News: High Electric Bills – Grove Road In Southdown, Renting In Harpenden
I’m just about to hand in my tenancy lease to Halls Residential Lettings Property Agents & Valuers who are based at 9/11 Victoria Street, St.Albans, Hertfordshire, AL1 3JJ because my 3 month electric bill is more than one months rent!
Halls manage the property I’m renting at Grove Road, Southdown, Harpenden, Hertfordshire, AL5 1PX. I’m paying rent of £500 per month for a property that could be classed as scum at best. The condition of which has nothing to do with Halls but rather the Landlord who really does not care about the flat.
The Grove Road flat was advertised at £550 late last year with new double glazed windows as a few of the single glazed windows were smashed (although only the front windows were double glazed, even though I was told the whole flat would be double glazed!). A friend of mine rents a house just up the road for the same price as I pay and that property is in so much better condition and has 3 bedrooms instead of one, but admittedly when I was looking the rent was higher.
The rental property really is the pits…
- no shower
- bath, sink, and toilet that are worse than you would expect to see in a grotty hostel
- a kitchen sink with only a plastic bag holding back the water gushing out of the pipes, and a tap that is twisted 180 degrees so you can’t even use it
- no heating, apart from one really old 1970′s gas heater that you really don’t want to use for fire and gas safety reasons! And you can see steam coming from your breath on cold nights and days
- big problems with parking at the back, it’s a fight to get a parking spot
- loads of rubbish looters from all over the place scavenging though the industrial bins at night which always makes entrances and exits from the flat interesting, especially on those dark nights!
- super thin glass windows at the back of the flat so you can hear all the bin looters at night and makes having a bath in winter a chilling experience!
- weird noises in the loft, no idea what as I was told I could not go up there for insurance reasons
- taps that leak all day and night unless you really wind them tightly!
- constant noise from the betting office located below the flat (it was once a house but converted in to a flat at some point) and they don’t close until very late a night
- noise from all the teenage kids leaving the pubs at night on the high street shouting as if they were at some football stadium
- constant traffic noise all day and all night
- a baby crying all night through the thin walls next door
- and so much more…
So, I’m really please to be leaving.
But, that’s not the main reason! The main reason I’m leaving the flat at Grove Road is because of the super high costs associated with the property, notably the electricity. Considering I don’t have heating, only switch one light on at night, and don’t have a washing machine. Would you expect a ONE bedroom property to cost £596a quarter?!?!?!?!? Well that’s what it costs and the electric is metered by Southern Electric.
The high costs could be anything such as bad wiring, inefficient water tank, shared electric with downstairs, super poor energy grade (it’s the worst grade on the energy inspection sheet), etc.. but whatever it is Southern Electric assure me that the meter readings are correct so the bills have to be paid!
Leave a Reply