Dilema

empty_wallet_2

Just had a letter from the letting agent today with a copy of an unpaid water bill invoice from our last landlord.

I am in a bit of a dilema about what to do with it, the last landlords shafted us big time and we spent alot of money on their place sprucing it up as we were told that they wanted long term tenants, cut a long story short 2months after we moved in i noticed an advert in the local rag with the farmer (our landlord) looking for an employee and the advert showed that a cottage was available with the job, we thought at the time i hope its not this place i hope but as we didnt hear anything and we knew they also owned next door and there were alot of buildings within the farmland opposite us so we thought they must be offering somewhere else up. Well a further month down the line the letting agent calls me with the bad news that it was our house that the farmers were offering and that our 6 month agreement wouldnt be extended, so we were out on our heals almost after spending alot of money doing the place up, we found another property (£85 a month more) and moved out a month later.

While we were there the short while we contacted the waterboard to put the property account into our name and were told they had no records of the property and that the water supply probably came from the farm, so as nothing had been mentioned to us when we took it on and no water meter readings were supplied to us we thought it must be included in the monthly rent, the landlords never mentioned about paying towards the water.Well now they have sent us a water bill for the 4 months (end of march to end July) we were there for £77. The letting agent says there was a water meter but it was in next doors garden, we were never given a reading when we moved in or moved out so we have no proof of the readings, also the landlords have dated the readings to different dates to what we were there, they have dated it 5 weeks before we moved in and 2 weeks after we moved out, basically i think when the previous tenants moved out and the new ones after we left.

So personally i reckon we shouldnt have to pay it as no details were given when we moved in or out, no readings were given to us, its dated for a longer period than we were there regardless of whever the property was empty or not on the extra weeks and especialy as there was a water leak on 2 pipes when we moved in. However we dont want to get into trouble with the letting agents as if we need to move again we will probably have to stay with them again due to credit searches if we went elsewhere.

I suppose i could include the invoice on my SOA as its dated August last year but again i'd rather the letting agents and ex landlords didnt know about my BR.

What do you reckon i should do

Richard_S

Hi empty wallet,

We had a similar situation with spending a lot of time and money on a rented property, believing the landlord that he was looking for a long term tennant. We did manage to recover some of the money by not paying the last months rent, but I did wonder whether it was a good idea given our credit record.

I think on reflection that you would probably be wise to pay it, but not until you've negotiated a more reasonable amount. If the pipes were leaking, and the period charged is longer than when you were there, why not offer them £25 in full and final settlement and be prepared to agree at £50?

Richard

suziewin

Hi,
Does it not list in your tenancy agreement what you are responsible for? Ours states water rates are included in the rent so I suppose you could look check there to see what they or you are liable for.
Also - if the date of the debt falls in line with the date you went BR then as you say you could include it in your BR. As this is between your OR and the waterboard I would be surprised if this also involved your LL or the letting agent. The waterboard certainly couldnt disclose to the LL that you are BR as this would be a breach of DPA, as the LL are also their customer in their own right.
Anyway, hope this makes sense.
Sue

empty_wallet_2

Sue

The waterbill isn't from the Waterboard, its from the landlord, they are basically saying that they have a water meter for our property (apparently in next doors garden) that runs off their supply and they then charge us for what we have used but no mention was made of this by either the letting agents or landlord when we moved in or out and as we were there for such a short time we never followed up from what the waterboard said when we contacted them. So if i declared it on my BR then the letting agents would know as the communication is via them to the ex landlords.

I dont really want the ex landlords to know at the moment as they know alot of people at where myself & OH work, they are well known apparently for being arseh0les.

