rog6oo Posted March 5, 2008 Report Share Posted March 5, 2008 Hi all may I ask a question? Last week, I rented out my one and only property, is has Gas and Electric keys and less than a week in to the tenancy I have recieved a call saying the in four days almost £20 / 25 has been used up, without excessive use. The property is a big 3 bed house with a combi boiler it has rads in all rooms, some with thermostats, a gas cooker and hob... Hot water obviously via the combi. I had my gas cert done, and the heating engineer advised me that there was nothing wrong with the boiler... anyway, to keep the tenant sweet I am getting a full service on the comi by another engineer and advised the tenant to contact British Gas with her issues on the amount used as the account is now under her name. Can anyone suggest anything else I can do or say?? Many thanks Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trenners Posted March 5, 2008 Report Share Posted March 5, 2008 Hi Rog6oo, I think that gas and electric meter keys let you "overspend" by a few pounds (perhaps upto 10 pounds each) before they finally cut the utilities off - this gives the tenant chance to get more money added onto the keys before the lights switch off. So, if you had run up a debt on the gas and electric and your new tenants then added money to the respective meter keys then this money would be deducted immediately. Hence why it appears that £25 or more has been spent over a 4 day period. Alternatively, of course, they could have had the heating on full blast - 24hours a day ! Good luck, Mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rog6oo Posted March 5, 2008 Author Report Share Posted March 5, 2008 Hi Rog6oo, I think that gas and electric meter keys let you "overspend" by a few pounds (perhaps upto 10 pounds each) before they finally cut the utilities off - this gives the tenant chance to get more money added onto the keys before the lights switch off. So, if you had run up a debt on the gas and electric and your new tenants then added money to the respective meter keys then this money would be deducted immediately. Hence why it appears that £25 or more has been spent over a 4 day period. Alternatively, of course, they could have had the heating on full blast - 24hours a day ! Good luck, Mark Cheers for the reply Mark... I understand what you mean about the account going into the "emergency fun" hence if she's added £25 and the debt was a tenner it will show as far more gas used. I'll wait for the new engineer to confirm all is ok with the Boiler (which I'm sure it is anyway) and I guess I'll have to wait on British Gas and the tenant to see what they find. Winter bills are always more, and I understand, so i've been told that keys are a little more pricey. Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Selkirk Posted March 5, 2008 Report Share Posted March 5, 2008 Hi I had a similar situation where a T got a meter installed, the best advice I got was to make sure it's reset when a T changes. Doesn't help you but going forward it will. cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rog6oo Posted March 5, 2008 Author Report Share Posted March 5, 2008 Hi I had a similar situation where a T got a meter installed, the best advice I got was to make sure it's reset when a T changes. Doesn't help you but going forward it will. cheers All advise welcome! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rog6oo Posted March 12, 2008 Author Report Share Posted March 12, 2008 Update so far... I have finally managed to get a Heating Engineer into the house and confirm these is nothing wrong with the boiler and so forth… He advised for the Tenant to switch off Rads that she didn't need on (Common sense to me). And he advised me that the Boiler was old and could do with being replaced by a more efficient Combi… although not to rush out and get a New boiler installed straight away. As a Landlord, is it my obligation to replace this asap??? I understand that if I were a tenant I would like it replaced if it were costing me… have I just answered my own question!?! Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon Dewsberry Posted March 12, 2008 Report Share Posted March 12, 2008 As yet no need to replace .....but after next year with EPC no doubt a min std will be introduced which will require LL to upgrade within the next few years ,........do bears sxxt in the woods ? The Rodent Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rog6oo Posted March 12, 2008 Author Report Share Posted March 12, 2008 Cheers Fella... I'll start saving my pennies! Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simhar Posted March 16, 2008 Report Share Posted March 16, 2008 Hehehehehe ! cheers simhar Web: Properite Landlord Software - http://www.properite.co.uk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon Dewsberry Posted March 16, 2008 Report Share Posted March 16, 2008 Simhar what is the point ? ............in you ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rog6oo Posted March 16, 2008 Author Report Share Posted March 16, 2008 Decided to replace the Boiler with the tenants approval the back end of the summer, I would rather keep her happy, and save a few quid in the long run Poss loss of 2 / 3 months rent without a T, LA fees, and the fact I will have to replace the boiler at some stage anyway. How do you get "TWAT" out of simhar? I'll ask Carol Vordaman! Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon Dewsberry Posted March 17, 2008 Report Share Posted March 17, 2008 I dont think you can .......it is far to ingrained in him/her....... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roppa Posted March 17, 2008 Report Share Posted March 17, 2008 in reguards to the keys in the 1st place.. the keys where brand new for your tenant ? or had they been used by previous tenant's ? had they "reset" the meter's when the new tenants moved in ? how where the key meters installed in the 1st place ? where they in when you pruchased the property, or installed when the property was tenanted by the utilities company ? see, the reason why i ask this is that, i recently moved home and had the pain in the arse key system inplace. i checked the meter and saw that there was around £4.00 on hte gas and £7.00 on the electic. (this is around 9pm at night on the 1st night) i go back to my old property in preporations to move across, and return 9pm the next morning, to which i find that the gas was off.. i strached my head in that how could i use up £4.00 in gas in 1 day ? but at the same time i remeber the previous owener stated that the boiler was VERY gas hungry, and one fo the reasons he was moving a mear 4 month after he purcahsed it was that the could not afford to heat it. curious, i spoke to british gas about the meters, and registered myself with them getting a new key/card for the electric and gas. While on the phone they asked when i moved in and when did Mr & Mrs "Smith" move out... i was curious to this, as it was Mr "Jones" that i had purcahsed the property from. See Mr & Mrs "smith" had racked up debts on the gas of around £300.00 and on the electric of £250.00 before they left.. as such, british gas had came out and installed the key meters, with the little alteration that each and every week, not only would it tick down in money left on the meter for gas/electric used, but also it would deduct around £3.00 every now and again to repay the debt. when i checked the meter on closer inspection, the arrears on it where only around £35.00 on both the gas and electric, and it showed that Mr "jones" that i had purcahsed the property from had not only been paying his bill for the gas/electic, he had been paying the previous owners also... as he had not changed the key/card from that of Mr & Mrs smith and when they moved out.. poor Mr jones So.. moral of the story, if you have a tenant moving into a property, or have aquired a property with key/card meters in them and they are still present (the keys and cards) neither you nor your tenant use them. Get the utilities company to come out and "reset" the meter, this way at least you are 100% confident you are not paying someone else's bill. Oh, and TBH, dont use key/card meters if you can get away with it in the 1st place, they charge on average around 15% more than if they where to just pay via a normal bank account with a DD. (which is no wonder poor Mr "jones" wanted to get rid of his expensive to-run property... but meh, i got it for 25% less than asking price.. so am not moaning ^^) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rog6oo Posted March 17, 2008 Author Report Share Posted March 17, 2008 Hi Roppa, The Gas & Elec meter were already in the House when I bought it, I changed everything over into my name and recieved new Cards / keys... And had the meter re-set, as the previous owner had debts. These I am told were not passed on to me... The new tenant also recieved new keys... after I had closed my accounts with no debt.... I'll see how she runs on a new boiler first off I think Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simhar Posted March 18, 2008 Report Share Posted March 18, 2008 Hi Roppa, The Gas & Elec meter were already in the House when I bought it, I changed everything over into my name and recieved new Cards / keys... And had the meter re-set, as the previous owner had debts. These I am told were not passed on to me... The new tenant also recieved new keys... after I had closed my accounts with no debt.... I'll see how she runs on a new boiler first off I think Dave Sounds good ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SPEEDTWIN Posted March 18, 2008 Report Share Posted March 18, 2008 Hehehehehe ! cheers simhar Web: Properite Landlord Software - http://www.properite.co.uk Why would anyone advertise software for sale and hope to get some buisness off the back of childish posts like this. UNPROFESSIONAL COMES TO MIND Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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