Water bill in ADVANCE - HELP!

orionmoo

In January, we paid £192 for our water bill (rateable, not on a meter), for the period of October - March. Today we've just received a bill for £461.05 for the period of April 11- March 12.
1. Why are we being asked to pay for water we've not yet used.
2. We're not going to even be in the property after the middle of august, when our tenancy agreement ceases (students), so how on earth can we be liable to pay, in advance, for water we definitely will not be using?!

Please help! We're not sure what to do. We want to phone up and complain, but we fear they'll just say, this is how it works, pay up or we'll send bailiffs round (which they almost did last time - they sent the bills to the landlord, then about 5 threatening letters, then a letter from a debt collection agency, but since we're liable to pay not the landlord, the landlord didn't pay, but he also didn't tell us we needed to pay either!)

So should we phone up and say we'll pay for the 4 and a half months that we're going to be in the property, but that's it? That'll come to £172.89. Also does that seem like a lot? 5 bed terrace (looks ex-councily)

Thanks for any help given!

Gothicfairy

No point complaining because it is standard.
RV is charged for the whole year in advance.

What you need to do is email / call them and ask for a payment plan. Once you are leaving call them with the date and forwarding address and they will final bill you and either return credit or you pay the outstanding.

I should also point out that RV is not charged through the meter so the bill is correct and right (really doesn't matter what kind of property you are in but to be honest £461 for a 5 bed is cheap)

HappyMJ

You could request a meter then you'll be paying for water used in arrears.

orionmoo

Gothicfairy wrote: »

No point complaining because it is standard.
RV is charged for the whole year in advance.

What you need to do is email / call them and ask for a payment plan. Once you are leaving call them with the date and forwarding address and they will final bill you and either return credit or you pay the outstanding.

I should also point out that RV is not charged through the meter so the bill is correct and right (really doesn't matter what kind of property you are in but to be honest £461 for a 5 bed is cheap)

So, if we request a payment plan, will we still have to pay this whole £460 bill, or will it change to say monthly or quarterly, and hence we'll be paying closer to the length of time we'll be in the property?

Gothicfairy

A payment plan on RV normally runs for 8 -10 months but it would be for the whole bill as it becomes due 01.04
So it would start in April and go from there, it means you break down the bill and it also means any credit gets paid back

Happy, they are students so chances are the house is full ie 5 rooms- 5 people and if that is the case I would not think a metered bill would be cheaper and also the landlord might well not want the trouble as an RV bill is easier to work out and split between tenants

HappyMJ

Gothicfairy wrote: »

A payment plan on RV normally runs for 8 -10 months but it would be for the whole bill as it becomes due 01.04
So it would start in April and go from there, it means you break down the bill and it also means any credit gets paid back

Happy, they are students so chances are the house is full ie 5 rooms- 5 people and if that is the case I would not think a metered bill would be cheaper and also the landlord might well not want the trouble as an RV bill is easier to work out and split between tenants

You are right it won't be cheaper but the question was about paying in ADVANCE the big capital letters of the title of this thread. A meter will allow them to pay the bill in arrears.

Gothicfairy

True but it will not make any different really as the bill will just be more so advance or arrears is kind of pointless if you are paying twice as much.
I took the title to mean that they did not understand the billing system rather then a way around that but I could of course be wrong.

orionmoo

We're more concerned that we're being asked to pay about £290 for water which we won't use because we won't be renting the property after August. We don't really have a lot of trust that the water board will just magically give us our money back if we phone up in august and say we don't live here any more, give us 63% of the money we paid you back; it'd be much simpler if we could just pay for when we will be in the property now. Not only that, we've only just paid them almost £200 last month. We don't exactly have £460 to spare to pay all in one go, either.

Gothicfairy

The water company will give you any over payment back. Not sure why you wouldn't trust them as so far nothing you have said makes me think your company has done anything wrong.
Problem is, you are being bill RV so there is no options other then setting up a payment plan. The water company are not going to take your word for your move out date now and they are not going to be able to split the bill in any other way (other then their set payment plans)
Best thing is to phone or email them and see what they will offer payment wise I am guessing they will be able to offer a monthly plan of around £50 and when you have your move out date call the water company and get it closed (that can be done 28 days ahead but NOT before that as their systems can't cope more then a month ahead)

mcc100

Another option is to request a half year bill which will be for approximately £230 and will cover the period from April - September.

If you then move out after 4 1/2 months you will be due a refund of approximately £55.

Gothicfairy

You can't as far as I know request a half year bill but you can pay half 01.04 and then the other half 01.10 but that is standard, that is how all RV bills are and as long as you pay in time anyone can do that.
I was guessing from their posts though that they did not want to pay anything in advance and a payment plan would still work out less up front