The body of the tenancy agreement says that the tenants are responsible for paying all water, gas, electric, light and power
An additional ‘extra’ condition excluded gas, electric, water, broadband and TV licence, saying a third-party company would be managing this
The tenant emailed the agent, querying the conflicting clauses and the following communications show that the agent reaffirmed their position, saying that bills were not included in the rent and if they did not agree to pay, they would lose the house
Two days later, the agent sent an email advising that they had made a mistake and confirming that bills were included in the rent, asking all five tenants to sign and return the attached addendum
When the tenants raised the issue again, three months later, producing the agent’s email saying that bills were included in the rent as evidence, the agent did not respond
The agent was found to have fallen short of their duty of care and had acted unreasonably because:
They had advertised and marketed the property with ‘all bills included’ which was misleading and incorrect in the circumstances and all other evidence
The tenancy agreement contained conflicting clauses and was only discovered when the tenants queried them
The email with the addendum attachment also said that ‘all bills are included’
Had the agent not provided misleading and conflicting material information with their marketing materials and tenancy agreement, the tenant may have made a different decision to rent the property. With the lack of clarity and poor service, the tenants were entitled to £1000 compensation.
