Landlord putting meter cost up

[valeriej43]

My son lives in a bedsit, and pays £400 a month, the room is very small, and cramped, it has patio doors leading onto half of an outhouse, ,at least one door does, the other leads to nothing, a drop of about 20 feet at a guess,hes on the second floor
My son works so is only at home for part of a day as most are, but the landlord has now put the electricity prepaqyment meter up to 40 pence a KW, so the cost has gone up from around £10-15 a week to about 35, which is ridiculous
I dont trust this landlord, he takes ages to gert round tpo any repairs, a shower pipe was leaking to the outside of the building, a neighbour complained to my son, landlord said he would sort it, in the end my son gt a friend to seal it
The house is divided ito several bedsits, and i think comes under HMO, the landlord said it had been passed by a council inspector, but i just cant see this room with adoors that lead to nowhere except an accident would be passed as fit to live in, there is about 2 feet from the bed to the doors, i cringe just thinking about it, if someone leaned or fell against an open door it could be fatal,
The 2 rooms on the top floor dont have any heating except fan heaters
Any advice please, welcome, re, meters and suitability of living accomodation

[wales01man]

Re: Landlord putting meter cost up

There are rules on the reselling of electricity by landlords

[Mr $quanda£ot]

Re: Landlord putting meter cost up

I would just look somewhere else to live. It may be difficult to believe but there are some decent landlords out there!

[seduraed]

Re: Landlord putting meter cost up

I would lso call housing at the council. That drop sounds like a class 1 hazard . move first.

[ostell]

Re: Landlord putting meter cost up

The landlord can only resell at the same rate that it was bought.
Sear h for " Maximum resale electricity ". (Copy and paste isn't working on my tablet!

[valeriej43]

Re: Landlord putting meter cost up

I have looked at that site,thank you ,in other words the landlord cant charge more than he pays for it,, but i think my son is going tolook for something else , there are some good landlords i know, but this landlord apparently has a main meter and has installed his own meters for the bedsits and got them hidden behind something in a cupbocard so obviously not letting the energy company know, and charging tenants extra,told my son now so he will have out with the landlord now,thanks again

[Crazy council]

Re: Landlord putting meter cost up

Just a my 2 cents

It used to be ( as a landlord ) , that you could not make a proffit, but you could charge the individual rooms more, on there meters, to cover the costs of electric used in other, communal parts of the property, this was the case in traditional victorian bedsits, were lighting and fire control was required in the shared areas, sometime this also includes kitchen utilities and heating. I think you can also include the service costs of the equipment as well

[ostell]

Re: Landlord putting meter cost up

The site I found was this one. (I'm back on the desktop). The reseller cannot add on to price in any way. It is, of course permitted to have private meters in the building and the energy company does not have to know about them.

I would get on to the council to see if it has indeed been registered as a HMO and been inspected. When your son finds another place of accommodation, which I hope he does, then he should apply to the landlord for reimbursement of the extra cost of the electricity. In addition report to the supplier and get them to institute criminal proceedings.

[valeriej43]

Re: Landlord putting meter cost up

Thanks for this, i will show my son this too,also the tenancy is on a rolling contrct meanng it goes in fortnightly stages, the landlord can evict someone agter 2 weeks if they miss a weeks rent for instance, and the tenant can give 2 weeks notice, never heard of this,migt be another thing he has made up,regarding the drop from the patio doors, i am gong to find out tomorrow if this is legal or not, there are no railings even around the flat roof,

[Crazy council]

Re: Landlord putting meter cost up

That patio door thing is serious and dangerious. deffinatly inform the council. The rest what u say. Show hes an unscrupulas lanlord. But probebly not breaking the law. He is with that patio door though

[valeriej43]

Re: Landlord putting meter cost up

I have been making enquiries about what is allowed and what is not, i rang Shelter and apparently thee inspectors dont a ways check every room, as far as the Electricty is concerned the standard tariff price per kw with their supplier is 16.85 +11.5 perday, that is for a domestic tarrif,maybe a business one is more, ,but charging people tenants 40p per unit is going to rake him in thousands from 6 tenants per month@140 each ,+£100 for their rooms,paying their own TV licence, the only thing in with the rent is the water,--up to now
Shelter suggested he asks to see the inspection report, if there is one,,also he cannot evict opeople after 2 weeks of no rent or for any reason, has to be at lesst 2 months under section 21

[valeriej43]

Re: Landlord putting meter cost up

UPDATE; My son is looking for somewhere else to live now and has reported the landlord to the council, he just couldnt afford to live there any longer, for £100 a week, having to pay for TV licence and extortionate meter payments for Electricity, plus his food and internet ,and as it turns out the premises were not inspected, as i kept telling my son, no way would a council pass that room with a patio door and nothing underneath only a 20ft drop onto concrete , repairs being left not done
Apparently the landlord has to go on a landlord s course,whatever bthat is, and the council are sending an inspector when my son moves,in fact ALL his tenants are moving out, so he will have no income from around £2000 a month,

[Crazy council]

Re: Landlord putting meter cost up

I hope he finds somewhere soon, sound like hes been messed about a lot on this.

The LLs course, might meen the council require him to register, just make sure, to cover your son, you take plenty of pictures before you go, showing all the problems