Can you get a smart meter changed back if your tenants fitted it without permission?
Probably not, in most cases. If your tenants pay the energy supplier directly, the decision about the meter generally sits with them, not you. Ofgem's guidance is blunt about it: a tenant who pays for the gas or electricity in a rented property can choose to have a smart meter, and where a tenancy agreement says the landlord's permission is needed to alter metering, the landlord "should not unreasonably prevent it".
So the honest starting point for landlords is that the meter swap itself is rarely reversible by right, even where the tenant skipped a permission clause. What you can do is more limited and practical, and this guide covers it.
Who actually owns the meter?
Not you, and not the tenant. Gas and electricity meters belong to the energy supplier (or its metering agent), which is why neither party can simply rip one out or demand a specific model. When your tenants asked their supplier for a smart meter, the supplier exchanged its own equipment at its own cost. That's also why "changing it back" isn't a repair issue under the tenancy: nothing belonging to the property has been damaged or removed.
That matters for deposit thinking too. A supplier-fitted meter exchange isn't tenant damage, so trying to charge the cost of swapping it back to a deposit would be very hard to justify.
Does it matter that your tenancy agreement required permission?
A little, but less than most landlords hope. Many agreements contain a clause requiring the tenant to get consent before altering the metering or supply arrangements. If your tenants ignored that clause, they've arguably breached the agreement.
Two problems follow, though. First, Ofgem's position is that such clauses can't be used to unreasonably block a meter change, and refusing a standard smart meter installation with no specific reason would likely be seen as unreasonable. Second, even where there's a technical breach, the remedy has to be proportionate. A court deciding a possession claim on the "breach of tenancy" ground weighs whether eviction is reasonable, and a supplier-fitted meter that caused no damage is a weak foundation. Since 1 May 2026 there's no Section 21 route around that assessment, because the Renters' Rights Act 2025 abolished no-fault notices in England.
Where the clause does help is with communication: it gives you a fair basis to remind tenants to tell you before changing anything about the supply, and to ask the supplier's paperwork to be passed on.
When does the landlord get to decide?
When you pay the energy bills. If the property is let with bills included, or it's an HMO where you hold the supplier accounts, the decision to have a smart meter fitted is yours, per Ofgem's guidance. In that situation a tenant shouldn't have arranged an exchange at all, and you can take it up with the supplier directly as the account holder.
If the tenants are the bill payers, the account, and the choice, is theirs while the tenancy runs.
What can you actually do now?
A few realistic options:
- Talk to the tenants first. Ask why they wanted the smart meter. Usually it's for accurate bills, prepay top-ups from a phone, or a cheaper tariff. None of those harm your interests.
- Ask the supplier about your options at tenancy end. When the tenancy ends and you take over the account between lets, you become the bill payer and can discuss metering with the supplier. Be aware that suppliers are rolling out smart meters across the board and are generally unwilling to refit traditional meters, so a swap back may not be offered.
- Check the installation was done properly. Installations are carried out by the supplier's approved engineers. If anything looks wrong, boxing damaged or cables loose, complain to the supplier, who is responsible for its own contractor's work.
- Update your paperwork. For future tenancies, keep a metering clause but phrase it as "tell us before changing the metering" rather than an outright permission requirement, which Ofgem's guidance undercuts anyway.
What we'd steer you away from is serving notice over it. Under the post-May 2026 grounds regime you'd need to show a breach serious enough that a judge finds eviction reasonable, and a smart meter installation is unlikely to get close.
Does a smart meter disadvantage the landlord at all?
Generally no, and it can help. The meter still records consumption the same way; smart functionality just sends readings automatically. Between tenancies you'll get accurate opening and closing readings without visiting the property, void-period bills become exact rather than estimated, and any future tenants who prefer prepay can usually have the same meter switched to prepayment mode without another exchange.
One thing worth checking is whether the meter is operating in "smart" mode with the current supplier. Some older-generation meters lose smart functionality after a supplier switch and behave like traditional meters until updated. That's a supplier issue, not a tenant one.
One more angle worth knowing as a landlord: none of this touches your own legal duties over the electrical installation. You still need the fixed installation inspected at least every 5 years with the report given to tenants, and the installations for the supply of electricity still have to be kept in repair and proper working order under section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985. A supplier's meter exchange doesn't change either duty, and if the installation around the meter was already tired, the engineer's visit sometimes surfaces that. Treat any comment on the installation's condition as an early warning rather than an annoyance.
What's the position for tenants reading this?
If you pay the energy bills, you can ask your supplier for a smart meter. Check your tenancy agreement first, and tell your landlord before the installation if the agreement mentions metering, because it keeps the relationship clean and Ofgem itself recommends letting the landlord know. Your landlord shouldn't unreasonably refuse, and fitting one doesn't put your deposit at risk when the work's done by the supplier's engineer.
The short version for both sides: the bill payer chooses the meter, the supplier owns it, and a polite conversation resolves this quicker than any legal route.