Need some advice please...

[Sarah_Pussycat]

Hope I've got the right forum for this, it's a bit of a complicated story!

I rent a flat over a shop through a letting agent, and have been here since last October. The shop has been empty since I moved in, up until last month, when it was let (it's now a hair salon).

The first strange thing to happen was when I went to put my heating on and couldn't get any pressure in the boiler - I could hear the water going somewhere, but not into my boiler! This was while the shop was still being refurbished, so I went down to ask them if anything was flooding. It turned out they'd taken a radiator off that morning - and for the last year I've been heating the empty shop as well as my flat! (No wonder the gas bills have always been a bit high)
The workmen in the shop blocked off the pipes as soon as I let them know, and checked there wasn't anything else connected to my boiler.

Skip forward to tonight - I'm on a card meter for my electricity, and normally spend £30 - £35 a time which lasts just over a month. I ran out on Tuesday and put it on emergency - checked how much I had left tonight, and it had nearly run out - the meter was going down at 1p per minute!

The hairdressers opened for business at the weekend, and was open when I checked - and I was sort of suspecting they might be using some of my electric supply too (I checked my latest bill and it had doubled since the month before...).
When my electric ran out, I popped down to see if they still had electricity there - the lights were still on, but their heater (a big oil powered thing) and hair straighteners had stopped working. Turns out they rewired the whole place when they let it - apart from four sockets which must be connected to my supply. (They didn't know it was connected to my flat - and I believe them)

I'm going to see my letting agents on my lunch break tomorrow to see what they say, but I'm not quite sure what to do!

I know SOMEONE owes me money - but is it the hairdressers, my landlord, THEIR landlord (who is sub-letting from my landlord - told you it was complicated!) or the electricity board?

Am I entitled to anything as I was heating the empty shop which I had no access to for a year? What happens until the sockets connected to my supply are re-wired? And don't get me started on the water rates!

(I haven't had a water bill since I moved here and just left it at that - I DID ring the water board, but they told me they didn't have my flat registered as a separate property to the shop - I told the letting agents this and they said they'd sort it and I didn't hear anything more so I figured they HAD - now I'm starting to doubt it....)

HELP!

[Joa]

OK, really sticking out my neck, because utility supplies are not my forté: common sense point of view tells me that your deal is with your landlord, who then it turn can seek compensation from somewhere else. Your landlord should have made sure that he provided you with accommodation fitting certain standards and reasonable expectation- but I am floundering here, because I am not sure whether he would be under any legal obligation. I am sure someone more knowledgeable will come along shorty.

Start gathering evidence; speak to the shop workers below, get their statements and try to locate the builders who blocked off the pipes- see if they would be willing to put few words on paper. Do it now, before memory fades and people stop bothering, in case you will need to take things further.

[Sarah_Pussycat]

Thanks shall do that - the people in the shop seem decent enough, they were doing most of the refurbishment work themselves so it shouldn't be too hard to track down who did the plumbing and electrics!

I wasn't sure whether to post this here or in the utilities section - you can probably see why!

I went to see the letting agents today with a copy of my recent electricity bill (and made sure they took a copy of it) and told them the whole story - the poor bloke nearly ran out of room on his computer screen!

They're going to contact the landlord on my behalf and get back to me - I'll take it from there as soon as I hear. Hope it doesn't take too long as my landlord is notoriously difficult to get hold of!

On a positive note the hair salon has stopped using the sockets which are connected to my supply, and my meter is now ticking down at the normal rate again.

[Goldlady]

Hi Sarah, suggest you keep a weekly record of your gas usage so you can compare it to the previous months. Obviously it is now cold in case you hadn't noticed, but it still might help you if you have to argue with the landlord. Sounds like the letting agents are doing a good job and they might have the power (pardon the pun) to refund you on his behalf anyway.

[Sarah_Pussycat]

Yes I can't fault the letting agents - when I first moved in last year the boiler wasn't working, and after several failed attempts to get the landlord to send a plumber round - they sorted one out themselves and sent him the bill!

[Goldlady]

Maybe you could resolve the hairdressers' use of your electricity with a few free haircuts - if they are any good of course.

[Sarah_Pussycat]

A quick update - the letting agents have been trying to get hold of the landlord for a week now and they've had no luck (told you he was a difficult man to get hold of!).
They're still trying though, and are also going to send someone to look at my dodgy boiler! (Not dodgy as in dangerous - it just makes worrying clunking noises and doesn't always want to stay lit!)