Lorcan Posted August 3, 2007 Report Share Posted August 3, 2007 Hi can anyone answer a query please from a new and slightly nervous landlord. I recently bought a house to rent out for the first time. Its been let to a group of four friends, who're working people on separate tenancy contracts. Their contracts state that they pay the council tax and all the utility bills etc. Having been in touch with our local council to let them know when the new tenants were moving in the, the council now tell me as it's a HMO and with four people on separate contracts, my name as landlord needs to be on the bill and I am liable. The tenants wanted it in their names to pay the council themselves but apparently this may not be possible. Any advice, should I ask the tenants to pay me a standing monthly order direct as well as the rent? Any advice would be appreciated, thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matthew Posted August 3, 2007 Report Share Posted August 3, 2007 Hi mate, The council are right, as an HMO the landlord must pay this. As long as it states the tenants are responsible in tenancy agreement, you should be OK and just get them each to increase their standing order to cover this. I have a few HMO's, any other questions please let me know. Regards, Mat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lorcan Posted August 4, 2007 Author Report Share Posted August 4, 2007 Hi Matthew thanks for your reply, much appreciated. Can I ask one more thing about HMOs Do most landlords contact the utilities directly with the meter readings and let them know about new tenants move in/out or is this usually left to the tenants to do? I m new to all this. My tenants are down to pay all their own bills but with 4 people sharing, I presume they'll have to put bills in one name? Donovan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matthew Posted August 4, 2007 Report Share Posted August 4, 2007 Hi mate, Will reply in full later, but I pay for all of the bills, which is a pain, but people are not generally happy putting things solely in thier name. But as they are happy with this make sure you inform the Energy companies right away with meter reading when they moved in, name of tenant(s), otherwise you will have to pay. Regards, Mat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon Dewsberry Posted August 4, 2007 Report Share Posted August 4, 2007 Hi Donovan to cover all approaches and angles to running an HMO is a substantial volume ! CT is legally down to LL but you may arrange for T to pay - utilities can turn into a complete nightmare so on HMO i keep them in my name and charge T as "inclusive " price -can be a bit of a gamble but makes for much easier admin in the long term..... Simon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matthew Posted August 5, 2007 Report Share Posted August 5, 2007 Hi Donovan, As they are all friends then it may not be a problem with the bills in 1 persons name and they sort it between them. But you have them on seperate contracts and at the end of the tenancy 2 may leave and the other 2 stay. You will then have to let the other 2 rooms out, to tenants who are likely to be strangers to the others. Do you think that 1 person will now be happy having the bills in their name? It will cause all sorts of problems in the long term and more than likely will result in the bills not getting paid in the end. Like rodent says I have found it best to pay all bills and charge a fixed fee for all bills, usually around 60 pounds per person. The only problem with this is that they will probably use more energy than they would have if they were paying on consumption. Be careful to calculate correctly: I would say the costs per month should be: Electricity 60 Gas 60 Water - hopefully fixed so you should know Council Tax - Fixed Plus maybe 15% on top for void periods when rooms are empty. I would also insist on installing wireless broadband with Virgin = 20 pounds a month TV & internet. This costs very little, but is a huge benefit. Virgin is best as can pretty much guarentee speeds, others can't and with as many as 6 people on at once you need a good speed. I would also look at installing energy efficient light bulbs :-) Ciao! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lorcan Posted August 5, 2007 Author Report Share Posted August 5, 2007 Hi Rodent and Matthew You raise some very good points about the bills. Thank you taking the time to respond, I will seriously think about this for next year's tenancy! Cheers once again. Donovan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon Dewsberry Posted August 5, 2007 Report Share Posted August 5, 2007 Hi Donovan A much bigger consideration is that you have now informed the council that you are operating an HMO - you may want to check the Hmo regs and make sure you are complying with fire regs etc ! Simon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lorcan Posted August 5, 2007 Author Report Share Posted August 5, 2007 Hi Rodent Everything has all been checked with the safety regs, but good point thanks for the advice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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