Landlord stealing (abstracting) electricity from private tenants - and other issues

WelshTenant

Hello. Yes, first post – and it’s a long one! I’m not really sure how to start here but any advice would be greatly appriciated. The problem is as per the title and these are the details... 

•    Assured shorthold tenancy since 2012, now on rolling basis.
•    Detatched garage to the rear of property which does not form part of our tenancy agreement, i.e. it’s specifically excluded from our agreement.
•    It has come to our attention in the last few weeks (thanks to smart meters) that our electricity usage has been exceptionally high at times. Having shut everything off our usage was still ridiculosuly high, as much as 2 or 3 kilowatts per hour sort of high (up to 60p/hr) with everything seemingly disconnected/turned off. So, one by one I isolated circuit in the house at the fuse box to determine and label each circuit by use, finding the culprit – a 20 amp fuse through which up to 3 kilowatts per hour was being drawn at times and which by process of elimination had proven this use was not anything within our property.
•    I remembered that to the rear of the property last year whilst gardening I found an armoured power cable that comes out of our roof to the rear of the property and had been obscured by being tucked under the eaves of the roof and seems to then run alongside/in the garden wall to the garage at the rear – on discovery I assumed it to be disconnected and a relic of the property obviously previously all being used as one.
•    This in turn led to the obvious conclusion that the only place this level of unaccounted electricity could be going was to the garage.
•    A little investigative digging and we were able to find irrifutable evidence that the landlords son-in-law has been using it to run a business in for the last four years – and a business which predominately relies on power-tools nonetheless.
•    We’ve also since discovered the garage was occupied previous to this and that another business was being operated from there (but evidence of this might be more difficult to find.)
•    So, after some thought and wanting to avoid any direct confrontation with our landlord I decided the best course of action would be to “pull the plug” on the connection so to speak and remove the fuse – thus preventing the theft of our electrical supply.
•    I thought this would result in the son-in-law telling the landlord the electric had been cut in the garage and result in the landlord discovering he’d be caught out in his theft of our electricity supply, and he’d obviously never want to broach that subject with us thus bringing an end to the matter.
•    However... a few days passes and his son-in-law comes to the door to ask, “is there something wrong with the electrics because I’ve got no electricity in the garage?”. So I said, being put on the spot, “Yes, there is something wrong with the electrics, somebody has been running a business in that garage, stealing (abstracting) electricity that I’ve had to pay for, for 4 years!”
•    After a discussion (recorded by video doorbell), I was left genuinely unsure as to whether he was infact a complicit party in the theft, or whether the landlord had been taking us both on, because the son-in-law told me he had “authorisation” to use the electricity supply – which very much sounds like the landlord had explicity told him he can use our electricity supply.
•    Being of the live-and-let-live disposition and not wanting to prevent a potentially innocent party from carrying on their trade at what is a difficult time for a lot of people, and being eager to avoid further confrontation, I offered to re-instate the supply, saying that in the meantime I’d have to look into how he could be billed for his usage going forward, this may have to be by estimation or it might be possible to get a secondary meter installed or such.
•    A few days passed and the son-in-law returned offering an apology and enquiring as to how we intended to resolve the issue. I explained that I hadn’t had time to look at estimating his usage but that having had a brief look at possible solutions, I believed an electrician could fit something called a check-meter or a sub-billing meter which would allow accurate recordings of our seperate usage and that would be the way forward to resolving the issue. I said I’d get some quotes from electricians, get the work carried out, and then present him with the bill for installing the meter and that he and his father-in-law (the landlord) could then decide between them how they wanted to divide it up/pay for the new meter.
•    I thought this was a job well done: I’d avoided any direct confrontation with the landlord or so much as an awkward word between us, and everyone would be happy: in the spirit of maintaining good relations I’d effectively written off 4 years worth of theft from me, we’d get a meter to seperate and accurately bill usage for each of us going forward, and the son-in-law could continue his trade in the garage legitimately.
•    Then, another day or so passes and the landlord’s daughter (partner to the son-in-law) arrives at the house unannounced (again recorded by video doorbell), and in a confrontational manner immediately launches into telling me that I can’t get a meter installed without her father’s (the landlord’s) permission (which whilst legally correct obviously, I never assumed for one minute such permission would be unreasonably withheld, given that I had effectively devised a solution that saw me letting them off four years worth of theft, not involving the police – and I had taken on the responsibility of arranging the necessary works to be carried out, where the only involvement required of them would be to pay for the meter and usage going forward. She went on to tell me that they would get a meter, but they’d use a friend of the landlord’s and that getting an electrician at the moment would take months anyway. I said that I wasn’t happy with this and it’d need to be resolved a lot sooner than that and she walked off in a huff.

