Disconnection

ihateyes

bengasman wrote: »

It is not the house that has a debt, it is the person who had the contract with the supplier.


If you can prove that you notified the supplier on the 7th that the person responsible for the bill had left, and you had taken possession of the property at that day, the supplier would be guilty of breaking and entering, and probably criminal damage afaik.

You do have a bit of a problem though, as you are obliged as a landlord to assure the availability of heating, hot water and electricity for the new tenants. This means the supplier has you to some degree by the short and curlies if they ask for a heavy deposit for new meters.
A deposit however, is to be paid back to you at some point in time. Just make sure you don't accept liability for the debt of the previous tenants, because that meant that you would have to go to court to claim it back from them.

The crucial point here will probably be: can you prove the supplier was aware that you had taken possession of the property.
They will probably be hardnosed and heavy handed in pursuing the debt. As a counter measure, you can make it clear from the beginning that if you can prove you were right, that you will take legal action against the company, as well as against people responsible personally in civil AND criminal court.

I had something similar with a supplier (although just before they would break in ) and as soon as I had notified them in writing I would press charges against the responsible manager, they backed right off. It is one thing to play big boy with the company behind you, it's another to be sued personally.

Its good to note, that the OP doesnt state the date the enegy company entered he property, infact OP is AWOL.....

From his posts.. to me... the energy company entered before the tenants left.... perhaps this is why the tenants left the property...

Certainly if thats the case then the Landlord has been too trusting by not doing an inspection prior to their departure

rising_from_the_ashes

If the tenants left on 7th Aug, they must surely have given notice (usually at least a month).

I know when I've left rented properties, I've had the landlord (or agents) round and we've done a "walkround" check of the house/outside and both signed (and retained) a copy of a document stating the condition.

I've also not received my deposit back until I've provided them with copies of the final (and proof of payment) utility bills.

bengasman

lemontart wrote: »

if the gas meter has been removed it would have been at the behest of the gas supplier as they own it,

Meter is not owned by the supplier, but by the transporter.

lemontart wrote: »

and before you can get a new meter in you will require a live or dead check on the gas pipe to be done and a reference number for the job by the gas network in your area,.

Absolute tosh

jalexa

rising_from_the_ashes wrote: »

To put aside the orginal tenants (the "debtors") and whether or not the landlord's post is 100% complete and accurate, surely what has happened is that accomodation has been put out of use (temporarily at least) by the actions of the energy supplier, even though (as somebody I think already pointed out), the debt is down to the departed tenants not the property.

If that is what the law intended in granting the warrant then the law is an "a s s". Always assuming that the grounds for the warrant were 100% accurate.

lemontart

bengasman wrote: »

Meter is not owned by the supplier, but by the transporter.


Absolute tosh

all gas meters are either owned by the supplier or leased by them from the transporter.

as for your second comment I speak to people on a daily basis regarding this both joe public and suppliers, if the meter has been removed we have no way of knowing if supply turned off in street and the suppliers will not usually fit a meter until the transporter has confirmed if supply live or dead so hardly tosh dear poster.

bengasman

lemontart wrote: »

as for your second comment I speak to people on a daily basis

In what function? You clearly have no idea how it works; sounds like you either works for the council/social housing or are some sort of volunteer.
I am one of the guys that do the actual reconnection.;)

The Transporter ( Scotia in my area ) install and maintain the underground pipes known as "service pipes" as well as the meters. A meter install automatically includes verification that the pipe and connection feeding the meter are safe and up to spec.
The meter is then capped off on the user side with a notice to the user that they need to engage a Registered Gas Installer to connect the meter to the internal gaspipe, purge the internal pipe and verify that the appliances in the dwelling work safely.

lemontart

http://www.ofgem.gov.uk/Consumers/ncamm/Pages/ncamm.aspx#who_can_move


"However, since the meter installation is most likely to be the property and responsibility of the Meter Asset Manager (MAM) - in most cases this will be your energy supplier - it would be necessary for the OAMI or Gas Safe Registered installer to first contact the MAM, seek agreement for the works to be undertaken, convince the MAM that the work will be properly designed and installed, safe and that the overall long term integrity of their meter installation is not compromised, and finally agree contract terms."


refers to meter installation ownership

I work for national grid on both gas enquires and for emergencies.

Yes I know who owns what etc but you appear to be missing the point that if the op needs a new meter to be installed by the supplier then the supplier often insists on engineers from the gas networks such as scotia or national grid etc visit first to verify live. As the meter that was on site has been removed and when this happened is unknown. Though one would like to think that npower in this case as supplier would be able to check that if they had it removed . This is something that should be discussed with the supplier by the op and it is their decision on how they want to play it either by just getting the meter installed or getting the live or dead check done first.

Yes sometimes they do not then I may get a call to report no gas to the property either from meter installer, gsr or occupant and have had occasion when questioning find out such as op situation has occurred.

You say you do reconnection are you scotia engineer? alliance gsr or do you work for a mam company.

If supply live then the engineer from the supplier's mam be it you or another will be sent out to install the meter. If dead then may be a case of relay or new supply dependant on situation.

bengasman

lemontart wrote: »

are you scotia engineer?

RGI in daily life.

lemontart

bengasman wrote: »

RGI in daily life.

There for you would not be installing the meter,nor would you have reason to know what the suppliers often insist upon, you could advise if pipe live of course but suppliers do not always accept that regardless of your experience or qualifications.

bengasman

The way you phrased your post made it sound as if the USER needed to get a service pipe check etc. Methinks that whatever goes on between supplier/transporter/contractor is of zero interest to bill-payer, as they neither have influence, nor a bill to pay for it "at point of use".