1. There are many benefits to shared tenants having a landlord or agent bills package.
2. The benefit to the tenants is that they do not need to organise or set up a number of utility contracts with a range of suppliers of: gas, electric water, sewerage, telephone line, TV, TV license, internet and the like. This, if organised by tenants is likely to come with a minimum term of say 18 to 24 months terms. Any ongoing liability following the tenants departure would normally fall to the tenants. A bills package releases tenants caught in such utility time traps. Landlords rely on new tenants to continue with the bills package overcoming any problems created by minimum terms.
3. The benefit to the landlord is that the meters need not be strictly recorded as the bills are set. Further the landlord or agent will not subsequently be presented with a bill for consumption after tenants have departed, potentially causing delays in refunding any deposits.
4. There is an element of risk in providing any utility to a property as part of the rent, or as an add-on. The terms are agreed at the outset, at a fixed cost. Tenants may consume more than they pay for - particularly in a climate of increasingly cold winters and rising fuel costs.
5. Increasing, utility costs can rise by up to 10% overnight. How can landlords protect against consequential losses given their sincere efforts to make life easier for their tenants? After all, landlords are in the business of renting property; utilities are merely provided as a tenant convenience.
6. The landlord is likely the best person to arrange a bills package. This is because perpetual bills become somewhat predictable.
7. Setting up and organising direct debits is both confusing and time-consuming to new tenants.
8. Landlords can arrange all utilities for their tenants albeit with calculated risks, and in so doing provide "added value" to their tenants.
9. Since moving is recognised as amongst the most stressful activities of a lifetime, a bills package is normally welcomed to alleviate the burden caused by otherwise having to arrange utilities.
10. There is also the prospect of either: a profit, a loss or a combination of the two. Some tenants over-or-under consume - very cold winters can be costly to keep a house warm.
11. Some years a landlord might make a loss overall but in milder winters a slight profit. A bills-package therefore also enables spreading the cost of the cold, across many winters.
12. Landlords with a number of properties can spread the risk over a number of properties so that if one property makes a loss it is hoped that another might at least break even.
13. Significant administrative costs and stress can add to the burden of running a bills package, particularly when e.g. the internet stops working and the tenants complain that their "education is at stake if it is not fixed today!" The landlord or agent, must divert their attention to the reported utility "emergency".
14. The average time spent on the phone to internet providers regularly exceeds an hour. This time is paid for by the landlord or agent operating the package. Such costs might be reflected in the bills-package cost calibrations.
15. Any notion of profit is quickly dispelled given such administrative costs - the main motive for providing the utility package is for the convenience of the tenant.
16. Most tenants prefer the near certainty of a bills package rather than the uncertainty of individually arranged utilities with the prospect of inadequate heating.
17. Another benefit is that tenants need not fight over non-payment of bills. One tenant who has yet to pay the previous unpaid gas bill, might leave to avoid further tenant infighting, resulting in an entire group splitting up, even creating a void.
18. Similarly some tenants are ambient incompatible, with one wanting tropical temperatures and others Alaskan coolness. With thermostatic radiator valves and a set bills package there is no sense of resentment that say cool Tom the tenant is paying for the tropical comfort of Dick and Harry. All pay only what they agreed at the outset.
19. Once there was no such concept as a bills package - now it is commonplace.
20. The other consideration is that such packages do not encourage frugality - quite the reverse.
21. Positively, never (yet) having suffered a burst loft pipe, this is probably due to the heating being left on - with little tenant-incentive to turn it off! So there are some by-product mercies. Tenants returning from Christmas vacations are less likely to find their home flooded due to avoidable burst pipes!
22. Another upside is that mould and mildew complaints are less common in a warmer home. Compare this to landlord properties without a bills package, who's tenants seek to keep heating costs down, with low heating. Add to this indoor wet washing hanging throughout and mould becomes endemic. This is particularly true in concrete blocks of flats with poor insulation and outdated boilers. Mould spores love such habitats.
23. Where a landlord provides a package and pays the bills, the onus for recovery of the cost falls on the landlord who must pay regardless of whether tenants pay the landlord.
24. ฝากขายอาคารพาณิชย์ Aha I hear the landlord cogs creak! But what happens when the tenants fail to pay even the rent? Good question; simple answer! The landlord still pays for the bills, but must sue the tenant through the court for both rent and bills. However, if the tenancy has an exit clause the landlord can give notice to the tenants to end the bills package within the notice period, thereafter the tenants become responsible for payment and the consequences of non-payment - i.e. being cut off.
25. Warning - landlords unilaterally isolating utilities is a criminal offence and constitutes harassment, carrying significant fines and even imprisonment.
26. Having experienced call-outs ostensibly to attend to a flood, or just a leak, these can be an anticlimax. One such emergency turned out to be breath condensate settling on the cold sanitary-ware running down and pooling on the bathroom floor. So much for hardy tenants who turned the heating off in winter to save money. The £5 saved in heating cost the landlord a £50 call-out charge to investigate.
27. The internet is a constant drain on time as there are so many aspects that can go wrong. This is often to do with a tenant's computer settings. By establishing that just one tenant has a connection, the fault is likely with those computers unable to connect.
28. It is costly paying a technical whiz to attend properties. Such costs are not easily recovered without causing resentment. When tenants make mistakes they invariably deny responsibility and want someone else to pay! So it will be appreciated that such a bills package features more facets than merely the actual individual utilities provided.
29. There are companies offering commission to landlords and agents to agree a utility package through their organisations. By switching from one utility provider to another, even to save money, there remains a huge disproportional administrative cost in documentation and meter readings. As previously indicated, spending £50 to save only £5 is uneconomical.
30. 'Smart Meters' can now be fitted to properties, saving time as they can be read without visiting properties and disturbing tenants. This aids bills package management.
31. The internet is marginally cheaper by placing longer term contracts in bulk numbers, however, the landlord is stuck with the provider for the duration of the term even if the service is poor and cheaper alternatives arise meantime.
32. There are schemes available which refund landlords in accordance with tenant consumption. Never having felt comfortable about such schemes it is still worth mentioning their existence.
33. A reasonable use clause acts as a fair deterrent to wasteful consumption of energy.
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