Rented Student House outstanding bills previous tennants

Lady_K

Daughter moved into private student house with her friend and they took readings of gas and elec meters on the day they moved in. The landlord said they would not be liable for any bill payments before that date.

They tried to change from british gas to ebico for both but have been refused to leave by british gas even though they are new tennants. The gas is a prepayment meter but the elec is on 3 monthly bills. They have recieved bills in a persons name that left the house before they moved in. The bills are saying if they do not recieve payment they will disconnect the electric supply or fit a pre payment meter on 19th Sept for the elec aswell. We know if this meter is fitted they will inherit the previous tennants arreas and they are not even sure if they are already paying previous tennants arreas on the pre payment gas meter thats already in. How can they make sure they arent paying previous tennants arreas? They have the gas bill but don't undestand it as they arent used to pre payment meters.

Can they change supplier once british gas are clear about the fact that these are different tennants?

silvercar

If they have used any gas then they have effectively started a contract with the previous gas company and as such will have to comply with their terms, generally 28 day contract minimum. If they haven't used any service then they can move to who they like, but this does have to be arranged prior to using the service.

Lady_K

Thanx, yes they don't mind paying for the gas and elec they have used but they do mind paying for gas and elec the previous tennants used. Its the arrears that arent thiers that are complicating things with moving supplier. As the gas is pre payment they are paying for that already anyway

lynzpower

When they took readings, did they call the providers and give them THOSE readings and advise them that they were the new tenants?

hjb123

Have they advised the landlord of what has happened here to see what he says? He may be able to offer advice or to make the money up for them - if hes a considerate landlord that is!

amboy

As a student landlord who has dealt with this situation numerous times I would advise you to -

1) Notify the landlord immediately, he like me should hopefully call up the utility supplier and give the previous tenants forwarding address. (this is what the utility supplier is after therefore being able to chase them)

2) If the LL does not know the forwarding address, (unlikely) still ask him to call the utility supplier and inform them of the situation.

This is due to the fact that this year i have had a few occasions where the call center stafftold my tenants that they would have to pay the arrears or they would be disconnected, this is obviously done to frighten the tenants but a quick phone call from me and they never suggested that, in one intance i only had to call them to register new tenants and they obliged.

3) If nobody knows there forwarding addresses then simply give the university address to the utility supplier, I assume you will know which university the previous tennats attend.

As for the LL paying off the arrears, I dont think this would happen, i am considerate and run after my tenants but would no pay anybody elses bills, especially when the utility company cannot legally cut off supply to new customers.

Also I wouldnt advise changing just yet, let the issue of disconnection and fitting the prepayment get resolved, you will only get more frustrated with BG blocking your transfer, however do send them in a tenancy agreement and ask them if they are paying arrears on the prepayment meter, obviously you will have both opening readings to help you.

HTH

Lady_K

The landlord did say he was going to inform British Gas that new tenants had moved in and give them the new readings but from this letter it looks like it probably hasn't been done.

They have contacted im again about this so we will see what happens from here. Hopefully they will be able to chase the named person on the bills through his home address although he may have finished university by now.

They were just going to give the names of all tenants to the suppliers rather than a tenancy agreement if this is enough they will just do that but any problems and they can send the tenancy agreement.

Pre payment meter works put better in the fact that no bills would be left outstanding when people leave but they are also inconvenient and cause problems when they try to take it in turns to top it up. I think the next best thing is monthly payment because at least then its less to chase up later when people leave

amboy

Prepayment is also more expensive then monthly direct debit.

Lady_K

They have found that ebico charge the same price for pre payment meters though as any other way of payment, they guarantee to be the cheapest for card meter users. Its just the inconvenience that puts them off

amboy

Lady_K wrote:

They have found that ebico charge the same price for pre payment meters though as any other way of payment, they guarantee to be the cheapest for card meter users. Its just the inconvenience that puts them off

Interesting, I shall pass that onto my friends who are on prepay.

The inconvenience, my last students who had prepayment often found it had run out completely, they then had to find a nearest paypoint at silly hours of the day to get power, also the boiler always used to shut off as there was no gas getting to it.

If they are close to somewhere that recharges then it should be ok, as long as they remeber to routinely top them up.

Annoying

hedley

LL often can't be trusted to do this.(one of ours did, bit with incorrect readings, the other 'forgot'). Ensure that your daughter tells the energy companies in writing: date they moved in, the readings and state that they are nothing to do with the previous tenants.

The landlord/or your daughter can pass on the difference/bill to the university registry (assuming they have the names), and they will pass it on to the home adresses of the students. (we did this when a former tenant did a bunk with a stream of unpaid bills and letters threatening bailiffs- they found them and sorted it in the end and they were in Greece.) We weren't doing this to drop anyone in it, but couldn't see why we should have a bad credit record against our address and have to deal with bailliffs!

Oh yes and the uni can withold their degrees until they pay up! May be an interesting way of getting the money out of them!
Hed