Cable and Phone for Tenants - should i pay

I rent out an apartment and my tenant called me to say he was sending on to me the bills for Cable connection (€100) and Phone line Connection (€120).

Maybe im wrong but i would have though that it was up to him if he wanted
to get cable and phone?

I have looked through the rental agreement and there is nothing regarding connection fees it just states that the tenant must pay all utilities.

Should i pay for the connections If i do am i setting a precedent for future connections eg broadband etc?

I think it would be most irregular for a landlord to pay these connection fees. If you want to pay them as a gesture of goodwill you could make clear that you won't be paying any other fees (like broadband) that might come up in the future.
Unless the person is a foreigner who doesn't know what the setup in Ireland is it seems to me that they're just having a laugh. If they're trying to get away with you paying these fees I wouldn't be surprised if they leave without paying the bills either.

These are once-off charges related to the initial connection of what are essentailly basic services (phone and television). If you tried to rent a house without these services, you wouldn't get much interest.

I'm with the tenant on this one. Why should he for serviecs that ultimately increase the desirability of the house you own. He's paying out for the benefit of all future tenants. Why should he?

Recurring costs asscoaited with these services are of course another matter, but the initial ones should relate to the homeOWNER only.

Magoo, while I'd probably agree with your point that these would nowadays be considered to be basic services (although I'm not convinced myself that cable is) if these were not in place when the tenant agreed to rent the place and there was no agreement for the landlord to organise them then I wouldn't necessarily think of it as a given that the tenant shouldn't pay for something he had organised himself. For a start he really shouldn't have gone ahead and done it without informing the landlord first.

Sadmak, try contacting Threshold to see what they say - they generally work on behalf of tenants but should be able to advise you. In the interests of peace and holding on to your tenant you might want to pay these bills but at the very least it would be a good idea to make sure (in writing) that the tenant understands that any further costs he intends to incur without your prior agreement must be borne in full by him.

Just to add that I've been renting for about eight years now (five different places in various parts of Dublin) and when looking for a place to live it was often a deciding factor if the phone and cable weren't connected as when questioned the landlords all said that if we wanted to get them connected there was no problem but it would be at our own expense.

Sadmak, you should also ensure now that the bills are in the tenants name and that there is a clause in the lease agreement that they must transfer those bills to your name when leaving the premises in such a way that they pay any extra costs incurred to do this. As far as I know or at least in my experience this is a standard paragraph in most leases.

I'm with farmer on this.

I thought it was normal to cancel existing phone and electricity accounts (which should be in the departing tenants name after all) when a tenant leaves a property.

If I was renting somewhere and the phone line was in my name I would be sure to cancel the account before leaving to avoid having any nasty bills arrive a month or two after I left.

The corollary of this is that I would also expect that the phone line and and other subscription services would be disconnected before I moved in somewhere because the previous tenant had done what I would do - cancel the bills in his name.

A landlord who goes ahead and has services reconnected *in his name* while awaiting the arrival of a new tenant is asking for trouble with unpaid bills.

I would disagree that either phone line rental or cable are essentials these days. A lot of people have dispensed with land lines entirely since they rely so heavily on their mobiles and some (admittedly not many) manage to survive with either no TV or simply the 4 Irish channels picked up with an antenna, plus DVDs and videos.

z

of course the tennant should pay-you did not ask for or use the services he requested in his name now -did you?
he is trying it on,

To actually have a phone and cable connection installed, I think it is reasonable for the landlord to pay, but of course have all the bills in the tenants name. If there has to be a reconnection charge paid in the future, that is up to the tenants. But for an initial connection, I don't see the harm in the tenant asking. You can of course say no, I'm sure you're well within your rights.

zag said:

I'm with farmer on this.

I thought it was normal to cancel existing phone and electricity accounts (which should be in the departing tenants name after all) when a tenant leaves a property.

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The query was not in relation to recuring accounts. It related to the initial once-off charge associated with the connection to a service. This benefits all future tenants of a property, so there's a reasonable case for why the landlord shoud cough up.

Ultimately, it depends on what services the landlord wants to have installed in his property as a means of making it attractive to rent. presumably, he's happy to make the initial charges for installation of electricty and gas so why not the phone servoce at least.

Granted, the cable tv is less of a necessity, but it's ultimately a question of whether you, as a landlord, think you could rent the place without it. That's ultimately your call and no-one else's.

You can't just say that because something is more attractive to future tenants that the landlord should pay. If the tenant takes it upon himself to make it more attractive then that's his business. There's no end to the improvements he could make and then expect the landlord to foot the bill.

I've always paid these for properties I was letting out - no big deal and as Janet says creates greater level of interest from prospective tenants. Oh and you can charge it against you tax bill...... pay up!


Roy

Landlord doesn't have to pay, the tenant requested them. But really the tenant shouldn't have got them installed without clearing it with the landlord. Would the landlord have to pay if the tenant decided to pay for other services, like a cleaner. Or what if got Bord Gais to connect into the accomodation? The tenant shouldnt do any of this kind of thing if it impacts the accomodation after the tenant has moved out. Although I suppose the tenant could just cancel the connections after.

The landlord could suggest paying half of it as a gesture of goodwill, it does make the accomodaion more appealing when renting it out in the future.

At the very least, the tenant should have cleared this before ordering. They certainly don't have any right to assume that they can pass on the payment.

Seagull said:

At the very least, the tenant should have cleared this before ordering. They certainly don't have any right to assume that they can pass on the payment.

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That's very true.

What if the next tenants don't want a phone does the landlord have to keeep paying the line rental!! If he gets it disconnected then will they have to pay for reconnection when another tenant wants it. The tenant took on the property knowing there was no cable or phone If they really wanted phone and cable they didn't have to take the property. Also they should not have put in the cable or phone without the landlords permission. DONT PAY THEM