Backdated Water Bills / Time Limits??

jester213jester

Hi, im new to this forum stuff and not sure if i've put this question in the right place but here goes.
I have been living in a house (new build) which i bought in Feb 2009 and have never had a water bill or any correspondance from the water compnay untill today when a bill for nearly £400 landed on my mat from Northumbria Water. This is going back as far as 1st April 2010. i'm guessing that they were never informed the property was being lived in. my question is can i be charged for this as i dont have £400 to pull out or is there a way round this. I've heard that legally they can only demand money from so far back however i'm not really sure about this. Any advice/info would be appreciated.

Thanks

deanos

Yes they can charge you,there is no time limit on water bills, you must have known you were not getting water bills why didn't you contact them when you moved in ?

gordikin

The best you can hope for is some time to pay the bill.

macman

Consider yourself fortunate that you've only been back-billed 15 months-they could have gone all the way back to Feb '09, so you've had 14 months free of charge.

Cardew

jester213jester wrote: »

Hi, im new to this forum stuff and not sure if i've put this question in the right place but here goes.
I have been living in a house (new build) which i bought in Feb 2009 and have never had a water bill or any correspondance from the water compnay untill today when a bill for nearly £400 landed on my mat from Northumbria Water. This is going back as far as 1st April 2010. i'm guessing that they were never informed the property was being lived in. my question is can i be charged for this as i dont have £400 to pull out or is there a way round this. I've heard that legally they can only demand money from so far back however i'm not really sure about this. Any advice/info would be appreciated.

Thanks

Welcome to the forum.

You are probably getting confused with gas and electricity bills as these can only be backdated 12 months under certain circumstances. However that wouldn't apply in your case where you moved in and failed to notify the company you were occupying.

With water there is no such restriction - they can go back 6 years.

As you are metered, you should be charged for water and sewerage based on the number of units(cubic metres) you have used; plus a standing charge for water and sewerage.

If you post full details of your bill we can advise better.