Receiving red bill for leak repair & landlord is liable - help

berkshirelady

Hi all, I'm seeking some advice as to what to do with bills I'm being sent by Thames Water that I'm not liable for.

last summer Thames Water did some soundings in our street and discovered a customer side leak somewhere on the supply pipe that feeds 3 properties including the one I live in. I rent the ground floor of the house at the end of the pipe, and there also tenants upstairs, sharing the same supply (although metered separately). We both have the same landlord who is liable for repair bills like water leaks, broken boiler, building repairs etc, the usual stuff.

TW gave the owners a deadline to investigate and repair the leak themselves, but because they couldn't say exactly where the leak was, there was lots of to-ing and fro-ing between our landlord and the owners of the other 2 properties as to who was going to take responsibility for it, and nobody would get it sorted. As a result, TW issued a section 57 notice and sent their own guys out, who did the repair....

....and now the bill has come in. TW has split the bill 4 ways between the three properties and addressed each bill to the bill payers. I have had a bill for more than £150 and so has the tenant upstairs! I phoned TW immediately and asked them to record that as the tenant I'm not liable, and that I would pass it on to the landlord's agent. They said that leak repair bills always go to the bill payer (which is bonkers because they had the landlord's name and contact details last year, and in any case there must be loads of tenants who pay for water consumption, but aren't liable for repair bills!)

I passed the bill to the landlord's agent. She phoned me last week to say that TW are refusing to discuss the repair bill with her for data protection reasons, because it's me that pays the normal water bills. The additional problem is that my original landlord has apparently handed over the property to his son, who is now our current landlord (I have only found this out as a result of trying to sort out the bill with the agent). And if TW is refusing to talk to either of them, how on earth is this going to be sorted out?

I've had a red reminder bill today and aside from handing this over to the agent too, I don't really know what I can do next. I don't see why I should have a stain on my payment record for a bill that has nothing to do with me, and I'm worried that if the bill remains unpaid, TW may take further action against me, despite my having told them the situation time and again since the leak was first discovered.

Can anyone advise what I should do next?

Many thanks!

DVardysShadow

You need proper advice.

But i would write to Thames water and instruct them to resolve this with the Landlord who is responsible for this bill and not to obfuscate the matter with faux Data Protection concerns. State that the bill must be addressed to the Landlord and you will not tolerate further pressure over this bill while Thames Water refuse to communicate with the Landlord.

At the same time, I would write to the Landlord with a copy of the bill and a copy of your letter to Thames Water. I would ask him to advise you in writing of any further nonsense of Thames Water refusing to discuss with him.

Cardew

I suspect that Thames water will refuse to pursue the Landlord unless he acknowledges he is responsible.

They have a contract(albeit deemed) with the OP and other tenants and it is their reponsibility to take the matter up with their Landlord.

The best you can hope for is Thames might write to the Landlord, however they have no knowledge of the terms of the rental agreement/lease or even that he is the landlord.

That said the common sense approach would be to delay any action to recover the debt.

Fire_Fox

You should send a recorded delivery letter to Thames Water, stating that you are not responsible for this charge and providing the landlord's name and address. If it gets nasty you could pay the charge and claim against the landlord.

Gothicfairy

It really isn't down to the company to find out who is responsible. It is quite normal practice to bill the tenant/ account holders as the view would be that as they were living in the property they would have a better chance of spotting a leak then a landlord/ owner who does not live in the property and has no idea how much water usage is normal.
I would be shocked if you got anything other then " it's a third party dispute" from them as that is really what it is.

However due to the DPA they will talk about the bill to your landlord unless you give then permission...so simple, give them the permission they need and then your landlord/ landlady can deal with it.