Electrcity account while vacant

L

Legs

GDay,
I have a rental property that has been vacant now for 3 months +. The company who were supplying the previous tenant electricity has sent me a bill for Service to property charge of $1 per day since vacant.
I called them and they said I have to pay it. It is to keep the power infrastructure in good order. I told them I was not using any infrastructure while disconnected so I shouldn't have to pay, they disagreed.
I called the Victorian Electrical Ombudsmen, I spoke to a lady who said yes I have to pay....grrrrr.

I called the supplier back after a few more days to tell them my details, as they only had ""To The Occupier"" addressed on the bill, and spoke to a service assistant. He after speaking to his manager said I don't have to pay anything, as in Victoria it is illegal to bill the landlord of a vacant house the service fee!!!!!

Has anyone else heard of this? Or has anyone been paying this??

Cheers
legs:D
 
Interesting ...

I think a prudent landlord of a vacant property would have timer and security lights set up. Hence they would be drawing power from the grid and using the infrastructure ?

Similarly, if any devices are on standby and drawing even a tiny residual current.

Likewise, any solar panels putting power back into the grid would be using the infrastructure.

Does this rule depend upon the meter reading not changing in any way ?
 
Does your insurance company know? Check your policy. You might need to sort something out with them since the house has been vacant so long
 
Surely it is in your best interests to have the power connected. How can a tenant check out the property properly if there is now power?

And, as said, security lighting would be a good idea.

We inspected a home for sale that had the power disconnected. It was fairly late in the afternoon and quite gloomy. We could not see it properly and immediately wondered what was wrong with the property's wiring that the seller disconnected the electricity????
Marg
 
We always hook up power into my name when we are doing anything between tenants.

I wouldn't be concerned about paying $1 per day. I would be more concerned that the house is empty for more than three months.

Are you trying to find a tenant? What is the problem?

Also, the insurance issue is a biggie. You more than likely are not covered. When we've had to have a house empty for more than six weeks (unsure of the time now?) we've rung and the insurer still held us insured, but the excess went from $300 to $1000 (or some figures like that).

Silly part was that our own house was way more vulnerable as we were all but living at the IP whilst we renovated, and our own house was empty all day.

I reckon there are plenty of people on long holidays with no idea that their house is sitting empty and uninsured.
 
Legs said:
Sorry, but how does a house being vacant so long affect insurance?
Click to expand...

That's the wrong question.

The insurance companies, almost without fail, deem them to be riskier when left vacant for any length of time (determined by them) and therefore they use that as a great opportunity to either not cover you, or charge you a much higher excess if you make a claim.

Whether a house is actually more at risk is a moot point. They deem it to be, and if you wish to remain covered with insurance, then you must notify them in writing of it.

However, I reckon you are chasing the small fish and letting the whales run free. Bad move. As Wylie said, you should be more concerned about getting it leased, then this tiddler of a problem with the power bill and the extra insurance risk which you are unaware of would both disappear altogether.

Legs said:
Has anyone else heard of this? Or has anyone been paying this??
Click to expand...

Most people wouldn't of heard of this because they don't get into such a horrible pickle. They simply rent out their property to new Tenants and life rolls on.

Concentrate on the big game.
 
Legs said:
Sorry, but how does a house being vacant so long affect insurance?
Click to expand...

Some insures wont insure a property that is vacant on settlement or some has a clause that it can't be vacant for more than, say, 30 or 60 days otherwise your insurance is null and void.

For me, one of the deciding factors is how long the house can be vacant for and still be insured as we may do a 30 day reno.
 
One the insurance side of things, there are was around it.

If you disclose to your insurance company that it is vacant they are quite often happy to continue the cover but with conditions in place.

These generally include a higher excess $1000+, and simple conditions such as the power and water must be turned off, and mail and gardening attended to on a weekly basis.

The major problems arise when the extended vacancy has not be disclosed to the company
 
Kesse said:
Some insures wont insure a property that is vacant on settlement or some has a clause that it can't be vacant for more than, say, 30 or 60 days otherwise your insurance is null and void.

For me, one of the deciding factors is how long the house can be vacant for and still be insured as we may do a 30 day reno.
Click to expand...

Most companies simply want to know and will give permission.

If you are doing a reno then it may be worthwhile to sleep over for a couple of nights every now and then. Most vacancy clauses only trigger after a certain number of unoccupied days. As always, check.
Marg
 
marg4000 said:
Most companies simply want to know and will give permission.

If you are doing a reno then it may be worthwhile to sleep over for a couple of nights every now and then. Most vacancy clauses only trigger after a certain number of unoccupied days. As always, check.
Marg
Click to expand...

Some, but not all. RACQ being one. Would not insure the vacant house, no exceptions.

I also asked other insurers what is classified as unoccupied and for some staying here and there doesn't cut it and for others as long as the house is kept tidy and mail collected that's ok.

Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be a set rule, they all have their own points of difference.
 
Kesse said:
Some, but not all. RACQ being one. Would not insure the vacant house, no exceptions.

I also asked other insurers what is classified as unoccupied and for some staying here and there doesn't cut it and for others as long as the house is kept tidy and mail collected that's ok.

Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be a set rule, they all have their own points of difference.
Click to expand...

We also were told by (I'm fairly sure it was) Commbank that sleeping over here and there was not going to cut it insofar as us saying it was "occupied", but they were happy to insure it with the higher excess.
 
Wow, so many helpful ppl, but so many critical!
You dont know the circumstances re it bring empty so long, so saying I'm in a pickle, chasing small fry, etc not necessary.

It was empty due to repairs and is for sale. The agents in this town are nothing less than useless as they've all swapped agencies and when the house was tenanted it was virtually impossible to get prospective buyers through it. This was because they didn't want to speak to their old co workers, bosses etc to organise an inspection.

Therefore ive left it empty over summer and ive had a 2000% increase in inspections. Lots of interested buyers, that need to see first of course (grrrr).
It has been advertised for rent at a reasonable rate, but we have a high vacancy at the moment so no luck and I'm not concerned. I could get a lower rate but you can see my pickle if it's tenanted with the wrong tenants.

I know what I'm doing, dont stress. Maybe some people here should ask before jumping to conclusions? The original question had nothing to do with a lot of these issues. Simply a power bill
 
Oh and the insurance company knew it was empty and couldnt care less...they noted it though. No increase in anything.
 
I agree with Dazz. Concentrate on the big game.

While it can be a nuisance to fork out money for a host of little things, in this case we're talking $90 tax deductible.

In the big game, if you've chosen well, you stand to make tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars.
 
geoffw said:
I agree with Dazz. Concentrate on the big game.

While it can be a nuisance to fork out money for a host of little things, in this case we're talking $90 tax deductible.

In the big game, if you've chosen well, you stand to make tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Click to expand...

Another one... If you knew it used to be my PPOR and the time has expired and needs to sell, then you'd understand. Please leave the comments to my original question... Electricity.
 
Sheesh! We were only trying to be helpful...

You said we should not jump to conclusions, but with only half a story, isn't that kind of understandable? I think most replies were trying to help you find a tenant. If only we knew you weren't looking... but you didn't mention that.

Had you said it was empty because you were trying to sell, most of us would understand completely. Most of us here would advise having a house empty of tenants to sell.

Then you would have avoided some of the comments you didn't want or need.
 
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