Legally, am I responsible for bills in previous owners name?

Clarkee21

Hi there,

sorry in advance if i've got the wrong forum here. Wasn't sure what this fell under.

We've been receiving some letters over the past few years from, what I now know to be our local estates maintenance company. Until today I've just been forwarding these letters onto the previous owner thinking it just leftover mis-addressed mail from their move ( approx. 3 years ago now ). It wasn't till this week, when I had a chat with our neighbours who recieved their bills, I decided to look at one of the letters.

It appears that that there is a rather large outstanding amount on the bill!

This house is fairly new and I'm aware of the fact that the maintenance company did not bill for the 1st year of the estate being here. At the end of that year is when the former owner moved out and we moved in. However someone, somewhere hadn't told the company they'd moved, hence the why all bills are still in their name.

My question is, because of this admin fault, legally, am I as the home owner liable for these bills even though they are not address to me?

Thanks very much for any help you can give.

Ivory_Tinkler

I would imagine that you are responsible for maintenance bills for the period you have lived at your present address but they should be billed to you. Similarly you would be liable for council tax and utilities from when you took over the house. Are you being billed as well as the previous owner (is this maybe an admin error)?

Clarkee21

Thanks ivory for the quick reply.

It's a private company that deals with this. Council tax etc. Are all covered separately and yeah paid by me.

If the bills were in my name then I'd not have a problem but because nobody has made me aware of this I'm left with this problem. My gut instinct is telling me it's not my responsibility, as I shouldn't haven't opened the mail anyway, but obviously instinct doesn't answer in the same way as the legalities.

Thanks again

Clarkee21

Changing the name on the bills is something I'll be doing but what I don't want is this large bill on my shoulders because of some elses mistake. I'd really just like to know where I would stand if I challenged this outstanding amount. Future payments I'm happy to pay

NeverInDebt

Looks to me as if you are trying to get out of paying even if its from period you moved in. If not why not contact them and say you moved in x date and then I should pay from then on

Future payments and previous payment up to 3 years ago you owe just because it isnt in your name how is the company to know this unless you tell them

Ivory_Tinkler

When you took over the house did you know that there would be a charge from the maintenance company or has this only come to light when you opened the bill? I'm surprised that the previous owner hasn't let the company know so the he/she stopped getting the bills but it's also worrying that the maintenance company have let these bills stack up. Maybe you could ring the maintenance company on Monday and explain the situation, get the name on the bill changed to stop further arrears and then come to some sort of arrangement about any outstanding amount. I don't think you could challenge the outstanding amount (but I may be wrong) as they could argue that you should have let them know about the change of ownership of the house when you moved in. Good luck anyway.

solodanceparty

You are not responsible for any bills from any time before you lived in the property. It is not your responsibility to track down the previous occupant. Send the bills to the letting agent/landlord and if you get any calls, give the name and number of the letting agent/landlord. If they want proof of when you move in, your tenancy agreement will be fine. When I was working for a letting agent, this happened all the time with utility bills. Do not pay one penny of these bills.

solodanceparty

Ivory_Tinkler wrote: »

When you took over the house did you know that there would be a charge from the maintenance company or has this only come to light when you opened the bill? I'm surprised that the previous owner hasn't let the company know so the he/she stopped getting the bills but it's also worrying that the maintenance company have let these bills stack up. Maybe you could ring the maintenance company on Monday and explain the situation, get the name on the bill changed to stop further arrears and then come to some sort of arrangement about any outstanding amount. I don't think you could challenge the outstanding amount (but I may be wrong) as they could argue that you should have let them know about the change of ownership of the house when you moved in. Good luck anyway.

You'd be surprised how many times people would move and not bother to tell utility companies and even the city council. The current occupant of a property is not responsible for any bills previous to their tenancy.

Freddie_Snowbits

Take the scenerio that previous occupyer informed the maintenance company that they had moved, but the maintenance company failed to change name and address, then I suppose the maintenance company is negiligent. I supsect this is also valid if previous occupent died.

The problem is you may have to prove they were negiligent.

Though if you knew when you occupied the house that there is a maintenance charge, you may have to prove that you were also not negligent.

In the end I would come up with a compromise with the maintenance company

Clarkee21

Thanks all for replies. This is great stuff :-).

Just to clarify, I'm the homeowner so no rental / landlord status involved. I did try to do a google on all this before posting and most of the replies were along the lines of unpaid bills from previous tenants. Not really the same scenerio as this.

I wasn't aware of there being a maintenance company until this week. Apparently there is a clause in our deeds which outlines this charge but again it wasn't something that was highlighted in the purchase by our estate agent.

I would agree that if there was any outstanding amount then yes it's clearly not my responsibility. What seems to have happened, from my understand anyway, is the company started bill shortly after the previous owners left and we moved in. So no outstanding amount but nobody has told them of the change of details.

I guess it's just going to have to be a phone call to get the ball rolling and take it from there. It seems to be debatable though so yes a compromise is probably the best approach needed.

Thanks again :-)

Debt_Free_Chick

Often, outstanding maintenance/service charges on leasehold properties transfer from the seller to the buyer. You should contact the solicitor who did the conveyancing for you to check this. You may be liable to pay these bills even though the amount relates to a period before your ownership and/or the bill is not addressed to you.