How to charge for the Bills beginning of month or later

[missel]

Hi
up to now i have always included all the Bills and council tax in the contract, but for this new place i'd like not to include them.
My question is : How am I going to make the tenants aware of the costs ?
They said they would like to see the bill, so that they can pay the real consume, but normally the electricity and gas bills come every two three months...
I have told them that normally in the house there's a consume of 5/6 Kw per day in electricity and 4/5 units for the gas ... there4 i calculate the cost this way.
if i do as they say ((showing them the bill)) when somebody moves and the bill has not come yet, i cannot charge the tenant, unless i hold part of his/her deposit and give back to him/her the difference once the bill is paid.

I might as well charge anybody a fix rate for the month, but that would look as i am making money out of it.
I just want to be fair and everybody to see what's the real cost for it.

Also please could you tell me what do you do when a tenant decides to switch on the 1500watts small heather which makes my meter spinning so fast ??

Thanx

[zoe]

Put the bills in the tenants name. It's nothing to do with you then.

[missel]

Hi Zoe

Thanks i had thought of that already, but i have also made aware of the risk that if the tenants don't pay the bills or are late ... the property will get blacklisted after a while ..
Of course that means i won't be able to re-mortgage, or sell properly....

But i could do one other thing and that is : Can i make sure that the bills are paid on time by checking the tenants' receipts every month or so ?

I know it is a bit of a hassle, however should save me future hassles.

please tell me more

Regards

[zoe]

but i have also made aware of the risk that if the tenants don't pay the bills or are late ... the property will get blacklisted after a while ..
Of course that means i won't be able to re-mortgage, or sell properly....


This is completly untrue. The LL can never be made responsible for the tenant bills and a property cannot be "blacklisted" !!! Who on earth told you this pile of *****...

[Paul_f]

The landlord can certainly be made responsible for utility accounts if sharers in a house have failed to register it in one/all of their names if there is only one account to cover the property. Missel is right to be concerned.

I've actually seen this happen!

[catcuddler]

Hello there everyone. This is my first posting, I'm about to let my first property : :D & :( so what do you do to protect yourself from this? I have written into the AST that on ending the tenancy, the tenant has to show that they have paid all utilities, and that I can use the deposit to clear any debts. Is that okay? and is there anything else I can do? Thanks.

[Raggy]

"I have written into the AST that on ending the tenancy, the tenant has to show that they have paid all utilities, and that I can use the deposit to clear any debts. Is that okay?"

No, do not do that under any circumstances. The utility companies have no obligation to discuss another person's account with you and will cite the data protection act as a reason not to do so. They will probably not respond to any letters that you send them and you will be caught in the middle.

A much better alternative is to withhold the deposit until the ex-tenant can prove that they have paid the bills.

[Jennifer_M]

What a LL can do to protect himself is contact the utility companies when a new tenant arrives and let them know that from that day there is a new tenant at this address and they are responsible for the bills.

Take a meter reading WITH the tenant on the day you give them the keys to the property, and take a reading on the day you get the keys back.

Let the tenant know that when they leave they have to pay their bills and that's it.
Another tenant comes in and you start again.
If the last tenant hasn't paid his bill it is not your problem, it is the utility company's as the contract is between them and the tenant.

[zoe]

The landlord can certainly be made responsible for utility accounts if sharers in a house have failed to register it in one/all of their names if there is only one account to cover the property. Missel is right to be concerned.

I am not suggesting that this isn;t the case, only that this issue is not an issue if the LL follows very simp0le guidelines and puts the bill in the tenants name.

The debts of tenants including utility bill have NOTHING to do with the LL. there is no risk of the LL being liable or the property being blacklisted (which is ridiculous) if the bills are in the tenants names.

As Jennifer has highlighted how to do this, there really is no issue.

[zoe]

You don't need to PROTECT yourself from the debts created by the tenants.

Follow Jennifers steps. In an ideal world you would ask to see clossing accounts for the utilities before returning the deposit but as I have mentioned before it really doesn't matter that much. If the tenants do a runer without paying the bill you could never be held liable if the bill is in their name.

[missel]

hi cat cuddler

so it happened to you ehyy ??
It happened in newcastle that people took a rented house opened up an account with Bt and for three months didn't pay the bill , moreover they were inviting all thair friend and also they yould charge a fix fee of £5,00 for innternational phone call, when it normally would cost £12 pounds... guess what it's blacklisted now.

Zoe i have enquired and have and have been told that the property doesn't get blacklisted ie: if you don't pay for the Tv licence or another thing << sorry can't remember right now >> because that relates to "the occupier of the house" not the LL

thanx guys