UK Landlord Forum / Life

Firstly I'm not a landlord but a tenant I desperately need help. I move out in under a week and me and the other tenant have not paid the water, electricity or gas bill for the whole year... I realised this a few months in and when setting up the energy provider was not asked to change the name. this is a brand new apartment built a few months before we moved in. I've now re read the tenancy agreement which states we must have changed the name on all bills... we would get letters to our address with a different name who we didn't recognise as our landlords name however it is. we knew him as a different name but I have double checked and it is the landlords. I have tried to go online and find out the bill but can't see it or get any information as I don't have the log in details or email connected to the bill payer (landlord) I have emailed however they always take 5 plus days to reply. I am staying in the property for another year and have already re signed an agreement with a different tenant however I am worried that the old tenant who isn't staying is going to not pay her half of the utility bills for the past year and they will chase me for all of it. We used to pay rent from one account but then broke up and have been paying separately for months now. she is egnoring my messages and planning a swift exit before the landlord finds out about the bills. she has a guarantor and so do i... we also each have a £500 deposit which will be taken from us because of the bills. My question is will my landlord demand the whole bills from me as I am staying on even though it's a two bed with two people having lived there so obviously the bills were supposed to be split between us evenly. Please help with any info you have as I cannot afford the water, gas and electric bill to be paid solely by myself for the whole year we have lived here and she will not respond to messages about the bills. thanks guys I'm stressing

In a tenancy where there are >1 (in this case 2) named Tenants of adult / responsible age there's usually a clause that says something about being "jointly and severally liable" for... whatever.

This means the Landlord can seek satisfaction from either one Tenant or both together... basically it means that all parties are equally responsible for carrying out the full terms of an agreement. Now, there's another couple of parties... water, gas, electric... added into the mix, but notionally the premise stands. And morally, of course. Just because the Landlord's name is on the bill (which it definitely should not be) I think you accept that you, as consumers, are liable.

So... some thoughts... be open and direct with the Landlord and say you've not been able to handle the bills, because of their name being on the bills, and even though you've failed to notify the companies that you are resident, you haven't been opening someone else's post... now you are in this situation, what are you to do? Being open about a problem exists can often go better than you think. Secondly there is the £500 share of the Deposit from the other party that could theoretically be consumed... even your £500 share... but the Landlord won't want to run a tenancy without a Deposit being in place, so this would need to be replenished in short order.

So the other angle is talking to the companies and attempt to set up some kind of manageable payment plan. This is possible. They may try and place the property on a pay-as-you-go-meter - which you must resist, as the Landlord certainly won't like it.

I would be asking the Landlord to be available at some stage, on the phone with you, so you can phone in and talk to someone right there and then, and have the authority with you, to access the account.

Your question about whether the Landlord will demand the whole bill from you is a red-herring, I think... because the Landlord should not be liable for the bill, the Landlord should not be paying it on your behalf - you should be, but you have an admin. issue in that your name is not attached to the account - once that is resolved the issue should be between you (as responsible adult) and the companies in question. What worries me here is what else was forgotten... obviously the three utilities... but I assume you've been paying your own Council Tax and own Broadband for the year? Every company will say if you're struggling, get in touch with them... but you simply cannot until you have arranged for your name to be on the bills. I mean, this even brings into question - who took meter readings a year ago? And, if you set up the energy providers (but weren't asked to change the name) then surely they asked who you were (they must have asked who they were speaking to) - or were you happy impersonating the Landlord at the time?

The water will obviously be less than the others... so I'd likely try to reduce the number of parties involved by, possibly, paying that off in full and then worrying about the (I assume much higher) gas and electricity bills.

And, lastly, how can you be moving out in under a week and then be staying in the property for another year?

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/consumer/energy/energy-supply/get-help-paying-your-bills/struggling-to-pay-your-energy-bills/

Sorry,but something is not right here. If you were setting up a new account the first thing they would have asked is your name. You say you realised this a few months in,so why did you not contact the landlord to explain and pay what you owed? If no one has paid,how come the utilities have not taken action for a year? As mentioned above,you move out in a week,but are staying for another year? You should as advised come clean with the landlord.I doubt if he will be pleased to know he could have debts against his name.If you have a guarantor they are presumably prepared to step in and pay what you owe,so maybe ask them to help if it comes to it. 

The basic problem is that you haven't made arrangements to pay the energy and water bill, which is your responsibility to do, the landlord can't do it for you. By using the energy and water, you have entered into an agreement with the supplier, even if you didn't formally sign up to anything - these contracts are a special type of agreement called a deemed contract.
Normally it's a two part process, the landlord tells the supplier they're moving someone else in and the tenants tell the companies who they are (and the tenants can select a supplier and tariff etc - although they doesn't make a lot of difference at the moment).
Same with council tax.

I'd imagine that the landlord will want compensating for the cost of the energy and water, and I'm not sure simply moving out will save the other tenant, because you'll have to make sure they're involved in the claim to avoid paying all of the amount owed. If the bills have been coming to the property in the landlord's name, my guess is that, right now, they don't know about this and that some of the "bills" are likely to be final demands.

