too, isn't it best to just let this guy have the meter readings, in the knowledge that property managers may come and go but you want to stay put and outlast them all?  Why do anything that might risk your tenancy - and is this really the issue to make a stand over? 

scopio

I will probably see out my days here and as I said earlier I cannot stop him reading the meters as he has access to them without entering my flat, what got me more than anything is when he wanted to know if I paid my water bills and how.

[Deleted User]

How's the rent, is it a lot less than the market price or have they been raising it over the years?

scopio

The rent is a lot less than the market value but so is the state of the flat which they have only painted once in 20 years, the kitchen is not really a kitchen but a room with a top, sink cooker and fridge freezer, the carpets all need renewing, you get my drift.

Smodlet

If you have no gas safety certificate, I don't think you have to pay rent.  See G_M's stickies at the top of this board to check, they are really useful.  Assuming you are in England or Wales (not Scotland, where *no-fault eviction is now illegal) I know they cannot issue a valid *Section 21 without a current certificate.  Gas safety inspections, as I am sure you know already, should be carried out annually.  As for the state of the decor e.t.c. it is no wonder you are paying below market rent; do they really think anyone would pay the going rate with their standard of maintenance and compliance with their legal obligations?

I think it is time to go on the offensive, scopio:  If this joker is supposed to be acting as a letting agent/property manager/whatever, he is doing a dreadful job of it.  Surely he must answer to someone so why don't you report him for this failure and for harrassment?  I know I would.

brianposter

Is there any reason to suppose that the landlords are ill-disposed towards the tenant ?

It sounds like they are trying to investigate a problem with their own bills, or possibly trying to discreetly work out how much he/she could afford to pay in rent.

Smodlet

brianposter said:

Is there any reason to suppose that the landlords are ill-disposed towards the tenant ?

<Nooooo.  Of course not>

It sounds like they are trying to investigate a problem with their own bills, <So why not say so?> or possibly trying to discreetly <or underhandedly> work out how much he/she could afford to pay in rent.

I wonder just who is the  's advocate... That is supposed to be a devil, right, not a purple cat with thin ears?

newsgroupmonkey_

It sounds to me like he's a typical church busybody with power issues.

Probably wants to check the meters because he trusts no-one, particularly someone who was previously downtrodden (these people often don't believe that a leopard can change their spots) and thinks you might be stealing the churches power.

I'd ignore him. If he starts getting really arsey, write to the church council really nicely pointing out that he's stopping your peace and enjoyment of the property. They're normally decent enough people. I'm pretty sure they'd like a nice tenant who pays the rent regularly. As my previous landlady told us, she'd rather have a family in like ourselves who might pay slightly less rent than market value than getting some absolute horrors that need evicting.