Unfair terms
A renter new to London asked whether he could be evicted for placing a sofa-bed in the sitting room of his one bedroom flat. His tenancy agreement specifies that he may not bring in additional furniture.
But as long as his sofa-bed (or any piece of furniture) complies with fire safety standards and does not block any doorway or exit route, the landlord cannot reasonably object. We only buy what furniture we need, after all. In this case, as the flat is plenty big enough, it looks like an unreasonable clause. As such, the clause is not enforceable so can be ignored. The same rental contract also states that guests are not permitted to stay for longer than two nights consecutively. But he wants to treat his mother to a week in London for her birthday (which is why he needs a sofa-bed).
When you rent a space, be it a room, a flat or a house, you have ‘exclusive occupation’ of that space. You must not allow or invite anyone else to live there without the landlord’s agreement but the landlord cannot dictate who may or not visit, nor for how long, without undermining your right to ‘quiet enjoyment’.
‘Quiet enjoyment’ of the home you rent is a centuries-old covenant; an implied term which applies to all rental agreements. It exists whether or not it is specified in a written contract. It means that you are entitled to live in the property without undue interference—’without interruption’— from the property owner/landlord/their agent.
A clause in your tenancy agreement is ‘unfair’ if it offers you less than your rights in law. You can disregard an unfair clause because it is legally unenforceable. That does not nullify the whole rental contract; just the unfair clause or clauses.
Your rights in relation to the gas meter
We’ve all heard the bad news about how energy bills will rise by over 50% in April. It’s a worrying prospect, at best. But last month, a renter—let’s call her Efua—got in touch because her utility bills look much too big already.
Efua moved to her current address last August. An experienced renter, she knows that reading utility meters on the day you take responsibility for the bills is essential. Ideally, you take photos of those first readings, too. After that, submitting regular meter readings will ensure that you are paying the right amounts as you go along.
The meters for Efua’s flat, which is in a house conversion, are locked in a cupboard in the communal hallway. Standard keys for meter boxes and cupboards are widely available and Efua has her own keys. But the lock on this meter cupboard has been changed to what looks like a Chubb.
Efua texted the landlord to request a copy of the key so that she could read the meters. He texted back to say that he would do it for her and true to his word, arrived within a couple of hours. This landlord, who owns the whole building, emerged from the cupboard with two rows of digits scribbled on a square of paper. He promised to do the same a month later, which he did.
Efua submitted the readings to the utilities company (the same provider she had been paying at her previous address). After the second month, she was shocked to receive notification that her monthly direct debit would double, to reflect her useage.
This was only the very start of last Autumn. It seemed incredible to Efua that she and her husband could have consumed so much energy between them. The EPC rating of D on their flat is not good but even so, both work long shifts at local hospitals. They aren’t at home much.
It is possible—but highly unlikely—that one or either of the utility meters is faulty. It’s not at all simple to establish whether or not a meter is accurate but if you think your meter readings are very wrong, contact your energy supplier. If you are unhappy with their response, you have the right to request an independent test of your meter. Although this test is free, if your meter is found to be working correctly, you may have to pay your energy supplier for organising it.
But Efua suspects something different. She thinks that the locked meter cupboard contains fewer meters than the number of flats in the house.
Where there is a gas supply, you should have access to the meter for safety reasons. This right is laid down in The Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998. Section 13 (3) states that “No person shall install a meter in a meter box provided with a lock, unless the consumer has been provided with a suitably labelled key to that lock.”
And s.13 (4) says “No person shall install a meter within a meter compound which is capable of being secured unless the consumer has been provided with a suitably labelled key for that compound.”
For electricity meters, the safety issue is probably much less acute. Still, if your name is on the bill, you should be able to access the meter.
But what can you actually do if the landlord or their agent ignores the law? It may be that your energy supplier will be able to offer some advice, over the phone. Otherwise, you should know that the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) runs a Gas Safety Advice Line, available between 0900h and 1730h from Monday to Thursday and from 0900h until 1700h on Fridays. The service is closed at weekends and on Public Holidays. The Gas Safety Advice Line is a freephone 0800 300 363.