Who is responsible for paying the utility bills when renting? (Water, electricity etc

voytovdwiof

I moved into this flat in December, at the time I asked the letting agents who I should call to sort the water and electricity and they said to leave it, I'll get a letter addressed to the occupier and I can do it then... rent payment time came (Start of January) and I still had no letter, so I asked again and they said they'd look into it, then late January I got a bunch of letters addressed to the letting agent, so when I went to pay my rent (a few days after they arrived) I took them along, this was last week. I once again asked about electricity and water bills, once again they said they'd look into it, at this point I onto my 3rd rental month and have still paid 0 bills.

If in this situation the electricity company were cutting off the electricity (or water company cutting the water) would it be my responsibility as the tenant to pay any associated fees with reconnection and overdue bills (I'm assuming this is what will happen based on what I've read) or would it fall on the letting agents who are a) named on the bill b) told me to "leave it with them" on multiple occasions.

To be completely honest, they do seem a bit... incapable, their organisation leaves a lot to be desired, although my deposit is registered properly so they definitely aren't shady, they just seem very unorganised.

summary: If the electricity or water to my flat gets cut off due to none payment of the bill when the registered payee is the letting agent and I have requested information on how to sort it on multiple occasions, will it be on me to pay any reconnection fees or the letting agent, who have the bill in their name. Also what happens if they don't, can I complain and demand they fix it or what? I don't want to be in a position where I'm living without water or electricity, which seems likely to me unless the letting agent have been paying the bill without asking me to pay them.... bills are not included with the rental price so I doubt that is the case.

Morglin

Normally, utility bills would come to the address, and then you could contact them to advise you are the new tenant..

But, generally, it's the tenant's responsibility to conatct these firms - can you not just ask the LA's who supplies the electricity and water to the property and then phone them?

Lin

PootleFlump_3

You would only be responsible for paying from the time you moved in. Just phone them and tell them the date you moved in and what the readings were and give them your landlords (or agencies) address to send the bills to for the time prior to you occupying.

mr_fishbulb

I think the problem is the OP doesn't know who is supplying the utilities so doesn't know which company/ies to call.

IronWolf

Make all your requests to the LL and LA in writing so you have a paper trail should they come after you for charges on overdue bills.

gauly

For water just ask a neighbour who the supplier is. For gas and electric phone any one of the energy companies - in theory they can tell you who your supplier is, even if it isn't them.

Meatballs

Should be able to phone national grid to find gas supplier. Electricity is done by area.

http://www.ukenergy.co.uk/pages/area.html has gas and elec numbers.

http://www.ccwater.org.uk/server.php?show=nav.284 for water.

Don't waste your time waiting for the LA as it's your responsibility to pay the bills. Sooner you get on a monthly direct debit on the best tariff you can get the cheaper it is.

aleksrothis

Also, assuming you are talking about a domestic property in England and Wales, the water company is not allowed to cut off the water supply for non-payment unless they have confirmed the property is unoccupied (which clearly isn't the case for you) so not something you need to worry about.

Eton_Rifle

What did it say about the utilities in the lease you signed?

G_M

Read your contract/tenancy agreement.

If it says the rent includes utility bills, then you have no problem.

If it says you are responsible for utilities, then live up to your responsibility! Stop waiting for the agent - it's YOUR job, not his. You are the one consuming electricity so you should be paying for it. Just because you bought your car from a garage, you don't wait for them to tell you who to buy petrol from do you?!

You did take meter readings whn you moved in didn't you? Otherwise how will the company know how much your 1st bill should be?

What about council tax? Have you ignored this too, or have you contacted the local authority?

tbs624

Eton_Rifle wrote: »

What did it say about the utilities in the lease you signed?

Note the OP says

voytovdwiof wrote: »

... bills are not included with the rental price