Housemates Not Paying Bill

wooohooo

Take the fuses out of the fuse boxes at night and when you leave the house !!!

GrammarGirl

retrend wrote: »

There are only two names on the account because one of the unamed housemates put our names on without asking us! I know from experience that even if they are being chased by companies they are unlikely to pay, if they refused to pay I would then be liable for the whole bill, I want a solution where I can pay a quater of the bill and leave it at that! The whole process seems unfair in that I could potentially be liable for a bill (which is looking like it will be £1500+) even though I never agreed to put my name on the bill, speaking to npower they won't let me remove my name.

Why would it be £1,500... I thought you'd said you'd had a bill for £700? Anyway, if this isn't an actual figure, ring up and give meter readings and get a revised bill. This will also buy you some more time.

I've lived with housemates for 5 years now and it can be tough when it comes to bills and getting everyone to pay their share. Firstly, get everyone's names on the bill. I know this doesn't really help you now, but if you can't trust your housemates to pay you then you need to put them in the firing line too. What about the other person who is named on the bill - do they have an opinion on the matter? Could the two of you present a united front against the other tenants? If the other named person doesn't understand the consequences of not paying a utility bill, explain. You could have baliffs calling round and a missed payment on your credit report for 6 years. Even if you can't get the other two housemates to pay, you could split the bill between you both just to get rid of it.

You can also ask nPower to put a freeze on your account whilst you work out payment. They've done this twice for me when housemates have been less than organised and it's always been fine.

tripled

Switch to a prepay meter (check your tenancy agreement first) and get the whole debt put on the meter (including your share). I know people say it is more expensive, but it ain't as expensive as paying 5 people's bills. Be prepared to sit in the dark/cold when they won't chip in to put money on the meter - they'll have to go thorough it to, and being as they use far more, it is likely to inconvenience them more.

anniecave

I would ask supplier to put the prepayment meter in ASAP ... as opposed to them writing letters for a few months and then thinking about it....

retrend

The bill of £700 is based on the actual units of energy we have used (the actual bill is slightly less as it is estimated), the other named housemate has an awfull credit rating and couldn't care less. I'm only in the house untill the end of June (or the others will leave then), with a pre payment meter will they automatically add the debt to it? Id rather we setteled the current bill up until the new meter is installed (this is likely to happen after it is installed) so that there is no debt on the meter (otherwise how do we know when it is payed off?)

retrend

GrammarGirl wrote: »

You can also ask nPower to put a freeze on your account whilst you work out payment. They've done this twice for me when housemates have been less than organised and it's always been fine.

What will this entail? surely we will still be using utilies so still adding to the bill.

anniecave

but if you can't get your housemates to pay then how are you going to get the bill settled before the pre-payment meter is put in? (just being realistic)

So is the bill for the entire time you've been in the property then? or have they paid previous bills but just not this one?

If you're all planning to leave in June then maybe I'd consider doing nothing much until you all move out then just sort it all out then. You can settle your part and Npower can chase the other people for theirs. If Npower have forwarding addresses for all the responsible parties then they should remove your name off the balance once you have settled your bit.

I wouldn't bother with a prepayment meter just for 2/3 months, unless they can set the prepayment meter at a very high rate, as you say you will still end up owing money anyway

anniecave

freezing the account just means they stop sending out chase letters etc for a few days

as you say you will still be using the electricity/gas so not much help to you really!