Advice needed - Newbie - Rental Property sub divided

[sparks]

Afternoon all,

Just to advise i'm Sonny new to the forum and was hoping to get some information on my rental property.

I have purchased a end terrace victorian house which is sub divided into 5 independant studio/maisonettes.

The property has always been rented out on an all inclusive basis including gas/electric and water.

*gas supplies have been seperated and are fine for the 2 flats that use gas
*water is off one main supply for the complete property

*electric is the problem as this has always been paid via electric top up through n - power and this has been included in the rents.

I want to seperate the electric to each flat.

I need a new supply for 1st floor maisonette
1 need 3 new supplies for 3 self contained studio flats

The original supply for the house under the stairs electricity is fine for the flat on the ground floor front flat. This is the main point the previous landlord used to come in too the property and top up from.
I feel its not very conveinient though, as you have to make sure your tennant is home so you can put electric in for the whole premesis and its not very good for privacy.

I have spoken to a local electric person who has advised I need scotish and southern electric to fit new supplies.
I wanted to know if this is correct as i have has a site visit from an engineer or scotish and southern electric and he has advised its going to cost £3000 in my written quote i've had posted to me?

I am not sure exactly how the works would be done but i remember being advised a loop for 1st floor flat, and new sub main in end terrace alley for 3 studios on ground floor.

Is it a requirement that i must go through with scottish southern electric or can i get the job completed by an independant electrician and then contact n-power so they can put there own electric prepay key meters on the additional 4 supplies that have created?

As I say, i think its just a bit of a mess and not very user friendly and with the cost of energy going up, i would rather seperate the electric so the tennant has there own responsibility for this.

Thankyou in advance

Kind Regards

Sonny

 

[malcolmsanford]

Hi Sonny welcome to the Forum

There is every possibility that SSE will allow you to get a contractor in to run sub mains to each flat and terminate these subs into a mutli fused board call a ryefield.

After he as tested these sub mains, and most likely the rest of the house and submitted a report to SSE they will send an engineer out, with the meter supplier and connect them.

If I read your post correctly is the 3k you were quoted for supply, installation of all your new meters. If that is the case then 3k for 4 meters in West London ............snap their hands off

 

[sparks]

hi malcolm,

the offer of 3k is for me to excavate all down the side of the house for them to place there wire in and place a conduit of some sort for them to run the wires through.

once they have laid all wiring etc i will need to contact n - power who will then come and fit the meters at each new point

 

[drew35]

3k sounds very reasonable to me.

 

[ayjay]

ive installed submain supplys into old buildings that were being converted into flats in the past, i used concentric cable, the electricity authority fitted the meters in the cupboard by the service head&fitted a c/out into each flat.
each flat would need to be separately wired to its own c/unit though(thats expensive)

btw, each flat should have its own water supply and meter(thats expensive!)also fire regs apply so everthing needs to conform , also a f/alarm needs to be present

 

[sparks]

Hi guys thankyou for all your speedy responses. The flats/maisonettes have no common areas. So from the main street each door goes straight into each flat and the same applies down the side alleyway of the house, so theres no common area at all.
Each flat has its own individual wiring and consumer unit and each have there own toilet/shower and kitchen areas.
Each flat also have there own hard wired smoke alarms.
The two flats with gas supplies ground and 1st floor maisonettes have there own gas meters and supplies.

So its just the electric that needs sorting as it stands.

I have been advised by a local estate agent that some of the properties they have on their books are fitted with sub meters which are topped up with car park like tickets. Am i right in saying that the tennant has to purchase the eletric from myself if i fitted this system or can they pay n-power direct for the electricity.

thanks in advance folks

 

[londonlec]

UKPN want £2000 PER supply on a job I'm working on, so yes bite their hands off!

 

[Richard Burns]

You can get coin or card operated meters that you could get an electrician to fit to each flat before each consumer unit
Card operated would have little "parking ticket" cards that have a predetermined value that can be used to top up the credit on each meter.
You buy a stock of the cards and the tenants buy them from you for their face value. They then top up the meter as required.

Coin operated ones, just put pound coins in to top up and you would empty the meters periodically.

Since the flats have run OK before they should be OK now, but it would be worth just checking the supply characteristics to ensure you are not overloading the main incomer.

£3000 is a reasonable price for adding four new supplies, just check if there is an additional cost for installing the meters.
You would also need an electrician to reroute the supply cables to each flat.