How to track down communal electricity supplier?

QuantumCaffeine

The communal areas (i.e. hallways) of the building I live in are lit by a separate electricity supply, and I've just realised that we're not getting billed for it. (I thought the factor was taking care of it, but it turns out he's not.)

I've lived here for five years, but others who've been here longer say that we did get billed once upon a time, though not for at least the last seven years, and no-one can remember who the supplier is. The general sentiment is that (since they seem to have forgotten about us) we should just leave well enough alone and hope they never realise, but that doesn't sit well with me. Also, I'm worried that if/when they do tumble to it we'll suddenly get a bill for 7+ years' worth, on the world's most expensive tariff, including interest and/or penalty charges.

That leads me to three questions.

1. How do I go about tracking down our current supplier? (You could argue that it's the factor's job, but he's old, tired and unlikely to get around to it any time soon.)

2. What charges (if any) do they have a right to levy, given the reason they haven't been paid is that we haven't been billed?

3. Can they insist on full and immediate payment, or can we ask for staged payments? (The bill shouldn't be *that* high, split between us, but it would be good to know, just in case.)

Thanks in advance,

QC

DVardysShadow

Scotland? England? The most you would be caught for is 5 or 6 years respectively. And it seems to have been left for long enough that you would not be nipping it in the bud, you would be waking a sleeping dog - ie, it would be as much as your worst fears. But as you say, it will be split between the flats if it falls on residents.

Before you go digging on this, you should get to the bottom of who is responsible. If it is the factor, you should MYOB, if it is the residents, fir enough, go ahead and take the wrath of the others. And if it is the factor but he can pass the bill on, then somewhere in the middle.

QuantumCaffeine

DVardysShadow wrote: »

Scotland? England? The most you would be caught for is 5 or 6 years respectively. And it seems to have been left for long enough that you would not be nipping it in the bud, you would be waking a sleeping dog - ie, it would be as much as your worst fears. But as you say, it will be split between the flats if it falls on residents.

Before you go digging on this, you should get to the bottom of who is responsible. If it is the factor, you should MYOB, if it is the residents, fir enough, go ahead and take the wrath of the others. And if it is the factor but he can pass the bill on, then somewhere in the middle.

Thanks for the response. I'm in Scotland, and I don't think that the factor is formally responsible, though it *might* be possible to persuade him to deal with it. (He's on the verge of retirement and keeps threatening to leave, so pushing him to do more might be the trigger that finally makes him pack it in. And if he does, you can be sure he'll tell everyone it was my fault.)

Another complicating issue is that the building didn't initially have a factor, the two we've had were hired on an informal basis (i.e. no contract), and there's no-one left from the pre-factor days. The net result is that I have no idea how things were set up, how the bills were originally paid, or why they stopped coming.

I'm assuming that the electricity company has lost track of the supply (or it would long-since have been disconnected for non-payment), so another issue is even working out how much is due without any historical meter readings to go by, or a clear idea of when payment stopped. Given that, would it be reasonable to go to the company (whoever they are; I've still got no clue how to go about tracking them down) and simply ask them for a fresh start? If not, how would a bill be calculated?

Cheers,

QC

specialsparky

Hi, sorry I don't understand what a Factor is but I have liveed in an apartment block in England, the property was leasehold and I paid a annual maintenance contract to the owner of the Freehold, which was a London property company. This included window cleaning, cleaniing the common areas, gardening etc. It also included heat and lighting of common areas.
There is no way tennants can be responsible for these charges, how would the supplier know who they were or how to apportion them.
Check your lease it should all be in there and sleep well.
Good luck and I hope this helps

QuantumCaffeine

specialsparky wrote: »

Hi, sorry I don't understand what a Factor is but I have liveed in an apartment block in England, the property was leasehold and I paid a annual maintenance contract to the owner of the Freehold, which was a London property company. This included window cleaning, cleaniing the common areas, gardening etc. It also included heat and lighting of common areas.
There is no way tennants can be responsible for these charges, how would the supplier know who they were or how to apportion them.
Check your lease it should all be in there and sleep well.
Good luck and I hope this helps

Thanks for the response, but I'm afraid things are a bit different north of the border. For one thing, I own my flat outright (freehold), and there is no overall building owner. (I know this isn't possible in England, but at least I don't have to worry about the lease running out.)

In the beginning, the various flat-owners simply formed a committee and organised maintenance etc. themselves, but eventually (I'm guessing) tempers frayed and it was decided to hire someone to manage everything on their behalf; that's the "factor". We've had two so far, and both arrangements were somewhat informal (the latest one hasn't even got around to asking to be paid!), so there's no way to know exactly what they're responsible for. (Broadly, though, it's been similar to your maintenance contract: building repair, stair cleaning etc.) As I said, I could probably push him to investigate the matter, but only at the risk of him giving up the job.

Sorry for the confusion!

QC

Cardew

The bad news is that it probably isn't classified as a domestic account and so the 12 month back-billing rule will not apply - possibly it will even attract VAT @ 17.5% instead of 5%.

If that is the case, then it is just a normal civil debt when it comes to light and they can go back 6 years in England and 7?? in Scotland.

billsavings

specialsparky wrote: »

Hi, sorry I don't understand what a Factor is

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Factor_(Scotland)

Joyful

I would suggest contacting your own Energy Supplier. Advise you are worried you might have to pay this usage. They can then check Ecoes and find out who the supplier is. You can then call the supplier to check. Just make sure they don't put the whole bill into your name!

Haarlem

Much communial lighting was via an unmetered supply where the owners paid a fixed amount based on the calculated consumption of the fittings. (The same as street lighting)

Your Distribution Company should have some records needed to identify how to turn off the supply in an emergency.

Have you found where the communial lighting can be isolated? It may tell you something there.

Someone should be paying.

Part of the project I was working on when the funding was pulled was to identfy and record all these unmetered supplies and get them charged.

specialsparky

Hi QuantumCaffiene,
Ok so now I know what a Factor is, you live and learn. How do you deal with the costs assocaited with general upkeep of communal areas, things like decorating or if the door doesn't close or a window gets broken. It should be covered in the same way. This supply will be considerd as Domestic as it is lighting a domestic property so vat will be 5%. On whether a supplier can charge you going back more than 1 year is a difficult one as they don't appear to be reading a meter and billing but on the other hand you don't appear to be informing them that you have not been billed. I am certain that your liabilty only commences from the date of purchase. Did your solicitor discover anything regarding shared costs? In England if a Solicitor failed to find sufficient information when checking sale documents or searches he could be liable.
It may be worth speaking to him or her. I wouldn't be comfortable leaving this unresolved as one thing I am confident whether its Scotland,England or Wales electricity is not free!
Good luck and I hope this helps

QuantumCaffeine

Cardew wrote: »

The bad news is that it probably isn't classified as a domestic account and so the 12 month back-billing rule will not apply - possibly it will even attract VAT @ 17.5% instead of 5%.

If that is the case, then it is just a normal civil debt when it comes to light and they can go back 6 years in England and 7?? in Scotland.

Given that I've only lived here a little under 5 years, can they demand I pay for electricity supplied before that, or would the previous owner be liable for that? (That said, I have no current address for the previous owner, just a name, so it could be tricky to find her.)