It seems to me that the first thing to determine is the name of the person on the Title Deed, this will cost you £3 from the Land Registry, for all you know the person you know as the Landlord may not be the Landlord at all.

What jumps out at me is that it is a new property, that could be a factor in the bill generation and I would strongly recommend checking the meter number matches the one that affects your property, you need to verify this for all three meters. 

Is there a chance that your property is being mistaken for another property, for example a main house and a new build on same land?

You can establish energy by using two sites shown on this page

https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/find-your-energy-supplier

Water supplier can be found at https://www.water.org.uk/customers/find-your-supplier

It is quite common for there to be errors and energy companies, you usually can't be charged for more than 12 months by the Energy company under back billing rules

https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/information-consumers/energy-advice-households/check-energy-back-billing-rules

There will obviously be some argument about who was liable and who should have done what.

You can't just change the name with the energy supplier because of identity theft, at best you can add the name of people responsible for paying but it is inconceivable that the energy and water companies would have allowed this to continue for a year.

It seems to me that the Landlord should have informed the company he was moving out, that would have generated "welcome to your new home correspondence address to The Occupier".

If you have evidence that you tried to get new names added then it is not really your fault if the energy company screwed up and if the Landlord uses fake names that is also not your fault.

To understand your situation I would look up the address and find the suppliers, then call the energy company to say you are trying to verity the meter number, have several ready and do not use the whole number for GDPR sake, just say the meter ending in 123 or whatever. 

Once you have the right meter you can decide to leave it until the shit hits the fan or you can give them the name of the other tenant along with the guarantor details.

I had neighbours on a new build estate who had no water bills for 8 years and no energy for 6 years, it happens because typically what is reported is the plot number not the address, ideally the meter cupboard and outside meter say the plot number. 

You have no way of knowing if the bills that came were for the right property, they may be assigned to the wrong property and the energy company came and fitted a pre-payment smart meter which a neighbour is now topping up with an app or key.

I predicted a nightmare with students facing massive energy bills and suggest a smart meter is converted to pre-payment mode to avoid large bills, that way when the energy runs out you get the other Tenant to pay you half the top up or you leave them without power.  Another bone of contention is when one Tenant has a hot bath every day while the other has a short shower. 

You are culpable for the next year but if the fault is that of the energy company and back billing applies there there is potentially some benefit in a wait and see approach because as each month passes that is one less month you might have to pay.

If the departed Tenant is found to be culpable with yourself later their name can be given to the Energy company at a later date.  Debt collectors will find them in due course.  You should take copious reads of all meters to determine how much you are using, but first check you have the right meter assigned to your property.  The back billing letter from CAB is below


https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/consumer/template-letters/letters/energy/complain-to-a-supplier-about-back-billing/

Type of supply: Dual fuel

Account number: A632145

Reference number: JH556612

To whom it may concern,

Re: Back-billing complaint

I am writing about a problem with how my account has been billed. This problem falls under Ofgem's back-billing rules.

I have still not received my first bill at this address, despite contacting you several times to ask for one. I requested a bill on 3 April, 10 May and 7 June and moved into my new home on 10 March. I have spoken to you on the phone on several occasions and you have not issued a bill. I provided meter readings on the day I moved into the property and each time I spoke to you. I am unhappy with the level of customer service you have given me.

The Ofgem back-billing rules say I should only have to pay for 1 year's energy use if I haven't received an accurate bill for over a year. Please make sure that the Ofgem back-billing rules are applied to the balance on the account.

Please explain why you haven't issued a bill and what you are able to do about the poor level of customer care I've received.

Please respond to my complaint in writing within 10 working days. If you fail to respond in this time, I will consider taking the matter further.

Thank you.

Yours faithfully,

Quote from: help on July 05, 2023, 09:09:31 PM
Firstly I'm not a landlord but a tenant I desperately need help. I move out in under a week and me and the other tenant have not paid the water, electricity or gas bill for the whole year...

I realised this a few months in and when setting up the energy provider was not asked to change the name. this is a brand new apartment built a few months before we moved in.

I've now re read the tenancy agreement which states we must have changed the name on all bills... we would get letters to our address with a different name who we didn't recognise as our landlords name however it is. we knew him as a different name but I have double checked and it is the landlords.

I have tried to go online and find out the bill but can't see it or get any information as I don't have the log in details or email connected to the bill payer (landlord) I have emailed however they always take 5 plus days to reply.

I am staying in the property for another year and have already re signed an agreement with a different tenant however I am worried that the old tenant who isn't staying is going to not pay her half of the utility bills for the past year and they will chase me for all of it.

We used to pay rent from one account but then broke up and have been paying separately for months now. she is egnoring my messages and planning a swift exit before the landlord finds out about the bills.

she has a guarantor and so do i... we also each have a £500 deposit which will be taken from us because of the bills.

My question is will my landlord demand the whole bills from me as I am staying on even though it's a two bed with two people having lived there so obviously the bills were supposed to be split between us evenly. Please help with any info you have as I cannot afford the water, gas and electric bill to be paid solely by myself for the whole year we have lived here and she will not respond to messages about the bills. thanks guys I'm stressing