Utility readings are made at the start of each contract and these readings are provided to utility companies confirming the end and start readings enabling accurate allocation of consumption for set periods.

Simply tell us you want to adopt the bills package, pay a set amount each month which you add to your quarterly standing order.  Essentially once your standing order is set up just sit back and relax.  Do let us know your decision in sufficient time to arrange everything to be up and running in time for your arrival

Please can I have details of previous bills in order to calculate future costs.  Is it pretty much the same every year?

The overall cost of bills is based on average annualized figures for all houses.

If you have one of our relatively recent houses with no history of consumption it may not be possible to project the running costs.  There are web-sites available to help you project such factors as units of electricity, cubic meters of gas, water and sewage, standing charges etc.

Leydon Lettings may, between one academic year and another, install double glazing, loft insulation, cavity wall insulation to a house and other energy saving features. 

Any alteration is likely to distort previous norms. This can alter the running costs from one year to another. Leydon Lettings may renovate a house further altering the consumption,  we may also add an extension increasing the number of tenants and proportionally the consumption.

Utility charges can change making predictions at best only a guide.

One group may be frugal; another extravagant, so be careful not to rely on the past figures.

PREVIOUS GROUPS PAYING DIRECTLY RETAIN THE UTILITY BILLS -  THIS PREVENTS OUR PREDICTION OF COSTS

I do not move in straight away in September ... I am away for Easter ... etc.  I do not see why I should pay when I am not there!  Do I get a refund on the bills package?

Where you adopt the Bills Package Leydon Lettings is obliged to pay bills for your house whether or not you are in occupation including standing charges. 

The good news is, with the bills package we do not charge you additional standing charges during the summer, when you pay no bills at all if you are absent. 

Standing charges in the summer are payable for: water and sewage rates, telephone line, and meter standing charges for gas and electric. 

All these bills Leydon Lettings continue to pay in July and August regardless of your occupation as it is not practical or viable to disconnect these.

The idea of the bills package is to save everyone time calculating every miniscule unit consumed whilst providing some certainty to our student tenants so they can budget.  It is thus not administratively practical to dissect the figures to accommodate every variation, for every tenant, in every house, otherwise tenants would want reductions every week they were not in actual occupation.  E.g. Christmas, Easter, reading week and so on.  Variations would also be open to abuse with people claiming to be absent when present.  The system we have adopted is generally viewed as fair, but we do see your point and thank you for candidly stating it. 

Do we have to adopt the bills package

The good news is that, provided Leydon is not 'locked-in' to a bills package, then students do not have to adopt the bills package.  If you are responsible for your own bills then you arrange this yourselves and you would be responsible from the start of the new contract dated 1 July each year (sooner than September) and this would include the standing charges.  We think Leydon Lettings Bills Package is a good compromise to meet most students needs but we accept it is not perfect for every situation.

I am worried that if we opt out of the bills package my house-mates will insist we turn the heating off.  I do not want to live in a fridge!

This is a very valid concern.  One of the biggest causes of disputes, is the level of heating and frugal use of energy.  On one occasion we got a report of a leak in a bathroom.  When the plumber investigated he found no leak.  Finally following further reports of a leak and more call-out charges I went in person.  I examined the bathroom very carefully and could find nothing.  I spent some time investigating.  Suddenly a pool of water formed around the toilet pan.  It was the condensate from my breath forming on the cold toilet pan and running onto the floor!  The House was so cold where the tenants had opted to do their own bills due to not switching on the heating to save the cost.  We probably spent more on call out charges than the tenants spent on heating! 

Who is responsible for frozen pipes bursting and perhaps flooding the house?

There is a risk of flood damage caused by burst pipes in the event of freezing weather.  In the freezing winter of 2008 over the Christmas holiday Canterbury endured a number of burst pipes resulting in flooding with student tenants becoming homeless.  Students returned after the holiday to find water pouring out the back door, rendering houses uninhabitable for several months.  To date this has never happened to Leydon tenants, probably because the vast majority of Leydon students opt into the bills package and thus do not need to penny-pinch on heating in anticipation of receiving a large bill.  By leaving the heating on low during the holiday this ensures the pipes are not able to freeze.  When a pipe freezes the water inside becomes ice.  Ice expands causing the copper pipe to split.  When the ice melts the water inside the pipes floods the inside of the house until the main stop cock is turned off.  If you are absent during the holiday and no one knows about the leak and the water floods the house, then the damage is likely to be very severe.  Few possessions and furniture are likely to be salvageable.

The tenants losses should be protected by a tenant's own insurance.

The landlord's losses are likely recoverable via a landlords buildings insurance. 

The cause of damage may be due to lack of heating to prevent the pipes freezing.  This may be contributed to by inadequate insulation.  The depth of insulation in a loft can, ironically, prevent heat escaping upwards and into the loft and roof void.  This in turn can result in pipes freezing.  This is why Leydon Lettings ensure that all loft pipes are lagged with insulation.  The important point is: If you went home for the Christmas holiday and negligently turned the heating off; or failed to turn the heating on as per your contractual duty, then you are unlikely to receive much sympathy from a landlord who has to refurbish a house due to your negligence.  Essentially in order for a tenant to save £5 worth of gas, the landlord may suffer £50,000 in damage and lost rent.