Landlord charging for bills

[kirinm]

We’ve been living in a rental following the sale of our flat. We are finally about to complete on our purchase and have handed in our notice.

When we moved in, we tried to have all of the bills transferred into our names. We succeeded with the water bill and council tax but as the landlord has only ever let the house out as an air BnB, he was a bit funny about us transferring the electricity and gas accounts to us. We agreed that he’d keep the accounts in his name and he’d bill us. Despite us repeatedly asking for the bills he didn’t do it. Now we’ve handed in our notice, he’s apparently finally been able to work out what we owe and is going to dump a 10 month bill on us.

I’m quite pissed off about this. This wasn’t what was agreed and he basically didn’t know what he was doing as a non-professional landlord so didn’t get himself together. It is complicated by the fact he lives directly behind us in a house he built in the garden. Given the size of our water bill, I think it’s possible some of the accounts cover his house and ours.

Anyway, surely having not invoiced us for a period of (I think) 10 months now despite us asking repeatedly, its unreasonable for him to present us with a massive bill at the end? We will pay it (although we will be pushing for reductions because of how shit the house is) but it’s come at the worst time.

He would have to be able to prove the bills too.

Exactly @MO0N. He can download all the bills from the website and the fact that he apparently won’t is suspicious.

If you're not on the bill, it's not your bill. Let him go to small claims for your payment and let them sort it out, he will have to show the bills then.

I’ve kept a record of everything including every complaint we made as soon as we moved in.

He must be paying the bill so he’s either got two accounts - one for his house and one for ours - which means he could easily have sent it to us. Or the two houses are on one account in which case he can’t easily separate the two. Given that when we tried to register with octopus, his account was cancelled I assume it’s the latter.

Just pay it and move on!

Have you seen the electricity meter?
Have you read your meters?
Would it be an idea to possibly find out if there’s only 1 meter between the 2 residences?
As DH is an electrician, he could switch off the mains this evening, see if LL turns up needing his electricity?

It's exceptionally useful. A 2 bed flat in York in very good condition was renting for a suspiciously cheap amount of money. Looked up the energy use. £10,548 per year.

It's over a car port, has no roof insulation. There's no hot tub using that money as no garden.

Gas 97581 kWh

Electricity 24395 kWh

It's the worst energy bill I have EVER seen, and I've looked at an awful lot.

NEVER, EVER TRUST EPCS

Estimated energy needed in this property is:

• 7,656 kWh per year for heating
• 2,260 kWh per year for hot water

I cannot tell you how many bullets this ^^ has helped me dodge.

(use with wisdom - if it looks suspiciously low it could be due to absences - for really low results I always check a few neighbours too).

I'd say that, as you suspect, he only has one account. He therefore has no way of knowing how much is your use and how much is his use. I'm not sure if he's going against regulations by not having separate accounts so perhaps you can get him on that?
But in any case I can't see that he has a leg to stand on, in order for you to be liable for the bill he has to be able to prove that you've used x amount of electricity and he is unable to do this.

Are there separate registered addresses for the two homes? It sounds like he has bodged the admin of it all.

Agree with others that you shouldn’t pay unless you have seen all of the breakdowns of bills. If your deposit is protected then his recourse would be through the relevant tribunals or SCC, which he may be reluctant to do if he hasn’t properly split all the services with addresses and meters.

Well said, if it's not in your name then you're not liable for it.
He's trying to rip you off, just ignore the c*🤷🏼‍♀️

This is illegal according to Shelter. The utility contracts are meant to be between the household living in a property and the utility company. I’ve had this myself before years ago and managed to get out of all but 3 months, due to the above. The landlord didn’t have a leg to stand on legally.

I am not entirely sure. The house we are in used to be a shop and a flat but was converted back into a house. Not sure when. When you input the postcode, it still comes up as two flats and a business address (there used to be a business behind the house which is a space he bought). Anyway, it’s all a bit weird. There were no bins when we arrived so we had to order those. We were able to register for council tax though.

If this had been a home we intended to be in for any length of time, we’d have done much more checking and pushed for everything to be in our name but it was a short let due to us being in between the process of selling and buying.

It’s a good sign that you were able to register for council tax, but does all sounds very confusing!

So the bills are in his name? Pay nothing until he send you the correct bills. You know that the bills cover his garden house too, right? That's why he doesn't want to show them to you. He's trying to pull a fast one and get you to pay his bills too. He can whistle!

if he doesnt show you the actual bill dont pay-sounds like hes got a joint account for both places

@CitizenofMoronia

If you're not on the bill, it's not your bill. Let him go to small claims for your payment and let them sort it out, he will have to show the bills then.

This is what I would do. You are in the forunate position of buying so dont need a reference from your LL. As the bill payer you are entitled to have all the bills in your name and nowadays this is easily dont on the website. Many years ago I moved into rented. I immediately ordered a water meter and went on the company websites to have all the utilities put into my name. I did not ask or consult the LL.

Hopefully you have copies of emails/texts etc where you ask the LL to have the utility bills transferred to your name. Give LL one last chance to produce the actual bills for your inspection. He will have to produce them for the court. Tell him that you are willing to pay for your share but that you require proof of expenditure before doing so. Make it clear than in the case of any dispute you are willing to consider "further action". Send the letter registered post so you have absolute proof that you were willing to pay for the utilities.

I would not worry about your deposit as this is held by the DPS or whatever scheme he has lodged it in. In any dispute the LL is required to prove their case and the DPS tends to side with the tenant.

“But we will pay”

Well that’s big of you 🙄

We DID contact the utility companies. We didn’t seek his consent. It was the energy one that caused the ‘issue’.

Oh bore off with your pathetic eye roll. I’ve never said we aren’t going to pay.

He's a robbing, piss taking barsteward.
Move out, don't pay a penny and shop him to the relevant authorities.

you can “pay any bill” that comes your way

So you have been saving then for the past 10 months?

Dont pay a penny until you have calculations

then either pay in full or you can suggest split over 10 months

the end

Then say it now, loud and clear, you aren't going to pay because you don't have to pay!

Everything is dodgy, he's set it up all wrong. Let him pay the price for taking the piss and not doing things properly.

You could offer to pay him 9 months worth of what's on the EPC for heating and hot water plus 3kwh electric per day for personal consumption if you really want to.

If a court sees you offering that, and he can't produce a bill for the sole property, they'll chuck it out.

Chances are, it's got no bloody EPC because he cba doing things properly.

Which is illegal. And if that's the case, you could get x3 your deposit back with minimal hassle.

https://find-energy-certificate.service.gov.uk/find-a-certificate/type-of-property

Yes I have savings. We also had £2000 refunded from octopus for overpayments on our last home.
SHOCKER - we can afford to pay bills and live. Apologies if that upsets you.

i suspect the house purchase process is causing you a lot of stress