Threat of water disconnection

poppy123b

Hi there,
i was wondering if you good people, may be able to put my mind at a bit of rest.
My landlord pays for the water in the house we rent, as it is included in our rent, however as he lives in a different country and his secretary in the UK usually deals with everything for him.
In October i recieved a letter to our address, from anglian water stating that if the current bill £117 was not paid they were going to disconnect the water of my property.
So i phoned Anglian water and explained the situation and said that i would pass the letter on to my landlords secretary straight away so she could get it sorted.
I also telephoned the secretary, but she was on holiday, so i left a message and they said they would make sure she got it sorted when she got back.
Today i had an awful gut feeling to phone Anglian water to check to see if the bill had been paid yet, and to my horror, it still had not. (i knew i should of waited till Monday ) Anglian water said that they have now sent out a letter on the 29th, (haven't got it yet) to say they are going to disconnect the water supply, if the bill is not paid in so many days.
I tried to explain that i was trying my hardest to make sure that the bill was getting paid, and that it will definatley be paid, and they said they would make a note on the system, however there was nothing they could do to stop us being disconnected unless it was paid of course, and that if we do get disconnected they would charge an extra £200 to reconnct the water supply. I asked if she could give me some more info from the letter that was sent, but she said no, and that i would just have to wait for the letter to arrive, as it is from the disconnections team, i said can i speak to the disconnections team and she said no they are not here today lol
I tried phoning the secretary but she is also off today back on Monday. :rolleyes:
I have even considered trying to pay a bit off this bloomin water bill myself as i'm frightened of being left without any water.
Now i know that the bill will eventually get sorted out, but as i said im worried that we are going to be left with out water, from what i have googled, i am under the impression that water companies are not allowed to disconnect your water supply?
But if they are all saying that they are going to disconnect us, then im not so sure?
Can they disconnect our water supply?

My apologies for the long old post, im a big worrier and stress out big time about things.

thanks for your help

moonrakerz

poppy123b wrote: »

Can they disconnect our water supply?

Disconnection

"7. Until now, if consumers did not pay their water and sewerage bills, water companies had the power to disconnect the supply. Water companies also argued that they were not prohibited from restricting the amount of water available for a consumer's use if they did not pay their bill. The Act removes the power to disconnect water supply for non-payment, or to limit the supply with the intention of enforcing payment, from a list of different premises. These premises are private dwelling houses, caravans, houseboats, houses in multiple occupation and sheltered accommodation (where these are someone's main home) and children's homes, residential care homes, prisons and detention centres, schools, premises used for children's daycare, institutions of further and higher education, hospitals, nursing homes, GPs' and dentists' surgeries (including surgeries set up as primary care pilot schemes) and premises occupied by the emergency services."

Water Industry Act 1999

deanos

They will not cut off your water if its a domestic supply, they word the letters very carefully to make you think they will.

Trouble is there are loads of non payers out there and AW are taking a very strict line on this now and trying to recover as much money as possible, thing have all changed since its become a private company.

I know its not your fault, is there a way you can pay the water directly in future to stop this happening again ?

poppy123b

Thanks for that, helps me feel a lot better, they obviously just try to put the frighteners into people, to get them to pay up as quickly as possible.
It will be intresting to see what the letter about disconnection, they have sent out says.
I'm going to try and see if the secretary will set it up as a direct debit, rather than just waiting for the bills to come through and for me to pass them on. I imagine AW, will probably suggest this to them also, when they finally do call them and pay the bill. lol
Thank you ever so much for knowledge on the matter and helping to ease my worry

kurjam

di you mange to speak to the landlords secratary ??

poppy123b

I didn't personally manage to get hold of her so in the end i contacted the letting agency who deals with the house, for the landlord. They then got on to the secretary, and told her she needed to get that bill paid.
So hopefully this will be the last of it now lol