Question about tenancy agreement

BadBehaviour

We have an AST with gas and water bills included.
This since 2018. The thing is these bills being included aren't mentioned at all in any of the tenancy agreements we got so far. The bills keep getting paid so no issue there but I am wondering why has the letting agency never thought of mentioning them in the agreement? As far as I know the only written mention we have is the original Rightmove ad and a mention in some email to justify a rent increase of 50 pounds before the last renewal. 

I would like to know if there is any legal requirement to mention this in the agreement or not.

What protection do we have if the bills included aren't mentioned at all in the agreement and, say, the landlord suddenly decided to stop paying these bills? How would we prove he is obliged to pay them as part of the rent? We have at least that email mentioning them but without it really we'd have nothing in writing from the agency or landlord. Surely this can't be correct. 

I have checked the very last one and it plainly states "bills excluded", which is a complete lie. I'm perplexed. 

Myci85

Did you not query this when you first took out the tenancy? Every chance they used a standard tenancy agreement template, forgot to amend the section where it says bills excluded, neither you nor landlord noticed or mentioned the error, and each subsequent agreement they've probably just edited the relevant dates and rent amount. 
Up to you whether you clarify this at the next renewal, you have something in writing confirming the bills are included, but I think I'd want the tenancy agreement to be correct personally to avoid any future issues. 

PRAISETHESUN

The default position is usually that the occupant of the property is liable for utilities/council tax unless an alternate arrangement is made. Usually this will be reflected by something in the tenancy agreement detailing the arrangement, but not always - verbal contracts can be acceptable. If it ever got disputed however you could be in a spot of bother as you'd have no proof of the arrangement, although the fact that this has been going on for several years at this point would probably work out in your favour.

There's no need to sign a new tenancy agreement as your current remains valid even at the end of the fixed term, but if you do sign a new agreement for any reason then I'd challenge them on it. Either ask for a clause to be added to reflect the current arrangements, or have your rent reduced by an amount appropriate to start covering the bills yourself.

Bookworm105

face realism: as the tenancy agreement excludes utility bills then you have zero basis to object if their payment stops

you could of course go to court and let a judge decide if established practice of paying to date, plus original advert, has created an implied term in your tenancy, but as nothing is in writing then good luck with that as it would be down to you to prove a verbal agreement