Electricity and Gas in Landlord's name

maryfred

We've been renting the same house for almost 13 yrs. The ESB and gas bill's have always been in the LL name and home address. Obviously this means that she gets the bill's first and opens them,and then drops them into us. She has occasionally marked them as overdue with a highlighter on the very rare occasion that we might not have paid the full amount,which let's be honest can happen. With all the offers around on gas and electric, I'd much prefer to have them in our own name to be able to avail of them. Also it does rankle a bit that as grown ups,someone else sees our bill's before we do. We're excellent tenants,we obviously wouldn't be there this long if we weren't.
My questions are this: Is it normal for a LL to keep a utility bill in their own name?
If she does object,is there anything I can do?
We see her very infrequently,maybe once a year,maybe less. Our rent is very reasonable and we don't want to rock the boat in any way,but our financial circumstances have changed lately and we want to make savings wherever possible.
Sorry for the long post.

athtrasna

It's very unusual for the utility bills to be in the landlord's name and usually is a flag that there may be something amiss about the tenancy. Is your tenancy registered with the PRTB? Is there any chance the landlord is trying to make it appear that they might live there in order to get around income tax on rental income?

maryfred

No,it's definitely registered. I've been claiming tax relief on my rent for years. And she's very by the book,so I don't have any worries there.

ted1

athtrasna wrote: »

It's very unusual for the utility bills to be in the landlord's name and usually is a flag that there may be something amiss about the tenancy. Is your tenancy registered with the PRTB? Is there any chance the landlord is trying to make it appear that they might live there in order to get around income tax on rental income?

If the tenancy predates the PRTB is it required to register?

OP,

You've been paying about 20% to much. Change the Bulls to your name and then in a years time change your provider again

athtrasna

Have you asked if you can change them to your name then?

maryfred

We haven't asked yet,just wanted to know if it was usual for them not to be in our name. We are the registered tenants for Irish Water so I'm assuming it's more or less the same. She can be a bit odd over things but as I said our rent is very reasonable and we don't see her that much which suits us grand.

maryfred

ted1 wrote: »

If the tenancy predates the PRTB is it required to register?

Don't know about this but we've got the letter from the PRTB to say it's registered.

athtrasna

With utilities the simple motto is "user pays". Most people wouldn't be happy paying a bill in the name of someone who didn't live there, I certainly wouldn't be. Technically you can open a new account without the landlord's consent but in the interest of good relations it may be better to flag it with her first.

maryfred

athtrasna wrote: »

With utilities the simple motto is "user pays". Most people wouldn't be happy paying a bill in the name of someone who didn't live there, I certainly wouldn't be. Technically you can open a new account without the landlord's consent but in the interest of good relations it may be better to flag it with her first.

This is my thinking. We'll have a chat and see how things go. Thanks for your help.☺

April 73

Your LL does things by the book, rarely bothers you and you are paying a reasonable rate. Sounds pretty ok to me.
Yes you are entitled to have the bills in your name & to be able to avail of switching offers.
However be prepared that the best deals are on offer for paperless billing & direct debit payments. As tenants you may also have to pay a chunky deposit. Why not do your research first with the utility companies so you know what you are letting yourself in for & then speak to your LL. She may inadvertently be doing you a favour!

Mrs OBumble

Agree with the last poster.

But if you move somewhere else in future, be aware that on move-in day you should be taking meter readings yourself, and organising to get the bill in your name.

If I was the LL, I would be wanting to get your debt into your name: at the moment, you can negatively affect the LL's credit rating and there's not a lot she can do about it.

ted1

April 73 wrote: »

Your LL does things by the book, rarely bothers you and you are paying a reasonable rate. Sounds pretty ok to me.
Yes you are entitled to have the bills in your name & to be able to avail of switching offers.
However be prepared that the best deals are on offer for paperless billing & direct debit payments. As tenants you may also have to pay a chunky deposit. Why not do your research first with the utility companies so you know what you are letting yourself in for & then speak to your LL. She may inadvertently be doing you a favour!

But there probably paying 20% extra in their bills as there not getting the discounts, also depending who there with the landlord is collecting their tesco points.

April 73

Quite possibly.
So that's exactly why I said the OP needs to do their research first to understand the pros & cons of getting the bills in their name.
The OP may be happy to pay by direct debit or pay a potential deposit in order to avail of discounts (or Tesco points) or they may not be happy to do so.

Bills are in the LL's name in our place and it suits us down to the ground. Bills arrive to our house in his name and we just open them ourselves and pay them. It saves all the hassle of changing names etc when someone moves out and they have a bill in their name etc or if I want to move out I've no bill in my name so my housemates dont have any hassle etc.

Previous places where different people had different bills in their name was nothing but hassle changing accounts everytime someone moved in or out etc.

ted1

Reyna Vast Samaritan wrote: »

Bills are in the LL's name in our place and it suits us down to the ground. Bills arrive to our house in his name and we just open them ourselves and pay them. It saves all the hassle of changing names etc when someone moves out and they have a bill in their name etc or if I want to move out I've no bill in my name so my housemates dont have any hassle etc.

Previous places where different people had different bills in their name was nothing but hassle changing accounts everytime someone moved in or out etc.

I guess its different for families renting compared to individuals renting rooms

foggy_lad

Bord Gais are doing an offer now giving a free service for switching so maybe this would help the LL deciding to allow ye have the bills in your own name.

El_Dangeroso

Both my name and my landlord's are on my ESB bill, this allows me to avail of 15% discount for paperless billing and I also have utility bills for proving my identity. The landlord gets peace of mind by being a contact on the account avoiding any hassle with unpaid bills when I move out.

Is this an option?

Patrickof

El_Dangeroso wrote: »

Both my name and my landlord's are on my ESB bill, this allows me to avail of 15% discount for paperless billing and I also have utility bills for proving my identity. The landlord gets peace of mind by being a contact on the account avoiding any hassle with unpaid bills when I move out.

Is this an option?

That actually removes any peace of mind for the LL. If his name is on the bill then he is party to the liability, so if you leave with a debt outstanding the LL is liable for the debt.

If his name isn't on the bill then the debt stays with you (not the property or the LL).

He can be a named contact on the account without having his name on the bill. But it's none of his business really.

maryfred

Just a reply to a few things.
Apart from being in control of our own bills,the main reason for changing is to save on money.
We have checked out different prices and suppliers and we could definitely make savings.
I've registered my Tesco card with our current gas provider so I'm getting the points on that.
We've been renting our house for years and without going into too much detail, we'll be here for life. So changing names when we leave is not an issue.
Also all my financial matters are paperless,it's my preferred method.

April 73

Then you should definitely ask your LL to have the bills in your name. Sounds like there is every reason to do so from your point of view.
It would be difficult for her to justify saying no.

Victor

ted1 wrote: »

If the tenancy predates the PRTB is it required to register?

Yes.

El_Dangeroso wrote: »

The landlord gets peace of mind by being a contact on the account avoiding any hassle with unpaid bills when I move out.

If the bill is in the tenant's name, no liability attaches to the landlord.

fasttalkerchat

I would leave it. I anything happened that you fell into arrears it keeps your credit score protected.

CreepingDeath

I'm surprised that the landlord didn't switch the utility bills into your name.

We rented out the wifes house for a while privately, and were blessed that I said they should switch the bills into the renters name.
He was a fisherman, off for weeks, and somehow ran up a Gas bill of over €1000 in one billing period.... must've left the heat on constantly.

Definitely leaves the landlord exposed to any unpaid bills.

Luckily Bord Gais had to chase the renter, who left no forwarding address.... or rent.