New houseowner - Outstanding Utility bills

kaney

Hello,

I have recently bought and moved into a new house, however I am recieving bills addressed to 'The Occupant' for unpaid electricity from periods prior to the completion of the sale.

Firstly, am I liable to pay the backdated charges?

Secondly, what should I be doing to stop the letters?

Thanks in advance.

Kaney x

Euphoria1z

you are liable to pay for the bills the day you moved (bought the place) ... any thing prior is not your problem.

BitterAndTwisted

Did you take meter-readings and give them to the utility suppliers when you moved in? If so, you are not liable for someone else's usage. Either froward the bills to the vendor if you know their new address or if you don't, contact the supplier and tell them you don't have their forwarding address. It's up to them to find the party who owes the money and that's not you.

justjohn

Phone the util company state when you bought the property. Tell them to stop sending you bills that have nothing too do with you

Helsen

This happened to me. Call the utility company with your meter readings etc, if they continue to chase (as they did with me) provide a copy of a letter from solicitor / copy of house sale info. Finally did the trick for me.

jimjames

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

Did you take meter-readings and give them to the utility suppliers when you moved in? If so, you are not liable for someone else's usage. Either froward the bills to the vendor if you know their new address or if you don't, contact the supplier and tell them you don't have their forwarding address. It's up to them to find the party who owes the money and that's not you.

It can also help to photograph meters when you move in, date stamp is then embedded in the images and you have proof in the event of a dispute.