still owed money from old housemates for bills

lolly-i-pop

Hi all,

Sttupidly when I moved into my old house share, I put the gas bill in my name. I am now owed money from my ex-housemates for this bill, but they arn't coughing up. They won't get their deposits back from the landlord until we've paid, and I keep getting letters from the gas company.

Has anyone been in this situation before, and got any ideas of what I can do to get it sorted?

Thanks

Lokolo

Use the deposits to pay the gas bill off.....

lolly-i-pop

I don't think this is legal anymore

Lokolo

In my contract is states that all bills must be paid or deposit will not be refunded. But obviously contracts differ from one another.

I don't see why you can't do this though?

lauren_1

I 2nd the above

lolly-i-pop

Thanks for the ideas, but the landlord said that he can't use their deposits, without written instructions from them, which I doubt he will get if they are not answering my phone calls!

Lokolo

So what are the terms and conditions of the deposit?

I don't get why the others won't pay when they would get their deposit back if they pay?

lolly-i-pop

Obviously they are stupid?! I dunno why they won't just sort it out. I'm not entirely sure of the t&c's of the deposit, but last year, there were new rules set up about deposits.

farso

If all else fails, im assuming you know their names and addresses? Small claims court would love this case

mellymeep

Hey im having exactly the same problem right now!
Except in our original contracts there was nothing detailing that we weren't getting our deposits back until all the bills were paid! I need my deposit money to pay off my share of the final bill, luckily I live with one of my previous flatmates so she's easy enough to contact but the other guy I lived with is proving hard to get a hold of!

I've already had a final bill from the gas company and have received a letter saying they're taking steps to recover the money through a debt collection agency totally panicking because I didn't want this messing up my credit rating!! I gave them a ring and have sorted out a payment plan, it means im probably gonna have to pay it all then try and get the money back from my previous flatmate's, its ridiculous that we aren't allowed to put the bills in all of our names!

Lokolo

I put the house deposit in my name. The others gave me £100 each. So basically at the end of the year they have to pay, or I wil pay using their deposit clever me eh