UK Landlord Forum / Life

Hi, im hoping someone can shed some light on this ..

I moved into a property 4 years ago, it was a new build built by the landlord himself. I registered all the utilites, even had a tv point/phone point put in as these had not been installed during the build. After a few years it turned out that i was only paying for electric, not gas and electric as i'd thought ( i thought my husband was dealing with the utilities/he thought i was and a direct debit was set up so caused no real issues) any way when i discovered this i called all the providers to find who was responsible for the gas and failed to find out who was in charge of the source. I even called a central hotline that can apparently do a search but could not find out who was resibile for it, or who i should pay.
We shortly after moved out of the property and the landlord is refusing to give us our deposit back until the bill is settled. I can completely understand why he is doing this but i have explained that outstanding bill is our liability, the energy companies lodge the debt on us as a person- not a property. He now has new tenants in and they have since registered the gas.
What im asking is was it the landlords responsibility to register the Gas when he built the property ? it seems a gas meter was fitted but never registered - another thing he kindly left for us to do. I do understand it is our responsibility as tenants to register the utilities but how can i if the meters have never been registered when built ?

Use it  and pay for it.

Its your fault.

Err, yes i am most definitely paying for it. Problem is WE have to pay NOT landlord as debt is with us. I cant pay without the £2.5K he is holding of ours!!

Ah yes I see now sorry.

In effect he is holding the money until the bill is paid and you cant pay the money without the deposit.

That is a proper catch 22.

I can agree with both your points of view on this.

Ummmm, how much is it? Can't you give the payslip to the landlord so that he can pay it, and deduct it from the deposiit?