New flat, previous tennants line still active!

hotnuts21

I just moved into a new flat on a 6 month contract, hopefully im not going to be here much longer than that. There is a phone line coming into the flat, and the previous tenant line is still active.

I phoned BT to tell them the previous occupants are gone and can I take over the line and they said no. Even though the previous occupants have not paid their bill, the account is in there name and so I cant do anything until they cancel their account. The only option is to have a new phone line installed, which will cost £130, plus an 18month contract. Which I dont want to get tied into obviously.

Im only hoping to be here for 6 months, and I only want it for broadband access. I can get cheaper month to month line rental than the £13 a month BT want plus an 18 month contract. (unless I take out 'package' with broadband which then brings it down to 12 months).

So is there anything I can do about the line? I could wait until they are disconnected for not paying their bill, but that could take ages.

I have tried to find the previous tennants but no luck, they were foreign students who may have gone home for all I know :-( I guess they didnt cancel because they too were in an 18month contract!

Thoughts anyone?

Paul

Heinz

Clearly, you will not be responsible for the line rental but, if you make any, will be resonsible for the copst of calls. That's a can of worms with arguments back and forth likely to follow.

Personally, I'd open a https://www.18185.co.uk account and use the 18185 prefix for all my calls (no exceptions). That would mean I would be able to pay for the calls I made.

hotnuts21

I prob wont use the phone to make calls till its sorted, I use my mobile for that. I just want a line for broadband and one I can control. I couldn't pay the bill for this one if I wanted as its not in my name!

I just want BT to close the account/line so I can take it over!

But I might sign up for one of those accounts anyway in the future.

wishuponastar

Actually i have some advice for you.....

I was in a flat which i shared with others....one guy was a random as we had a spare room.

The BT landline was in my name and then one day i went to make a call and it was not letting me. I phoned bt and they said it was because i was not the account holder.....??!!

After much discussion it elapsed that the random guy had told BT I had left and he opened the phone line up in his name. I said that was ridiculous and did BT not check this out in any way.

They said that they get calls like this all the time as people move on without telling them so they send a letter out to the current line owner and if they havent heard back from the owner of the line in one week then they cancel it and the new tenant can take it over.

So may be worth asking them about this. Though they may try push the getting a new line put in as is more expensive.

P.s I got my problem sorted but it elapsed that the random guy had collected a large sum of debt on calls and was not paying the bill. He was going to move out in a week and I dont think he was planning on saying as when i mentioned it he literally got a shock as to how i knew. Luckily we realised that in plenty of time and got it all sorted out.

hotnuts21

As with a lot of things it probably depends who you talk too. Do you remember, which department you spoke too? I ended up in Sales, which of course just want to sell me something!!

relic

hotnuts21 wrote: »

As with a lot of things it probably depends who you talk too. Do you remember, which department you spoke too? I ended up in Sales, which of course just want to sell me something!!

I'd just keep ringing, and hope you find someone with a shred of common sense.

At the end of the day it will be costing them to keep the line open, and they obviously aren't getting paid for it, so why would they want to keep it open?

Ignite

The policy when I had this at a new property 2 years ago was that BT wrote to the old account holder to check that the line cease (to allow you to take over the line) was legit. There was a waiting period of 10 working days from when you contacted them before they could kill the old account. After that, they would activate your new account.

Of course, if you are only going to be there for 6 months, why are you going to BT who have a 12 month minimum contract? Post Office phone service offer a monthly contract with no minimum term. http://www2.postoffice.co.uk/broadband-phone/home-phone-broadband/home-phone?intcampaignid=PI0075&campaignid=PI0075