Landlord body, the British Property Federation (BPF), has expressed satisfaction with the results of a major review of water charging. Last year, it was proposed that landlords could face being automatically liable for the unpaid water bills of their tenants. However, following intervention by the BPF and other landlord organisations, the NLA and RLA, this threat has now been avoided.

The review concluded that there should now be an obligation on landlords to notify water companies of changes in tenancy, and only then if failing to do so, would any liability flow. The water companies in turn should be obliged to make the notification process as easy as possible. Andrew Sainsbury of Go Letting Agents in Leeds, commented “all our landlords are in safe water.  All utility companies are always informed when a new tenancy starts, thus avoiding any liability for water bills for our clients”.