I've found it a great strain on the willpower for me not to go and throw a brick through their windows, especially as we have to drive past theirs and where we did live everyday when we go to work, what pee's me off too is they gave us a list of all these things we could and couldn't do when we were there but it looks like the new tenants (employees) have been let to do most of what we were told not to.

empty_wallet_2

Richard_S wrote: »

Hi empty wallet,

We had a similar situation with spending a lot of time and money on a rented property, believing the landlord that he was looking for a long term tennant. We did manage to recover some of the money by not paying the last months rent, but I did wonder whether it was a good idea given our credit record.

I think on reflection that you would probably be wise to pay it, but not until you've negotiated a more reasonable amount. If the pipes were leaking, and the period charged is longer than when you were there, why not offer them £25 in full and final settlement and be prepared to agree at £50?

Richard

They can wait as long as possible before i pay a penny if i pay anything at all. we would have been happy to pay for the water we used had they been upfront with us from the beginning but for neither the letting agents or LL to say anything is beyond belief.

Its almost petty with the way they have done it and i think its because BT mistakenly disconnected the telephone line when i informed them we were moving and the LL had to pay £120 to get it reconnected (which they were trying to claim off us), especially with the money we spent on the place, we took on the tenancy 2 weeks early to start with so lost out there by £500 due to paying for 2 places, then all the decorating and fixing broken things (easily £1500 or more we spent), 3 weeks off work for decorating and moving, moving costs and also the LL didnt have the guts to come over and speak to us about the situation, so because they waited another month before the letting agents told us i had just forked out about £80 on renewing the mail redirection from 2 other properties which couldnt be changed to the new property, they had to be cancelled, so they had more than their pound of flesh from us

devonsdreamer

I dont think the ex-ll hs treated you very fairly and I wouldn't be prepared to give them a penny. I would put a copy of your BK in a sealed emvelope and pass it over to the LL they can deal with or same as everyone else. BUT I am in a grumpy mood so may not be the best advice

Richard_S

Hi empty wallet,

I completely agree with your sentiments, and there have been times when I've not been able to resist the temptation of the "brick of last resort;" so good for relieving tension.:D

The only reason I suggeted paying anything at all, was because you said that it might reflect badly on you, if you needed to use the agent again in the future.

As for the BT bill, they should have claimed that off BT.:rolleyes:

Richard

empty_wallet_2

Richard_S wrote: »

Hi empty wallet,

I completely agree with your sentiments, and there have been times when I've not been able to resist the temptation of the "brick of last resort;" so good for relieving tension.:D

The only reason I suggeted paying anything at all, was because you said that it might reflect badly on you, if you needed to use the agent again in the future.

As for the BT bill, they should have claimed that off BT.:rolleyes:

Richard

Yeah Richard i understand why you suggested it, it is really the only reason i would even think of paying it, as now my bike has gone & OH is selling hers and i've got a load of stuff to get rid of we would be able to downgrade in house size and find somewhere cheaper to rent but i dont want to burn the bridges with the letting agents as we will probably have to stay with them in future unless we went private letting but that seems a minefield.

My OH did call another letting agents the otherday as she saw a house (actually one i asked to view 18months ago when i moved down here but the day i called the LL had found a tenant) and asked if they had any rules on BR and they said its down to the credit reference company they use, so if they say no or say yes but needs 6 months rent up front then its just a waste of £120 in credit reference fee's, i may contact one myself and see if they would still do a credit reference even if we had references from our current letting agents and the LL from our 1st house 18months ago (OH's friend).

Its all a pain in the !!!! as 9 months ago when we were told we would have to move out a family member kindly said he would be happy to rent his house out to us as he was going to move in with his new girlfriend (he's 93, she's 94, she's my OH's gran) so we moved in here for 6 months (the place was over our budget) so he had time to sort everything out with his place but now he doesn't seem to want to rent his place out anymore and only spends like 1 weekend a month there anyway, so very disapointing, My OH's gran doesn't understand why he doesn't want to rent it.

suziewin

Since the bill they have produced includes an extra 7 weeks I would definately prorata the bill and offer them a gesture payment.
I agree the situation is disgraceful and I can imagine your frustration.