Landlord has decided to no longer include gas and electric in rent payments

Tracykevin

Hi
My son shares a flat in Lewisham with 2 others . There’s another flat in the building with 3 people. Originally the building was a shop and has been converted. 

The landlord originally included the gas and electric in the rent but now wants it separately paid by the tenants.
There is only one gas and one electric meter for both flats. Today the landlord sent over a copy over the Eon bill and said for one month they owe £600 ! They have had no heat on and all work away during the day . 

My son doesn’t know if that’s their usage and when I asked him the tariff it’s triple mine and eon won’t speak to my son but confirmed it’s a business tariff .
I’ve told my son to speak to the letting agent and put in a dispute.
is there any advice anyone can pass on to help him . My husband is also his guarantor on his rental agreement . 

Wonka_2

To aid those with more legal knowledge who come along to answer

1) Is there a tenancy agreement ? What does it say ?
2) Is there an agent involved ? or an informal arrangement with the landlord
3) How long have they been there ? And do they want to stay ? or to use this as an escape clause ?

Tracykevin

Hi 
Yes there’s a new tenancy agreement that says they have to pay gas and electric 
It is rented through an agency 
They have been there 2 years and want to stay 
My son has spoken to the landlord just now and has said about the tariff and that he’s disputing the amount . The landlord just said leave it with me and il see what I can do 
I am concerned that there isn’t something quiet right here .
Is there an independent body that can come and assess the property and the electric and gas to ensure that they are only paying for what is being used by the flat.?

Keep_pedalling

If the landlord wants them to pat the energy bills directly he should get a separate meter provided for each flat.

theartfullodger

So there is an existing tenancy stating landlord pays: And this greedy landlord has kindly "offered" a new tenancy with tenants paying.

Simple.  Don't sign the new tenancy, continue on the old one, rolling on month-by-month periodically.

Thatcher's (can't stand her) 1988 Housing Act states tenants can do this, landlord/agent unable to prevent it happening.

Of course landlord may then try to evict... 

gazfocus

I think the main issue is going to be the meter being shared between the two flats. With this, there is zero way of knowing who has used what so the only way the landlord can work it out is divide the bill by the number of people in each flat, though really, he should be looking to get the electric and gas people to split the supply and provide separate meters. 

The second issue then is the current supply being for a business and not residential. I'm not sure about this but it may be worth calling EON and asking (without giving any information) whether there's a process whereby you can convert a business supply that used to be a shop to a residential supply. Business utilities, as you've now found, are much more expensive than residential and don't have the same government support (when there is any), so it's important to get the supply changed over if possible.

tightauldgit

Tracykevin said:

Hi
My son shares a flat in Lewisham with 2 others . There’s another flat in the building with 3 people. Originally the building was a shop and has been converted. 

The landlord originally included the gas and electric in the rent but now wants it separately paid by the tenants.
There is only one gas and one electric meter for both flats. Today the landlord sent over a copy over the Eon bill and said for one month they owe £600 ! They have had no heat on and all work away during the day . 

My son doesn’t know if that’s their usage and when I asked him the tariff it’s triple mine and eon won’t speak to my son but confirmed it’s a business tariff .
I’ve told my son to speak to the letting agent and put in a dispute.
is there any advice anyone can pass on to help him . My husband is also his guarantor on his rental agreement . 

Being on a commercial tariff is probably correct since the landlord is a business but the problem is if he's just passing on the cost then he doesn't really have any incentive to find a good deal. Commercial electricity is generally more expensive than consumer electricity.

As things stand there is no way for the landlord to accurately bill for the usage though and I can't see how that's allowable - he would need a separate meter for each flat.  

MultiFuelBurner

I would put in a request for the following

1) start and end readings of the meter (if you have access make sure you take regular readings)

2) the standing charges and price per kWh charged ont he business contract

3) is the business contract fixed and until when

4) will he landlord consider providing seperate meters for each flat

5) when the fixed business contract is up will the landlord change to a residential supply.

Voyager2002

If the various tenants are currently 'covered' by a tenancy agreement then nothing can change until it expires (apart from some specific ways in which a landlord can bring it to an end). If there was once a tenancy agreement but it has expired then the landlord needs to give two month's notice to bring it to an end and replace it with a new contract. See the Shelter website and in particular the Shelter Legal area.

It makes sense for the electricity to be paid by the tenants rather than the landlord for the reasons given by TightAuldGit, but the landlord really needs to have a separate meter installed for the other flat and consider reducing the rent to take account of the increased expenses the tenants would face.

macman

What do you mean by 'there's a new tenancy agreement'? The LL can't just impose this. Once the original contractual tenancy ends, it becomes a periodic tenancy on the same terms, unless both parties agree a new contractual tenancy period.
Has the original contractual tenancy reached the end of it's fixed term? Has your son signed the new TA?
If there is only one meter for the two flats then it is not possible to accurately divide the bills between them: the LL should re-meter so that each flat has it's own metering. Otherwise the tenant is signing a blank cheque.
The metering should be switched to a residential tariff unless it is also supplying the shop. Which would be my suspicion here. Another bodged-up flat conversion. Possibly neither flat is registered as residential. Does you son pay council tax?

Tracykevin

Thanks everyone for your info have passed onto my son . Will be interesting to see what happens. Will update