UK Landlord Forum / Life

Hi guys I hope someone can help me

I have a flat in a residential building (lease holder).. Communal energy company is providing the Gas/Electric to the whole building and have signed contract with the management company i.e. no one can change suppliers.. one of my tenants left the flat without clearing the final bill. the bills have been tenants name however the energy company has been chasing me for the payment as I am the lease holder i.e. in there opinion I am liable for the payment.. they are now threating legal action etc

questions i have are

1. can a energy company do this ? I have a legal contract with the tenant which states they are responsible for the bills, the bills were in the tenants name and there is a history of them paying the bills until the last bill
2. now that I know this is a problem can I request a secondary deposit (in addition to the rental deposit) for the bills to make sure tenants can't leave without clearing e.g a tenant can never pay the bill and any deposit I will hold might not be enough to cover the bill plus the fact that deposit is security against the safekeeping of the flat

any help will be greatly appreciated
Thanks

1. Not usually. If the bill was in the Tenant's name? And meter readings were taken at the beginning and end of tenancy and the utility company was informed... and the tenancy agreement clearly states the Tenant is liable for bills... then they cannot just 'escalate' the matter to the next level of authority... you didn't use the product they sold, the Tenant did - give them the forwarding address and wish them good luck. The grey area that exists here is the Management Company... but it seems like they just introduced a company... it's not like there's a form of equal apportionment happening based on division, right? It's not like - the total cost of electricity is £10,000 and there's 10 properties, therefore each property needs to pay £1,000? They each have meters and pay for what they use, right?

2. No. It isn't a problem that you need to cater for.

When I was a property manager I had properties in a building that had a contract that any unpaid bill by a tenant would come back to the owner if unpaid.  It was in the tenancy agreement that we could deduct this amount from the deposit.

So I believe it is possible for this to come back to you.  I would suggest deducting it from the deposit.