Landlord refuses access to electric meter and massive bill threats

spannerzone

HillStreetBlues said:

Has the metadata of the photo been checked for date?

hi, not sure, it come via Whatsapp apparently. frankly I don't trust a single thing the landlord has done and suspect some foul play here but can't prove it, might be just utterly incompetant.

I've learned that no readings (photos of the meter) were obtained when they moved in so I can't see how you can prove an incorrect bill when you don't actually know where you started from..... this is starting to not look good.

EssexHebridean

Unless they can get the LL to play ball, I'm afraid that it's beginning to look very much like they may not get anywhere with this. 

Regardless of the outcome of the situation with the readings in the past, they certainly need to get "eyes on" so that they can be certain of what the situation is now. If I were them, I would also be pushing forwards now with getting a smart meter fitted - suggest they get an appointment made a decent amount of time ahead, and formally notify the LL that the supplier will require access at X time on X date for the meter to be replaced. Don't go into detail that they have asked for that to happen, just that "the supplier has informed them that they will be attending to change the meter". In the interim period, I would also be requesting monthly access to read the meters as well. Once a smart meter is in place then they can probably drop that down to 3 monthly. 

spannerzone

EssexHebridean said:

Unless they can get the LL to play ball, I'm afraid that it's beginning to look very much like they may not get anywhere with this. 

Regardless of the outcome of the situation with the readings in the past, they certainly need to get "eyes on" so that they can be certain of what the situation is now. If I were them, I would also be pushing forwards now with getting a smart meter fitted - suggest they get an appointment made a decent amount of time ahead, and formally notify the LL that the supplier will require access at X time on X date for the meter to be replaced. Don't go into detail that they have asked for that to happen, just that "the supplier has informed them that they will be attending to change the meter". In the interim period, I would also be requesting monthly access to read the meters as well. Once a smart meter is in place then they can probably drop that down to 3 monthly. 

Annoyingly the Landlord has said to get a smart meter so he doesn't have to give readings and yet he has refused to actually give access for one to be fitted.....me smells a rat.

FreeBear

HillStreetBlues said:

Has the metadata of the photo been checked for date?

Metadata attached to any image is easily changed with simple tools.

HillStreetBlues

FreeBear said:

HillStreetBlues said:

Has the metadata of the photo been checked for date?

Metadata attached to any image is easily changed with simple tools.

Yes, but if the metadata states photo was taken two months before OP moved in, can't see the LL claiming they altered it!

spiro

If they rented via an agency the meter reading should have been recorded as part of the inventory at the start of the rental. I would expect the same to happen if they rented directly from the LL.

Gerry1

spiro said:

If they rented via an agency the meter reading should have been recorded as part of the inventory at the start of the rental. I would expect the same to happen if they rented directly from the LL.

Yes, that's the way it should work.  In an ideal world.

However, if it's a dodgy landlord the reading may well be that when the last tenant moved out, so the new tenant could be paying for any void period.  And the lettings agent works for the landlord...

SAC2334

spannerzone said:

EssexHebridean said:

Unless they can get the LL to play ball, I'm afraid that it's beginning to look very much like they may not get anywhere with this. 

Regardless of the outcome of the situation with the readings in the past, they certainly need to get "eyes on" so that they can be certain of what the situation is now. If I were them, I would also be pushing forwards now with getting a smart meter fitted - suggest they get an appointment made a decent amount of time ahead, and formally notify the LL that the supplier will require access at X time on X date for the meter to be replaced. Don't go into detail that they have asked for that to happen, just that "the supplier has informed them that they will be attending to change the meter". In the interim period, I would also be requesting monthly access to read the meters as well. Once a smart meter is in place then they can probably drop that down to 3 monthly. 

Annoyingly the Landlord has said to get a smart meter so he doesn't have to give readings and yet he has refused to actually give access for one to be fitted.....me smells a rat.

As a long time meter reader I would also definitely be "smelling a rat " but only if the LL was providing all inclusive billing which included the electricity bills .
 in my 20 years on the job I encounted quite a few fiddling landlords doing this .No inclusive billing, then maybe they want to keep the tenants away from bypassing meters with its extra fire risk and kept the doors locked or maybe they had other valuable stuff in the room .
Getting smart meters fitted would be the best thing but would need advance booking with landlord and tenant combined .

spannerzone

Thanks for all the comments, I'm waiting to hear back on progress with getting the landlord to give access (seems unlikely) and if British Gas and/or OFGEM can help at all.

Gerry1

spannerzone said:

I'm waiting to hear back on progress with getting the landlord to give access (seems unlikely) and if British Gas and/or OFGEM can help at all.

BG have a legal right to read the meter, if necessary by forced access as a last resort.  It remains to be seen whether they'd agree to do that unless you'd been in serious debt for a long time, but worth exploring.

Ofgem don't deal with individual complaints.  At best they might refer you to the gov.uk page to which I linked earlier.