•    The landlord himself has made no effort to contact us and I’ve decided to seek advice before having any contact with the landlord myself as...

The landlord is not an easy person to speak to; his manner and the way he behaves towards us is as though it’s the 17th century and we’re lucky to live in his property – as opposed to being paying tenants to which he has a legal responsibility. If we want repairs done we have to get them done at our own expense, one such case in point being the hundreds of pounds we’ve spent in boiler cover and excess payments to British Gas since living here, because even on the odd occasion we explain to him it’s his legal responsibility to fix his broken boiler (for example) and convince him to send someone out, it’s one of his *friend’s* who happens to be a plumber for example, who we somewhat suspect know’s he’s doing it is a favour to the landlord and won’t be paid and so is reluctant to make themselves available and when they do they only make a “quick cheap fix” which fails again usually within weeks. Leaving us to hire our own engineer to do such works at our own expense.

At our annual house inspections for years we’ve been pointing out things that need “looking at”, for example guttering that has failed and is leaking, the concrete yard which has huge cracks which have been getting progressively larger over the years (which could be subsidence?) to name just a few examples, all of which get a “Oh thats alright, thats just *inaudible mumble*”, or “I’ll send someone round to look at that” (his mate, who arrives, takes notes, and disappears never to be heard from again.) He promised us a plumber to look at why our toilet needs two buckets of water and  a whole cistern flush simultaneously just to clear a few bits of toilet paper at our last inspection... granted that particular issue was only notified about 6 months ago – oh and to fix our extractor fan. We’ve had to purchase and run a dehumidifer 24/7 because of the otherwise inevitable damp and black mould that starts growing in the kitchen & back porch. There’s so much more but half of it I’ve probably forgotten/learnt to live with/mitigate.

•    He’s unlicensed – in Wales as a landlord you need to hold a landlord’s license. (RentSmartWales).
•    The property isn’t registered as a rental property. (RentSmartWales).
•    Our deposit isn’t in a protected scheme.
•    We’ve not had a single gas safety certificate in 9 years.
•    We’ve never had an energy efficiency certificate (though I have located this online I’m convinced the rating the property has is somehow falsified, because there is either zero or failed insulation in the kitchen/bathroom) – 3 minutes after radiators are turned off it’s the same temperature as outdoors in those rooms!
•    Land registry shows his legal service address (as written in our AST) as having been sold last year – this doesn’t necessarily  mean he’s no longer able to receive legal notices to that address in itself I suppose, but one may reasonably question whether he has failed to provide us a valid service address for legal notices and the such.

I’m exasperated.

I don’t think he’s put his hand in his pocket once since we moved in. We’ve spent hundreds repairing his boiler and leaking taps etc. We pay on time every month. We’ve carpeted three bedrooms (not re-carpeted – oh no, it didn’t come with carpets originally) and re-decorated the living room all at our own expense. I know installing carpets and decorating was our choice but I did think it might buy us a little goodwill perhaps in having him spend a few quid repairing his own property. We don’t deserve to be treated like this.

That said, we’ve put up with it all really because we love where we are, there isn’t anything else suitable in the local area for rent, we’ve four children (in school practically on doorstep), and we only see the landlord once a year when he comes to inspect the property. Despite the fact we have a landlord straight out of the 17th century and we’re having to maintain his property at our own expense, we don’t want to do anything to jeopardise the roof over our heads.

Should we complain and as a result he decides it’s easier to evict than make things right, I‘m fairly confident I could probably fend off a Section 21 notice at least a couple of times until the landlord manages to produce a valid notice, but surely this would only delay the inevitable 6 months or so at a time.

In reality, what action should I take?

Should I contact the police with regards to the theft, as I understand it’s specifically The Theft Act 1968, Section 13 that deals with the abstraction of electricity... (one can receive up to 5 years imprisonment I read in the sentencing guidance somewhere – that ought to cheer him up a bit)...

Should I write a letter to the landlord setting out the complaint about his electricity theft?

Is it worth my putting in writing to the landlord the list of previously only verbally requested repairs so that I can use this in my defence against any action he might take? Even though this will definately get his knickers in a twist “because you’re getting all official!” and probably result in a Section 21 faster than you can say “Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it’s landlord of the year!”.

