We’re advertising our property with bills included. We would like to add a fair usage policy whereby the tenant pays for usage over a set amount. Please can anyone advise if they have done this? How would you recommend adding it to the Open rent AST? This would be for gas and electricity bills.
Thanks!
You can add your own cluases to the Openrent contract. Make sure your advert does not just say bills included if ou are doing this it should say bills included up to £(gas + elec + water) etc.
Get a smart meter first too because then you can see the eneryu consumption all from the smart meter app!
i just set them a monthly limit (in £) based on old tennants bills
Thanks all for the responses.
Hello John,
If you are determined to have bills included in the rent, then I would recommend switching to fixed utility tariffs. This way, there will never be any excesses in the normal run of play. To be sure, I would also include a clause stating that any excess bills charged to the property from a utility company covering a period of inhabitation by the tenants is to be paid by the tenants on a pro-rata basis. I.e. if the bill is £100 for a 12 month period, only 6 months of which the tenant was in the property, then they must pay £50.
Best regards,
Simon