Huge unpaid water bill, what are our rights??

peelieweeli

Hi guys,

Just had an angry visit from an anglian water man giving my future wife a sherrifs warrant?? i think thats what he said?? Because my fiancee has stupidly not been paying her water bill for what sounds like forever, she's been a single mum and only working part time for the last 4 years so her circumstances have not been perfect but still, she now has a unpaid bill of approx £1000 i think he said.

Don't get me wrong i'm not here doing a woe is me post, she was dumb for not paying it, she understands that, but theres not much we can do about it now except for pay it obviously.

My question is, the, imo, !!!!!!, of a guy from anglian water was pretty much demanding £250 on the spot, this was then scaled down to £250 by the 11th of this month, and then £50 p/m to pay the rest, or it goes to a debt recovery agency, i think, does anyone know where has this random figure of £250 comes from?? The thing that threw me was that nothing changes whether she had paid the £250 at the door or by the 11th, she'd still have to pay the remainder at £50 pm, so why demand it at the door?? Seems a bit of a bruisers way to go about getting their money back.

Whats the best course of action here?? I mean, i can pay the £250 for her by the 11th but what are her rights with regards to the rest of it, is it going to be better to just not pay the £250 and let it go to the debt collectors??

I ask b/c she owed a lot of arrears with her rent before i met her and that went to rossendales who are a debt collector and she's getting back on track with that so it seems to me, whos never been in this situation before, that debt collectors arent all that bad, at the end of the day they want the same as you, which is for you to not owe anything, the impression i get of them is that they set up a payment plan and as long as you make the payments they're happy??

Again, this isnt a woe is me post so please dont give me crap about what goes around comes around etc, she knows shes been an idiot re:bills and stuff in the past and is turning it around since she met me and decided to sort it all out, i was just seeing what the best way to go around this would be as i have never been in a situ where ive got sherrifs warrants being handed to me.

Many thanks for any advice, including if this post should be moved to another part as i just defaulted to the water section b/c its anglian water.

DVardysShadow

It seems fair enough to post here, if it is the water aspect you are most concerned about. Or in DebtfreeWanabee if it is about helping her manage her money, but you and she seem to be on top of that at least I assume she is in the situation more for lack of money, rather than lack of money management skill.

On the whole, I think it is better not to let this stuff go to debt collectors, because they can be more obnoxious than a company like Anglian Water would be prepared to be.

First step is to check out the bills - and if the water is metered, to check that the bills correspond with readings - and that the amount demanded is correct. Next is to see what this "sheriff's warrant" is all about - is it a real document or a threat? If it is a real document, then deal with that. If it is just a threat, start making arrangements to pay off the debt - again, DebtFreeWanabee is the best place to go, but I would suggest putting in a written proposal accompanied by £100, not dealing on the phone, as these conversations don't seem that good for creating lasting agreements.