Over a year ago, myself and a friend moved into a flat in a new development with a 16 month lease (there are around 2 months left on the lease and we are currently debating whether or not to stay on.)
We checked with the estate agent that we would pay for water, electricity, and council tax. The providers of these utilities and the meter readings are noted on the inventory we signed on the day we moved in. We have a standard AST.
Throughout the year, we have been forwarding our landlord post addressed to him and the previous tenant.
A few weeks ago, the landlord contacted me to say that there had been a bill addressed to the previous tenant from a previously unknown (to us) company for "communal heating and hot water." We have never used the heating in our apartment but we use hot water for showers etc. We were told when we moved in that the hot water was heated by the electricity. The landlord clearly thought that this was the case too and obviously had no idea about the company providing heating and hot water services.
At no time had this been mentioned to us by the landlord or estate agent, either in writing or in conversation. We set up accounts in our name with the utility companies for electricity water and council tax as per the landlord's instructions and have been paying these in installments over the last year.
Now we are faced with a huge bill for a year's worth of hot water and heating charges which we knew nothing about. We were led to believe that we covered the cost of hot water via our electricity. The landlord clearly had no knowledge of these charges either but will expect us to pay. As I mentioned, we have been forwarding him post throughout the year so the landlord should have noticed an overdue bill before now.
On the bill we have received, there appears to be a daily charge for hire of the "facility" then the rest of the charge is calculated via a meter.
There is no express clause about hot water or heating in the AST. The landlord has (without consulting me) now set up an account in my name with the provider who has sent a hefty bill covering part of the past year - there will be more to come for the remainder of the year/ tenancy.
The landlord has previously attempted to get us to pay his service/maintenance charges and ground rent etc which we successfully challenged as there was no mention in the lease. I feel that we are dealing with either a very inexperienced and incompetent landlord that just passes the buck to tenants when they get unexpected bills and hopes to get away with it. Surely we should have been notified about these charges at the beginning of our tenancy. This has been another horrible shock as we are really not in a position to pay out huge sums.
I do not dispute that we should pay for what we use but this is a really unsatisfactory situation. Advice on our rights as tenants would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
We checked with the estate agent that we would pay for water, electricity, and council tax. The providers of these utilities and the meter readings are noted on the inventory we signed on the day we moved in. We have a standard AST.
Throughout the year, we have been forwarding our landlord post addressed to him and the previous tenant.
A few weeks ago, the landlord contacted me to say that there had been a bill addressed to the previous tenant from a previously unknown (to us) company for "communal heating and hot water." We have never used the heating in our apartment but we use hot water for showers etc. We were told when we moved in that the hot water was heated by the electricity. The landlord clearly thought that this was the case too and obviously had no idea about the company providing heating and hot water services.
At no time had this been mentioned to us by the landlord or estate agent, either in writing or in conversation. We set up accounts in our name with the utility companies for electricity water and council tax as per the landlord's instructions and have been paying these in installments over the last year.
Now we are faced with a huge bill for a year's worth of hot water and heating charges which we knew nothing about. We were led to believe that we covered the cost of hot water via our electricity. The landlord clearly had no knowledge of these charges either but will expect us to pay. As I mentioned, we have been forwarding him post throughout the year so the landlord should have noticed an overdue bill before now.
On the bill we have received, there appears to be a daily charge for hire of the "facility" then the rest of the charge is calculated via a meter.
There is no express clause about hot water or heating in the AST. The landlord has (without consulting me) now set up an account in my name with the provider who has sent a hefty bill covering part of the past year - there will be more to come for the remainder of the year/ tenancy.
The landlord has previously attempted to get us to pay his service/maintenance charges and ground rent etc which we successfully challenged as there was no mention in the lease. I feel that we are dealing with either a very inexperienced and incompetent landlord that just passes the buck to tenants when they get unexpected bills and hopes to get away with it. Surely we should have been notified about these charges at the beginning of our tenancy. This has been another horrible shock as we are really not in a position to pay out huge sums.
I do not dispute that we should pay for what we use but this is a really unsatisfactory situation. Advice on our rights as tenants would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks