Landlord charging for electric supply

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Ebi00

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Oct 22, 2022
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  • #1
    Hi, looking for advice. I rent a unit from a private landlord. He told me he gets wholesale Electric supply, this means I pay electric bills to him. I have just two freezers on 24hrs and use the unit about 4 to 5 hours a month to produce food. My bill is higher than my neighbours that are regular. Three months came to £870. I refused to pay as I told him Iam not happy, they should check and see if something is wrong with my unit.
    I got a letter at the top saying hand delivered. If I do not pay in 14 days they will lock my unit. Like bullying me. He also have my three months deposit which is not in the deposit scheme.
    I need a lawyer or suggestions or advice please. Thanks
     
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    Ozzy

    Ozzy

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    • Feb 9, 2003
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  • #2
    Have you checked how much electricity your units are using to check if it's fair? For example, checked the meter reading alongside calculated the kWH used by the freezers.
    Generally speaking your landlord could be paying 70p per kWH or more for the electricity, and if your freezers are using 1kWH each (I have no idea) that's £500 per month each - which I know isn't right but am saying the cost of electricity soon stacks up.
    Then you have the extra usage during the time you are prepping food. £870 a quarter is considerably less than my small office costs in electricity for an office that is empty for half a week.
     
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    WaveJumper

    WaveJumper

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  • #4
    All of what has been said above, the figure could easily be correct especially based on current energy pricing. Do you not have your own meter to check usage. What type of freezers do you actually have ie large industrial size and what equipment are you running when doing food preparation. Over say a 90 day period your using around £9 a day say 40/50p and hour?

    Certainly follow up your concerns but withholding payments will put you in breach of your terms and conditions you could certainly find yourself locked out
     
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    Michael Loveridge

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  • #5
    As always, you need to read your lease. It will say what your obligation is in relation to paying for the electricity.

    Assuming it says that you must reimburse your landlord the actual cost of electricity then you're entitled to ask him to produce evidence of the charges. If they are as he's stated then you would have to pay him.

    However, unless (which is unlikely) the charges are classed as part of the rent your landlord can't just lock your unit / evict you. That would be a serious breach of your lease, and you could take him to court. As it's a commercial lease he has to serve you with a "section 146 notice" before he can forfeit (i.e. cancel) the lease, and that notice must give you a reasonable opportunity to resolve matters.

    Ebi00 said:
    He also have my three months deposit which is not in the deposit scheme.
    Click to expand...
    The deposit scheme doesn't apply to commercial property.
     
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    Gyumri

    Gyumri

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  • #6
    Michael Loveridge said:
    As it's a commercial lease he has to serve you with a "section 146 notice" before he can forfeit (i.e. cancel) the lease, and that notice must give you a reasonable opportunity to resolve matters.
    Click to expand...
    The OP can also serve a counter notice disputing the demand but as stated above the landlord couldn't just lock the unit.

    brittontime.com

    What Is A Section 146 Notice?

    A section 146 notice is served when a tenant breaks a covenant in the lease. In this article, we explain everything you need to know.
    brittontime.com brittontime.com

    If the electricity can be regarded as "rent" then see this link:

    www.pinsentmasons.com

    Rent recovery and protection – commercial landlords’ options after 25 March 2022

    Significant and wide-ranging restrictions placed on landlords' ability to recover rent arrears from business tenants have now lapsed or will shortly do so.
    www.pinsentmasons.com www.pinsentmasons.com

    The sensible thing to do is read the meters so you know each time what the landlord can legitimately charge and then there would be no issue.
     
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    fisicx

    fisicx

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  • #7
    @Gyumri - he doesn’t have his own meters. That’s the whole problem.

    And he can change the locks at any time. Whether or not this is legal is a different issue.
     
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    Gyumri

    Gyumri

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  • #8
    He can surely ask to see the meter reading if it applies to the OP's unit. If there is no specific reading available for the unit then it's anybody's guess as to how much is due to the landlord

    Also I don't think a section 146 notice can have any validity if the OP only has a mere contractual licence to occupy and not a lease.
     
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    kulture

    kulture

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  • #9
    I think that there is too much speculation here. We do not know what kind of agreement the OP has with the landlord, we don’t know if the OP has access to see the meter, we don’t know if the op’s unit has a separate meter.

    You can get smart plugs that record electrical usage and provide a monthly total. I would recommend that the OP gets a couple and plugs his freezers in via these and sees exactly what their consumption is. Then ask the landlord to justify the cost once the facts are clear.
     
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    Newchodge

    Newchodge

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  • #10
    kulture said:
    I think that there is too much speculation here. We do not know what kind of agreement the OP has with the landlord, we don’t know if the OP has access to see the meter, we don’t know if the op’s unit has a separate meter.

    You can get smart plugs that record electrical usage and provide a monthly total. I would recommend that the OP gets a couple and plugs his freezers in via these and sees exactly what their consumption is. Then ask the landlord to justify the cost once the facts are clear.
    Click to expand...
    And, in the meantime, pay what is demanded, under protest.
     
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    HFE Signs

    HFE Signs

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  • #11
    Just a thought, if the thermostat is faulty on one (or both) freezers they could be costing you considerably more. As above check readings, but also you could get plug in power meter to prove your freezers
     
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    forevergroup

    forevergroup

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  • #12
    That honestly doesn’t seem too excessive if the freezers are large, especially given the surges in commercial energy rates over the past year. There have been local butchers in the news recently, for example, because they can’t afford to continue.

    Installing some kind of energy metering so that you can track the kWh consumption of your appliances, as others have suggested, appears to be a really good idea. Note that even industrial lighting is likely to be expensive to run these days so the meter may give a truer indication.

    Energy cost inflation is a big thing - we were commenting at how dark areas of the science museum were this weekend. A lot of the interior lights were turned off in certain areas presumably to save money!

    Ask your landlord to at least give you specific kWh and standing charge rates that he is going to be billing you based on moving forwards.

    And don’t expect to get much change on £870 if you ask a commercial solicitor to fight this. And they may just confirm that the landlord is contractually right. But that’s up to you of course.
     
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