I know that in an ideal world I should just do all of the above, but bearing in my mind, my primary concern is the continued tenure of this property – I don’t wish to take any actions in the first place that could lead to the landlord even wanting to persue eviction UNLESS I am likely to be adequately protected by the law from eviction (and for more than a few months.)

Three of our four childen have lived here all their lives, it really has become their family home and ultimately despite the issues, we’ve made it comfortable here - and we just don’t want to move for the foreseeable future.

What can/would the law actually be able to do in order to protect our family from this frankly unscrupulous landlord?

Any other considerations, ideas?

Chandler85

Turn the power off to the garage until "his mate" has fitted the meter?

You could report them for abstracting electricity, I suspect this will result in the landlord saying in 2012, that you agreed to allow the garage to be used etc.  Then you have the issue around the person abstracting is the person in the garage, not the landlord.  The law states (in the Theft Act 1968)

"13 Abstracting of electricity.
A person who dishonestly uses without due authority, or dishonestly causes to be wasted or diverted, any electricity shall on conviction on indictment be liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years."

The son-in-law is unlikely to be dishonestly using it, as he thought he was allowed to use (as the landlord told him he could), the landlord isn't doing the abstracting, more facilitating it.  It gets complicated then, so the CPS probably wouldn't prosecute either due to chance of conviction being low.

However, the police might be able to pursue a form of restorative justice for you, in that an agreement is made to refund you for used electricity (a mutually agreed amount) then going forward you could get the sub meter put in, or have an agreement of maybe £25 a month less on rent to cover the electricity etc.

[Deleted User]

 Pull the plug and leave it that way until the landlord sorts his dodgy set up. You shouldn't be paying for his electric just to keep the peace. What they are doing is illegal, report them. 

pramsay13

There are small devices you can get that clip onto the cable and will give you a reasonable measure of electricity being used.
If you google wireless energy monitor you will find a few options.

numbercruncher8

It sounds like you've been a doormat because you need the place more than the landlord needs you. Most people would have walked some time ago.

If you aren't prepared to run the risk of being given notice then your only choice is to keep on doing what you're doing.

There are significant protections for tenants in this situation as the penalties for non-compliance of things such as the deposit are payable to you. However, if you're willingly staying in the place of your own free choice, you can't expect to have your cake and eat it.

steampowered

Why are you paying for repairs to the landlord's property?

I'd be searching for a new property to be honest.

After I'd left I would bring a "small claim" against the landlord for the cost of the repairs you have had to pay for over the years, plus the estimated cost of the electricity. Hopefully you have kept receipts for all of that. 

If you do want to stay in the property, perhaps you can agree an estimated bill with the son? It must be possible to come up for a guesstimate of how much electricity he is using even without a meter.

AdrianC

WelshTenant said:

That said, we’ve put up with it all really because we love where we are, there isn’t anything else suitable in the local area for rent
...

What can/would the law actually be able to do in order to protect our family from this frankly unscrupulous landlord?

Any action that's taken against him is likely to result in him ceasing to rent the property... But, as you say, any s21 will be invalid. The various breaches of RentSmart etc are simply going to result in him being fined. And he'll blame you for that, and simply further neglect the property.

There's no way to force him to suddenly become a decent human being.

Really, there's not a lot you can do but vote with your feet.

Meanwhile, turn that electricity to the garage off, and leave it off. They aren't stealing it - they're using it with your tacit permission.

Marvel1

No electric to the garage until it's sorted.

ssparks2003

I agree with AdrianC comments, remove the fuse and see what happens, ultimately you may have to walk but it sounds like that won't be that heartbreaking 

greatcrested

1) turn it off.

2) estimate the cost electricity used over the last (4?) years

3) write a (short!) letter to the LL outlining what's happened regarding the electricity and requesting payment of 2) above.

4) say you are happy for the garage to continue to use power from the house once an agreement has been reached regading payment going forward. Suggest that your preferred solution is for the LL to arrange for a separate meter for the garage so that usage can be calculated, but that you are open to other suggestions he may have

5) End by politely asking for a gas safety inspection and report as required by RentSmartWales- no need to make threats regarding reporting him - the hint is there!

6) do not reinstate the garage connection till you reach agreement

7) does the LL have a key to the property? If yes, change the locks. Keep the old one to replace when the tenancy ends.

nyermen

Wow. 
In any case, be prepared to potentially receive notice to leave, not sure if that counts as revenge eviction?
Electricity use - see how much your bills reduce over the next month having pulled the plug.  Assuming you're on gas heating etc, see how much it changes vs an equivalent prior month (I would say compare to a year ago, but lockdown/WFH...)