This discussion is now closed.

Check out other Related discussions

Discovered that Landlord is massively overcharging us for gas and electricity

Hi guys,

I'm living in a student house with five of us on an assured shorthold tenancy agreement.

We've all signed a joint contract which states the landlord agrees to pay the electricity and gas bills which we negotiated for as we (I) didn't want to have to deal with collecting money for bills from my flatmates.

Since then, our landlord has cheekily put my name on the gas/electric bills (it's a joint bill from E-on) which has just come through today.

The bills is for the quarter from Oct 2nd - Jan 10th and is requesting payment of £36.60.

Obviously I wouldn't plan on paying this bill as the landlord is supposed to be liable.

The problem is, the only deal he would give us in including bills was £1 per day/person.
So our landlord is effectively getting £35 a week for bills when the bills only equate to approx. £35 in three and a bit months!

He is massively overcharging us.

As naive first time renting outside of Student accomodation students, we were worried but trusted his offer (after negotiating it down anyway!) because we had no previous bills to bench his offer on.

Now I wouldn't have minded if the bills we in excess of anything like £30 as a benefit of taking any risk but he is earning a tasty £455.40 for that period and around £1155 extra for the whole of our 10 month contract!

I know it may be written in our contract (I've heard student contracts might as well be written on toilet paper..?) but this is completely unreasonable and sounds almost illegal.

He's a private landlord and it's not the first time he's broken the rules and/or been a nuisance and I was hoping anyone could enlighten us on some routes to follow or action we can take.

I appreciate any help you can provide!

Thanks!
Martin

Reply 1

Hopefull

9

Go and see your student support services. They should have someone who can help. If he has put your name on an account without your position then I would suggest that is a matter for the Police, any lawyers here?

Reply 2

simeon

13

If you are not responsible for paying the bills, get your name taken off them NOW.

Phone the companies and tell them that the landlord is paying and give them his name and address.

Saying that, £36.60 for 3 months, for gas AND elctric is very, very low...estimated bill rather than actual read?

I'm thinking that it's an estimated bill that is under estimating and the actual bill will be much higher then £36.60.

Even if the £36 is correct, you agreed and signed the contract (however naively), so what exactly has the landlord done that's illegal? Immoral and unethical at a push, but not illegal.

Hopefull...the utility company, definitely not the Police.

Reply 3

MrColin

1

Osirls

Hi guys,

He is massively overcharging us.

Thanks!
Martin

You snooze you lose!

However, I am guessing that he has not put your deposits in the third party account....he should notify you of this....if this is not the case you can screw him over at the end for more than double.

Google something along the lines of 'rental deposit laws uk' and you will come across it!

Reply 4

Hopefull

9

simeon

If you are not responsible for paying the bills, get your name taken off them NOW.

Phone the companies and tell them that the landlord is paying and give them his name and address.

Saying that, £36.60 for 3 months, for gas AND elctric is very, very low...estimated bill rather than actual read?

I'm thinking that it's an estimated bill that is under estimating and the actual bill will be much higher then £36.60.

Even if the £36 is correct, you agreed and signed the contract (however naively), so what exactly has the landlord done that's illegal? Immoral and unethical at a push, but not illegal.

Hopefull...the utility company, definitely not the Police.

I would have thought though that if someone uses your details without your implicit permission to set up any account then it is fraud? No?

Reply 5

Osirls

OP

Well he has also done so for the Water bill (put our names on it) which he claim's we 'might have to pay'.
The might being, if they realise the house is being occupied.

We are under the impression he has been fiddling the water services too as we get bills through to 'the occupier' stating that bills of around £2000 are due but if the house is empty they are not payable.
I reckon he has stated this to avoid the bills yet I know he had tenants last year.

-

Most of us have paid the 2nd installment of 3.
We're renting till June 1st and our 'deposit' is in the form of last months rent so we have march and april still to pay.

Yes they are estimated readings but we are fairly good with our electricity and heating and the sum he is charging us is in no way justifiable whatever our useage.

We asked him if that was a standard/competetive rate and he said yes and we took his word for it..

