Tenancy agreement says bills are NOT included, Zoopla advert & estate agents said they ARE included

Montarivo

I have recently viewed a studio flat where the Zoopla advert stated that "Water & Council tax included in the rent" and "The studio has the water and council tax bill included. This will be extremely popular so please call now to book a viewing!".

Both when viewing the flat and talking with the estate agents over the phone, I was told that the water and council tax are included in the rent, confirming what was stated in the advert. I then paid the holding deposit under this assumption, and also yesterday I paid the pro-rata rent and holding deposit. This morning I received the Tenancy Agreement where I was shocked to find the following clauses:

"3. Further Charges to be paid by the Tenant

3.1. To pay the Council Tax (or any similar charge which replaces it) in respect of the Property either

directly to the local authority, or by paying that sum to the Landlord, or the Agent, where the Landlord, or

the Agent, has paid that sum to the local authority (whether legally required to do so or not) within 14

days of receiving a written request for such monies and to pay costs incurred by the Landlord as a result

of the Tenant ceasing to occupy the Property as his main and principal home during the Tenancy

3.2. To pay all charges falling due for the following services used during the Tenancy and to pay the

proportion of any standing charge for those services which reflects the period of time that this

Agreement was in force:

• gas;

• water including sewerage and other environmental services;

• electricity;

• any other fuel charges;

• telecommunications, including broadband, ADSL lines, cable and satellite if applicable."

Before I highlight this obvious discrepancy to the estate agents, I wanted some advice on how I should approach them because I get the feeling they know they have me by the nuts (I already paid the pro-rata rent for 6 weeks plus a holding deposit) and I suspect they will try to screw me over and make me either agree to those terms or lose the tenancy. Obviously I could be wrong and they might just agree that the tenancy agreement is wrong and should be amended to state that water bills and council tax ARE included in the rent, however, I am doubtful they would be so honourable.

The only evidence I have of them stating the water and council tax are included are screenshots of the Zoopla advert in which this is stated. How should I approach the estate agents about this? Thank you for taking the time to read this and I appreciate any advice.

Sandtree

Normally its a basic admin error and the agency will correct the contract without a bat of an eyelid. 

Just advise them you have reviewed the contract and need to raise these points... depending where you are it isn't too uncommon in some areas that for flats there is a single water meter for the building and the leaseholders are charged it via their service charge. Despite that being how it works in central London almost exclusively most agency contracts default to saying its the tenants to pay but easily is removed.

clearancer

I’ve watched a lot of Judge Judy. She says verbal agreements are worth zero zilch. A contract is what you have on paper. I don’t understand why you agreed to give them money BEFORE reading the Tenancy Agreement. How much are water and council tax? My water is £20 a month but my council tax is £400 a month! 

elsien

clearancer said:

I’ve watched a lot of Judge Judy. She says verbal agreements are worth zero zilch. A contract is what you have on paper. I don’t understand why you agreed to give them money BEFORE reading the Tenancy Agreement. How much are water and council tax? My water is £20 a month but my council tax is £400 a month! 

Judge Judy is an American entertainment programme rather than a reliable source.
Verbal contacts in the uk can indeed be legally binding in some circumstances. 

123imp

clearancer said:

I’ve watched a lot of Judge Judy. She says verbal agreements are worth zero zilch. A contract is what you have on paper. I don’t understand why you agreed to give them money BEFORE reading the Tenancy Agreement. How much are water and council tax? My water is £20 a month but my council tax is £400 a month! 

Why are you being so aggressive, and using caplocks on the word "before"? The OP has said that the advert stated council tax and water was included in the rent, and the estate agent confirmed this. They have paid deposit and first 6 weeks rent in good faith, nothing wrong with that. 

Sandtree

clearancer said:

I’ve watched a lot of Judge Judy. She says verbal agreements are worth zero zilch. 

Any reason why you think NY legal jurisdiction would apply to this situation?

The more common British saying is that verbal contracts are "worth the paper they're written on". This isn't however because verbal contracts have no legal standing, they are legally as enforceable any other form of contract, however the difficulty comes in proving what exactly was agreed. 

theartfullodger

So you now know you are dealing with a bunch of cheating toads.  Proceed forewarned! 

To be a lettings agent in England requires no qualifications, no training, no criminal records check:  The whole office could be (entirely legally) staffed with ex-prisoners on early release from their sentences for GBH & fraud.  Yes, really!

Come on England, catch up!

eddddy

Hopefully, the Tenancy Agreement is wrong, and the agent will get it changed without any problem.

But if the Zoopla listing is wrong or misleading, you can't force the the agent / LL to rent the flat on the terms stated in the advert.

But if you decide to walk-away as a result of the misleading advert, you shouldn't end up losing out. i.e. Everything you've paid should be refunded.



If the advert is wrong, and you feel very strongly about it, you could complain about the agent to Trading Standards via Citizens Advice. Or you could follow the process for complaining to the agent's redress scheme (The Property Ombudsman, or the Property Redress Scheme).

A complaint might result in the agent being 'told off', but not much else.

Montarivo

UPDATE

The estate agents have amended the agreement to reflect the terms stated in the advert - it was a simple administrative mistake! I really appreciate all the replies in such a short time and thank you to anyone who was willing to help with this.

Luckily in this case I was wrong to assume the estate agents were trying to stitch me up, but you can never be too sure!

FreeBear

Also be aware that you are personally liable for council tax. If the LL/agent doesn't pass the CTX payment on to the council, it will be you that gets pursued (through the courts if needs be). Better off in my opinion, to pay CTX direct to the council and have the rent reduced accordingly.

canaldumidi

theartfullodger said:

So you now know you are dealing with a bunch of cheating toads.  Proceed forewarned! 

To be a lettings agent in England requires no qualifications, no training, no criminal records check:  The whole office could be (entirely legally) staffed with ex-prisoners on early release from their sentences for GBH & fraud.  Yes, really!

Come on England, catch up!

Artful you often offer good advice but with a tendancy to over-react...

Letting agents tend to use a standard agreement as was almost certainly the case here. Yes, they should have amended it before passing to the OP, but they are after all only human and hence make admin errors.

(can't beieve I'm sticking up for an agent!).

They have acknowledged and corrected the error. Good for them!