The Student Room Group

Help! My private flat shares boiler with another house?

Hi all,

I'm in my second year at university and I live with my boyfriend in a private one bedroom flat. What we didn't realise (until we moved in) is that our flat has been converted from the basement of a large house and the adjoined shared house (with 7 students in it) has our boiler in it. We don't have our own boiler so we can't turn the heating on or off when we want... we are at the mercy of the 7 girls in the seperate shared house upstairs. :frown:

We were not told about this until after we moved in. The girls in the shared house were also not aware of it until after they moved in. There's nothing about it in the generic tenancy agreement that we signed or the one they signed.

This means that the gas bills are shared, but we have no real way of splitting them. Also, our shower is electric and theirs is not. Our oven/hobs are electric. I feel therefore that we use very little gas compared to them. The letting agents hasve said that we are supposed to split the bills 8 ways (so our flat - with 2 people in it - pays 1/8 of the total gas bill for the two properties). The people upstairs are unhappy with this because they think it should be split 9 ways since there are two of us (both me and my boyfriend). What if it was too expensive and we stopped paying? Would they even have any ability to get the money off us?

I feel like the letting agents are on very dodgy legal ground here. I've tried to get advice from the university but they said they can't help as it is not a university recommended tenancy. I don't know what to do. Another problem is that our tenancies start/end at different times (theirs ends in June, ours ends in September) - so who will pay the bill for the time after they have left and we are still using it? The 7 bedroom house will be heated at the same time as our flat so the cost will be extortionate! Also, if they go away and turn their heating off over winter, me and my boyfriend will be stuck without heating!

I'm going to visit the letting agents tomorrow with some people from the shared house upstairs, but I really doubt we will get anywhere.

Can anyone help? I feel like I'm in for a rough year :s-smilie:
I can see where the other flat are coming from with regards to splitting it 9 ways, but at the same time I can see where you're coming from with regards to the electric hobs & ovens!

It's probably best to post on a forum that tends to have people who are more knowledgeable on the legal side of these things http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.php?f=16
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Avatar for DinoHoody
DinoHoody
OP
Original post by Origami Bullets

It's probably best to post on a forum that tends to have people who are more knowledgeable on the legal side of these things http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.php?f=16


Thanks, I didn't think of that! I will try there.
:smile:
What does the contract say about bills?

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