nPower bill - wrong landlord.

jamesyy

Hello all,
I live in a shared student house and we have been receiving bills from nPower for an unpaid amount but they are addressed to an unknown landlord (not ours!).

In a nutshell all our bills are included (internet, gas, electricity etc.) and our landlord agency is supposed to pay them. However the bills are addressed to another landlord who we don't have any business with/had never heard of. I have rung nPower and let them know who our landlord is and to get in touch with them. They immediately changed the name of the account holder and sent a new bill addressed to our landlord. However, we are still receiving letters from meter plus (a debt recovery management company) addressed to the unknown landlord who have informed us that they are going to apply for a warrant of entry to the property.

I have found that the unknown landlord has their offices next to our landlord but when I visited it seems very closed (as in closed for good). We have been at our property now for two years so are unsure about what is going on.

Also I don't know if it matters but last year we received a letter asking us to help nPower locate our (actual) landlord because they hadn't been able to get in touch with them and we obliged.

Has our landlord pulled a fast one on us? Is there anything we can do to turn away someone with a warrant of entry if it is not addressed to us or does it just apply to the property? If they fit a prepay meter I know from previous experience that reclaiming the costs from our landlord will be a pain in the neck!

Thank you for any advice!

spiro

You need to do two things:

1) Letters arriving for unknown landlord - cross out name on front of envelope, clearly mark the it RETURN TO SENDER and put in back in a postbox.

2) Any letters arriving for your landlord, pass the letters on the to them.

undaunted

I'd be speaking to your landlord sharpish, making sure he has been paying the bills & expecting him to get this sorted out either way. If they can obtain a warrant of entry they will probably fit a prepayment meter (unless you want to be without Gas / Electric) there will be nothing you can do about it & you will potentially either end up out of pocket / paying twice or have no utilities.

Have a look at Shelter or contact your Local Council if you have any problems with the Landlord