The bill itself is actually mispelt and one of the letter in my name is wrong. I'm assuming this is a good thing.
I don't actually think my landlord expects us to pay the bill but I still can't see why he's put my name down.

I have thought about witholding rent but I'm not sure if it's legally justifiable and what might happen if we do.
We are due to leave in a few months so and I am aware you can be evicted after two months of arrears but we'll be gone by then..

I'll try to contact my student services tomorrow when I can.

Any feedback?
Thanks for your comments so far!

Martin

Reply 6

muel86

you're not being overcharged. if anything he is undercharging you and that bill was for the additional amount. gas and electricty cost a bomb

Reply 7

simeon

13

Osirls

We are under the impression he has been fiddling the water services too as we get bills through to 'the occupier' stating that bills of around £2000 are due but if the house is empty they are not payable.

Not true. I worked for Severn Trent Water for a while, and in the case of rented accom, the owner of the property is responsible for all bills whenever the property is un-rented.

Phone the Water compnay explain the situation and give the Landlords name and address.

With regards witholding rent...don't.

The only time you can do this is when there is a repair needed and the landlord has not complied within a set time-frame...there is a specific procedure for this circumstance.

All you will achieve in witholding rent is to go into arrears, which gives the landlord the upper hand.

I know you say you'll be gone by the time he could evict you, but he could still apply for a CCJ against you for the arrears.

Reply 8

happy-and-lost

10

I don't have gas and I'm just one person, but my water+electricity costs £70 a month (Stupid rip-off water meter). £36 for 3 months sounds way way way too low.

Reply 9

dooby

1

There is noooo way your bill could have been that low! Taking gas electric and water (and possibly TV/internet package?) into account, the £1 per day per person thing sounds a perfectly reasonable figure (although the set-up seems a little weird). See the other thread called "£10 a month" for some more info on the kinds of amounts people are spending on bills. Best thing to do if you still aren't sure is ring e-on quoting the letter you received and ask them to clarify exactly what the situation is with regards to your account. Chances are like others have said it's an estimated bill or something extra or something. Because £36 for 3 months just seems far too low. Good luck, let us know how you get on!

Reply 10

simeon

13

dooby

There is noooo way your bill could have been that low!

Yes there is. As I said before, estimated bill.

Reply 11

philjw

13

dooby

the £1 per day per person thing sounds a perfectly reasonable figure

This. I'd love to be paying only £7 a week for bills.

Reply 12

Paeony

11

OP, go to your local CAB and discuss this with them. Technically, as it's your name on the bill you *could* be held liable, and this bill sounds like a gross underestimate - sounds to me like a) your landlord has given them false readings or b) there's been a mistake. There's NO WAY that the gas and electricity for a five bedroom house will actually be £36, certainly not over the winter quarter. You need to get some decent advice about how to deal with this - go to the CAB, take your contracts with you (does it mention anywhere that you're not liable for bills?) otherwise you could find yourself being chased for some scarily huge bills.

Go and get some advice as this is a complicated situation and it can't be dealt with on here. They'll also be able to help you re: deposits etc.

Reply 13

increaseyourfanbase

1

You're not being overcharged.

Reply 14

Persipan

17

I would certainly agree you should get some proper advice to ensure that your tenancy states that you aren't liable for bills, and that you don't end up being liable for them anyway because your name is on them.

The other point I would make is this - if you wanted to avoid having to deal with bills and arranged a set amount with your landlord, then really, you were asking your landlord to take a gamble on how much gas and electricity prices might rise (and they have risen a lot recently) and on how much you might use. It's not really surprising if he's set that amount at a level where he can feel confident he won't be out of pocket - and I'd agree that the bill you've seen can't possibly be for everything you've used.

Reply 15

Rhodie72

9

It is illegal for a landlord to chard private tenants more than the market rate for electricity. You have the law behind you and you can make an official complaint to the authority about it. The LL must reimburse you for the excess charges and pay the interest outstanding on it at a rate of about 20% per annum.

As of 7 September 2007 these rules were law. Have a look at this site for clarification:
http://www.landlordzone.co.uk/content/re-selling-energy#

Discovered that Landlord is massively overcharging us for gas and electricity

Related discussions

Articles for you