Bills at the end of your tenancy

Settling bills

• Tell your suppliers close to when you move. The best way to do this is usually to visit their website and complete an online form. Make sure you have meter readings and your forwarding address handy.

• When advising the company that you are moving, they will probably ask if you know who the new occupier will be. Please do not say Oxford Brookes University. We will not be responsible for bills after your contract ends: the property owner/ the new tenants will.

• Establish how you are going to apportion the costs among housemates. If someone moved out early, they will still be liable for standing/ fixed charges, but it would be unfair to charge them for usage of electric and hot water if they weren't there. 

Moving out early

Your liability for bills remains until your tenancy end date, even if you move out early.

However, where particular bills are based on usage, we encourage remaining housemates to take account of this.

Broadband- Split evenly

The contract is for the house, so should probably be split evenly

Gas- Standing charge only, unless you have a hot water tank

This usually provides heating and hot water, so we can break it down a bit more:

1. Hot water- if you have a hot water tank, which needs to be heated entirely even if you are not there using showers, there will be an unavoidable cost- so we would recommend splitting this evenly. Otherwise, where there is no tank, the person leaving will not be using hot water, so should not need to contribute.

2. Heating- you need to heat the whole house, so it seems right that the absent party should make a contribution despite not being there to benefit from it. However, this will generally only be applicable in the colder months (November to April), as the heating is usually not necessary otherwise. So we would suggest anyone leaving after April does not need to contribute to costs for heating.

3. Cooking- if you have a gas hob, it will use comparatively little gas compared to heating and hot water, to the extent that it is not really worth considering in a calculation.

4. Standing charges- this will be payable regardless of usage.

Summary: split evenly if you have a hot water tank, only split standing charges if you do not.

Electric- Standing charge only

This is more straightforward- it will primarily be based on consumption, so may be fairer to only split the standing charge.

Water- Standing charge only

Bills based on a meter readings will be based on usage, however there will be a standing charge which should be split evenly.

If you like, you can use the form below to help you calculate an early leaver's contribution (go to File> Make a copy)

If your housemate won't pay their share

Paying your bills is a shared responsibility of tenants. Ensure you have evidence (e.g. emails, text messages) to demonstarate that you have brought the debt to your housemate's attention and done all you reasonably can to pursue the debt.

If you still don't make progress, you can get in touch with us for further advice.