Bills inclusive private rented student accommodation question

swimbikerun100

Thank you all for taking the time to reply, I appreciate your comments. I have contacted the agent and they have said the following..

Due to the uncertain circumstances surrounding the energy market at this time, it simply would not be possible to make any amendments to the fair usage policy right now. However, we have not yet been affected by the rise of energy prices due to the contracts we have in place and won't be until the end of the year. We did anticipate an increase and this was factored into the prices set for 2022/23, we expect this to be sufficient to cover rising costs.

I feel a little more reassured, I guess we will just need to wait and see like everyone else.

swimbikerun100

MWT said:

swimbikerun100 said:

I've emailed them to ask if they are going to review their 'not very fair usage' policy and unsurprisingly have heard nothing back. Their website states Every house is available on a variety of bills inclusive rental packages with the aim of no bills, no budgeting, no bother!

Not sure why you think it isn't fair?

It may be open to uncertainty, but nobody is going to give students unlimited free energy, so there has to be a limit, and as already mentioned, the only way that £1490 allowance is going up is if the rent goes up.

The alternative is take a rental package without inclusive bills and feel the real cost directly...

I don't think it is fair as they have secured a bill free property with a fair usage policy. If the amount they are allocated will not cover fair usage, then that is not fair - do you not agree?

MWT

swimbikerun100 said:

MWT said:

swimbikerun100 said:

I've emailed them to ask if they are going to review their 'not very fair usage' policy and unsurprisingly have heard nothing back. Their website states Every house is available on a variety of bills inclusive rental packages with the aim of no bills, no budgeting, no bother!

Not sure why you think it isn't fair?

It may be open to uncertainty, but nobody is going to give students unlimited free energy, so there has to be a limit, and as already mentioned, the only way that £1490 allowance is going up is if the rent goes up.

The alternative is take a rental package without inclusive bills and feel the real cost directly...

I don't think it is fair as they have secured a bill free property with a fair usage policy. If the amount they are allocated will not cover fair usage, then that is not fair - do you not agree?

Frankly, no, unless you are happy to have the rent go up when the cost of energy goes up...

If you want the amount of the allowance to match the cost of 'fair use' then the rent cannot be fixed.

The rent deal specifies the allowance and the consequences of exceeding the allowance so that lets the rent remain unaffected by changing energy prices.

I do think that they should ask for details of the tariff that they will be asked to pay if they exceed the allowance and I do think they should be able to check how they are doing on at least a quarterly basis, but preferably monthly to avoid surprises, but you can't have a fixed rental package and expect the allowance to be set higher....