Updating post from Reddit.
Not one of mine but an acquaintance. He has had a number of HMOs for the longest time. Bills included.
Recently at one house one of the tenants bought a new electric car and charges it off a house socket or similar. Yup - it's REALLY slow to charge but when you leave it plugged in 24/7 out the window it has sent the electricity bill through the roof.
Tenant has been there for 10+ years before EVs were really serious and says 'there's nothing in the contract saying not to' (although I have not seen the contract).
While I see a boot out coming I was wondering if anyone has stipulations in their tenancy agreements against such use of communal power? or specifically against charging EVs?
If you did have a power / wall charger installed can you somehow turn it into a 'paid' charger? Not for profit but literally a car of 'yeah you can charge your car but scan the QR code and you pay Octopus directly'.
Make the energy bill not included.
A hard thing to do when everyone is in a contract with bills included.
...and it doesn't solve the problem - the person would then be costing all the other tenants money while he charges his car for a fraction of the cost.
Hmmm, yes, see the point. In which case, I'd talk to the tenant directly and see if you can come to a fair agreement.
Seems it has been discussed in some places with regards to EV charging:
"Another method, which is most beneficial for communal charge points at a block but also for HMOs, is a rental app such as CoCharger.
The landlord creates a 'host' account and registers the charge point to the app. Tenants of the property then create a 'chargee' account, which can be linked to the host. The landlord sets a price per hour for the use of the charge point and tenants can book the charge point using the app."
Sounds great but will be negatively received as they have been happily getting the energy for free already
Yeah I was posting it more as an fyi rather than a solution to this problem.
Sure the guy would rather trickle charge his car for free than pay!
My comment was genuine. I do think it seems like a great solution for HMO / Inclusive properties. But the horse already bolted here.
In any case I’d say this could easily be seen as abuse of the inclusion of the bills.
LL could approach and say ‘due to the energy bill going nuts rents going up to cover it’ or threaten to
The rest of the tenants will put 2+2 together quite quickly and the situation might resolve itself
Tell the tenant they will need sign a new tenancy agreement with a fair use policy, as they are miss using the electric. Section 21 if they refuse?
There was an issue with tenants using electric to mine "bitcoin" a few years ago.
Many councils will not allow a cable across a pavement this could prevent charging
There is no clause for fair use?
If not, id suggest amending the contracts immediately and then stopping this behaviour asap.
I have a battery EV.
Unless you're doing hundreds of miles a week suggesting that pluging in an EV sends the electricity costs "through the roof" is absolute nonsense.
Charging costs are two parts of naff all.
Welcome to the 20th century, glad you could join us.
This will vary depending on the EV make and model, and also doing 200+ miles per week is really not outside the realm of possibility, that's a 20 mile commute 5 days a week. Work a town or two over from where you live, or live in a fairly rural area and you'll hit that easily.
I get your point but your personal situation may be completely different to others, and energy prices are only going up especially if you don't have an energy tariff specific for EVs.
Problem here is that tenant is not using a wall charger. Maybe there is not one at the property, or maybe the Tenant is deliberately avoiding using it. So, a pay as you use EV charger may not be the solution. Ultimately, landlords of such properties should be upgrading the electricity supplies and limiting the amount of supply .. in effect, downgrading to prevent overuse. This would also prevent abuse by, for example, coin mining computers, electric vehicle usage, and even selling of electricity to the neighbours! Before you ask, yes, that does happen!
I feel like you're entirely over-estimating how much charging a vehicle is cost you weekly....
Is there a clause in the tenancy contract that covers tenant responsibility to keep the property secure? I’d think having a window open all the time with a cable dangling out of it would breach something like that if it existed.
Slightly more costly but perhaps window replacement with windows that don’t open far enough to get the plug/socket of the charging cable through.