|
|
Question Title: Telephone service charge
| Question: 49 |
| A tenant has moved into a new house that we are letting and is asking that the landlord pays for connection of the telephone and TV aerial services. The tenant, in supporting this claim, said that they had assumed that these services would be available in the property because the BT and aerial socket points were present in the property (but, unknown to the tenant, not physically connected). The landlord says that he is not responsible for these costs, who is correct ?
|
| Answer: |
| There is no general principle that landlords are legally obliged to provide such services. Whether the landlord is contractually liable depends on what is stated in this respect in the tenancy agreement and what was said or offered when the property was let. If, as we are to assume on the information presented, the landlord made no claims as to the availability, or otherwise, of telephone or TV services (this was, we understand, an assumption that the tenant made on his own part), then it is unlikely that the landlord could be held responsible for the connection costs. However, from a general fairness point of view, a good solution might be to suggest that the landlord compromises and pays 50% of the relevant installation costs - the landlord and many future tenants will, after all, also be receiving benefit from these services, once connected.
|
|
References:
|
Pages:
|
Hyperlinks:
|
For more information, discuss on the Forum
|
|
