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I’m currently renting a spare room in a three-bedroom flat in London, which costs £900 a month.
My landlord lives in the property with his partner and made me sign a lease when he accepted my offer on the Spareroom rental platform.
Everything was fine except my landlord recently sent me a bill for my share of the heating bills, council tax, water bill, wifi, TV license and service charge.
I was willing to pay most of these, but the inclusion of the service charge really threw me off as it is by far the largest cost and I didn’t realize I was required to pay it.
When I asked about it via text, my landlord responded with a clause in the lease and it says it includes the service charge. He also sent me a spreadsheet of all the costs. It showed the service charge cost £3,600 a year, which divided by three equals £1,200 each.
The lease contract clause states:
Profits and expenses: Tenant shall pay a reasonable and proportionate contribution (based on usage) of all charges for gas, electricity, oil, water, sewage, telephone (including line rental), council tax (or any similar property tax that may apply). charged in addition to it), any television license or other services used at the Property.
Does including “other services” really mean I have to pay a third of the service charge? What would you advise me to do in this situation?
Tenuous link: The landlord attempts to claim a clause which states that the tenant will pay a reasonable and proportionate contribution for other services used in the property to mean service charge.
Ed Magnus from This is Money responds: This is a fairly specific request from your landlord. Typically, the tenant does not pay the service charge.
Your landlord is likely to be a tenant or a freehold owner with an established management company.
Most tenants, especially those in purpose-built apartment blocks, will have to pay a service charge, which goes towards maintaining the building and communal areas.
This may include the costs of building insurance, cleaning, gardening, communal area repairs, surveyor fees, fire risk assessments and managing agent fees.
For some purpose-built apartments, it can sometimes include things like a gym, concierge and parking, for example.
The landlord may try to argue that the reference to “other services” in the contract would imply that you are also responsible for paying your share of the service charge.
But this seems quite harsh and even a little absurd.
To begin with, they should have specifically stated that this referred to the service charge and made it clear in the lease.
Stating that “other services” relate to services paid for through the service charge seems like a fairly tenuous link.
Secondly, the landlord should have explained from the beginning how the service charge is organized and the costs involved. After all, this is what the owner or the management company should have done for them.
The request for a service charge seems even more unfair and unreasonable given that it is also the largest cost charged outside of the rent itself.
The best thing to do is to discuss this diplomatically with your landlord. Explain that this was not something you expected to pay for and is not something a landlord has asked you to pay for in the past.
However, if your landlord refuses to budge, you may need to find a way to get out of the lease early.
Of course, this could lead to further complications, especially if you have paid a deposit or signed a fixed-term lease.
For expert advice, we spoke to Carolina Preist, partner and head of real estate disputes at RWK Goodman and Al Mcclenahanfounder of the nonprofit organization Justice for Tenants.
Are they required to pay a portion of the service charge?
Caroline Preist, partner and head of property disputes at RWK Goodman, says that although it is normal to share heating costs and council tax. Paying service charge is not normal
Caroline Preist responds: What you have to pay for your accommodation is based on the agreement you have with your landlord.
I assume that in your agreement the “property” means the apartment. Typically, you would share the heating costs, municipal taxes and expenses related to the occupation of the apartment.
Service charges are amounts that the owner must pay to the owner or manager of the block in which the flat is located and will include a contribution towards repair and maintenance, insurance, management fees, gardening, etc. of the block.
These are not services used at the property and therefore you should not be charged.
Al Mcclenahan responds: The clause does not specify that contributions must be made to cover the building service charge. I am clear that there is no obligation to pay the service charge.
Service charges are generally made to maintain the value of the property by making improvements throughout the block; A tenant is rarely expected to pay for it.
If a tenant is expected to pay a service charge, this should be clearly stated in the tenancy agreement. That’s not the case here.
Al Mcclenahan, founder of Justice for Tenants, says the tenant is not responsible for the service charge.
What should they do?
Caroline Preist responds: Your position, as you share accommodation with your landlord, is that of an “excluded occupier”, more commonly called a tenant, and as such you have very few rights, certainly fewer than a tenant would have. You may be asked to leave on relatively short notice, so keep that in mind.
My opinion would be that you explain this to the owner and only pay the expenses related to the apartment.
However, as I said, you have very few protections as a tenant and it would be easy for your landlord to tell you to leave if you don’t agree.
The landlord will not need a court order and if you do not leave he can change the locks to exclude you. So it’s a tough choice for you.
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