UK Landlord Forum / Life

Hi,

During my research, I read somewhere that you could add a clause in your AST for the following sorts of things (these are made up charges £):

Tenant to re-direct all mail to their new address - failure to do so incurs a £25 admin deduction from deposit
Tenant to inform all utility companies of their new address - failure to do so incurs a £10 admin deduction from deposit per utility company

I have read your guide and am going to send out a "responsibilities" sheet 2 weeks before they're due to leave, so they would also be re-informed of their responsibilities here too.

Can you do this?

The only reason I would ever want to put it in is to make sure they actually did it....I don't want the hassle of ringing round chasing people. It's not to take their money.

It's your job to inform utilities and Council. Even better if they do it too, but you are taking meter readings aren't you, otherwise how do you know what anyone is liable for? Unwise to absolve yourself of this responsibility.

For mail, why not set it at £25 per letter? Including junk mail. You could even send some letters yourself to bulk up the penalty. It's a fantastic idea... just feels a bit wrong. But, then, I have morals... so it would do.

I repeat, it's not the money I'm bothered about.

I just want to make sure they're fulfilling their responsibilities where they can and I know the fear of a charge would probably make them do it.

Point taken about council tax and meter readings, though I am going to encourage them to do the ringing round.

I am planning to upload everything I am preparing to do / give the tenant on here for you guys to have a look at and feedback your thoughts. I have been working on it on and off over the last couple of months, almost there.

I repeat... it's your responsibility to do meter readings and inform suppliers. Also, confused why you would not want to control this... seems stupid.

I always feel uncomfortable with this amount of micro management.

wood for the trees, bigger picture etc

Can't believe this was one year ago.

Looking back on this, I've still not had anyone leave yet...!