Problems with previous tenant

miss-october

Hi all,

I'd appreciate any help with the issues I'm having (discussed below) which revolve around the previous tenant and a BT internet connection.

My partner and I moved to London recently, and signed a 12-month tenancy agreement on 1st July 2010. Within a week of moving in, we tried to create an account with Sky for their TV and broadband, but were told that we could not have broadband with them, as our line was currently in use. (We used Sky in our previous flat and were very happy with the service).

So we put two and two together and realised that the previous tenant had not closed her account with BT, and had left her modem (including password) on the table in the flat's living room. We contacted the previous tenant directly by email twice to ask her when the account was to be closed, as my partner and I are heavily dependent on the internet because of our jobs. We never had a response back from her, and decided on using her internet connection until her account had been closed.

Two months down the line, we were getting quite sick of having to use someone else's [very slow] internet connection, so we contacted BT ourselves asking for the MAC code - to which they responded that because we aren't the account holder, we weren't allowed to have it. We emailed the previous tenant again, to ask her to at least contact BT for us so that we could have the MAC code.

Finally this morning we receive an email from the tenant telling us that she has closed her account, and that it should be closed by 15th October 2010. She now expects us to pay the last 3 months worth of BT bills.

I really don't mind contributing towards the costs, but I find it quite unfair that she expects us to pay for the cost of 3 months line rental, as well as 3 months worth of internet usage. The tenant was on a 12 month contract, and would have had to pay these costs whether we were using her internet connection or not! Even if she had closed her account when she moved out, she would have had to pay the remaining months bills in advance. On top of that, the figures she quoted are a lot more than what we would have paid for our Sky unlimited broadband (including Sky TV), had we been allowed to install Sky upon moving in - as we had planned.

Therefore my question is as follows: are we fully liable for paying for the line rental and the past three months' usage of her internet connection? As mentioned before, we contacted the previous tenant a few times with no response, and she would have had to pay the bill anyway if we weren't using her connection. We have used her internet connection and therefore don't mind paying (we are very honest people), but we're not happy paying for something that should have been fixed before we moved in.

Sorry for the long explanation, but we would appreciate any feedback you may have. Also if you need any more information to help clarify the situation, please don't hesitate. Thanks in advance

Sian & Simon

bebewoo

Tell her you'll pay what it would have cost you on the Sky package.

piratefairy

How do you know what number of months were left on her contract, did she tell you? Do you know what tariff / price plan she was on for this contract so that you could figure out a more accurate figure for the three months line rental?
I think that you ought to pay for the usage, as that was solely used by yourselves, butI would perhaps contact her again and ask if you can come to an agreement about the other costs as you think they are unfair.
If it had been me I would have had a different line put in so that I could have chosen what connection / provider I would have, and not used the existing one if it was unable to be used for the broadband, then I would know I was responsible for what I had used.

espresso

Don't pay her anything. It was her responsibility to cancel with BT when she left and she has caused unnecessary inconvenience for you.

miss-october

Thank you all for the responses, although we're still unsure what to do now that we've received three completely different responses.

We know when the previous tenant's contract started as well as the contract length because next to the modem and password were all the [previously opened] welcome letters from BT. These stated contract length and monthly price for line rental and broadband usage.

In case we do not find a compromise, I need to know who is liable for the payment of the bills.

Thanks again,

Sian & Simon

piratefairy

Well you've used it, so surely you can see you're liable for the usage.
As for the other, you don't know for sure that the previous tenant wouldn't have been able to cancel, the remaining months, do you? So she may feel that she wouldn't have had to pay if you hadn't used it.
That said, she clearly didnt' care enough about it to cancel it when she moved out, or to respond to your first queries.
The only thing you can do is try to reach a solution with her directly. You are not responsible to BT for the bills, as they have already acknowledged - you are not the account holders. But she would be within her rights to persue you for at least some costs if you refused to pay anything to her, since you freely admit to using it.

espresso

piratefairy wrote: »

But she would be within her rights to persue you for at least some costs if you refused to pay anything to her, since you freely admit to using it.

Rubbish!

The account holder is fully responsible for her BT bill, not the new tenant who has been unable to use their chosen provider.

miss-october

piratefairy wrote: »

Well you've used it, so surely you can see you're liable for the usage.
As for the other, you don't know for sure that the previous tenant wouldn't have been able to cancel, the remaining months, do you? So she may feel that she wouldn't have had to pay if you hadn't used it.
That said, she clearly didnt' care enough about it to cancel it when she moved out, or to respond to your first queries.
The only thing you can do is try to reach a solution with her directly. You are not responsible to BT for the bills, as they have already acknowledged - you are not the account holders. But she would be within her rights to persue you for at least some costs if you refused to pay anything to her, since you freely admit to using it.

Thanks for your reply.

We know that she would have had to pay the remaining months - I don't know of anyone who was allowed to cancel a contract for nothing (unless of course the customer was having problems with the company itself)

Either way, we will discuss the issue with her and try to come to a solution. Personally we think it's only fair that we pay the amounts not included in her usual monthly bills.

miss-october

espresso wrote: »

Rubbish!

The account holder is fully responsible for her BT bill, not the new tenant who has been unable to use their chosen provider.

That's exactly what we were thinking... Thanks

espresso

miss-october wrote: »

Either way, we will discuss the issue with her and try to come to a solution. Personally we think it's only fair that we pay the amounts not included in her usual monthly bills.

She would have to pay off the minimum term contract anyway e.g. 12 or 18 months to cancel, so she is simply trying to get you to pay it. Let BT chase what she owes them.

You owe her nothing!

A.Penny.Saved

The account is in her name so she is legally responsible for paying the bill!

So don't pay a penny because as already stated she didn't want to pay the contract termination fees and she now hopes that you will take care of it for her which is totally out of order IMO. The courts/debt collectors will chase her and not you!

If necessary have a new line installed and leave it to her and BT to sort out their debts.