New home empty for 4 months, standing orders?

eniacs

Hello All;

I'm looking for a little help, my partner and i have just bought our first home and it is sitting empty whilst we are working at sea. No one is living there and all services are off. I've already informed the council so that council tax will start on the date we intend on moving in.

What is the effect on our gas, electric and water bills? The estate agents have received a bill for the standing order from EON for the services, of course they do not know my name yet or that i have taken ownership. I would think calling them when we get back and letting them know we have just moved in and giving the reading for the gas/electric is sufficient - or will they be eager to charge us standing charges for the time it was empty?

In one of my rental homes, i get a bill for the standing charge for the water whenever the house is empty as south west water know my address. In my other rental home, they do not know me so they cannot charge me for the standing order. This is only because i told them i was the landlord in the secound place. I wish now i hadnt and just stated i have just moved in. Additionally in the 2nd place, british gas were hounding me for the details of the previous owner to charge them for 1 week between them moving out and me taking ownership of the house. I didnt tell them anything as i thought it was fairly pathetic and that BG would not bother chasing them for the £3 standing charge for the weeks empty occupancy.

Can anyone shed light on the best solution for the months the house has remianed empty during my ownership?

Pincher

With gas and electricity, you record the meter readings for the void period, and make sure you are on a non-standing charge tariff, there is very little to pay.

With water, because there is no meter, they will charge the landlord pro-rata. E.g. £600 a year, they will charge you £50 a month. With meter, obviously you only pay what the meter readings say you used.

Councils charge 90% for furnished property, 0% for un-furnished. They can verify the furnising status, and revoke the 0% if they see furniture.
Rental or not is irrelevant, furnished property is charged as second home.

Obviously you are going to be absent, so there will be payment demands based on estimated readings, because the meter reader could not gain access.

eniacs

Both my let properties have a water meter, south west water still charge me a standing charge for the privaledge of being connected to a water supply. As i say, council tax is avoided as the property is empty. I have not contacted the energy supplier at all, so they are only demanding payment from the estate agent who will not pay it of course.

I will contact them when i return, but what should i tell them? I could state that i have just moved in and taken ownership and tell them the meter readings that the solicitors took (i asume they took some!) or i could be honest and state the move in date, although i expect the friendly telephone assistant will happily announce that i owe some fantastic amount for the period it was unoccupied.

Thoughts? I'm a penny pincher i know, but i dont like the idea of paying big companies for things that i havent used, even if it is in their "rules" that they treat like the law!

spiro

eniacs wrote: »

I will contact them when i return, but what should i tell them? I could state that i have just moved in and taken ownership and tell them the meter readings that the solicitors took (i asume they took some!) or i could be honest and state the move in date, although i expect the friendly telephone assistant will happily announce that i owe some fantastic amount for the period it was unoccupied.

By saying you have just taken ownership you will be lying and it is quite possible that you will be found out because suppliers are quite hot on checking properties that people claim have been empty. What you should have done was get yourself on a 'no standing charge' tariff as soon as you took ownership.

E.ON_Company_Representative:_Helena

Hi eniacs,

I thought I would just give you a bit of info about what should be happening with E.ON.

When you take over responsibility of a property you need to inform us that you are now responsible for the bills, this will be the date that you took ownership for the house even though you haven't moved in yet.

We would request a meter reading to start the billing from (I know you are away) but if anyone else read the meter for you we could use this.

Once the account is set up you can set up a payment arrangement and choose the tariff that would be best for you. In this case it sounds like you need to be on a no standing charge tariff so you just pay for the energy that you use.

Unless you have an alternative metering set up ie; E10, RHT then I doubt that you are being billed on a standing charge tariff.

So, the first thing to do is to contact us and let us know that you are responsible and from what date, ask to be out on the best tariff for you and discuss payment arrangements (if you want one).

Hope this helps.

Helena

macman

To get a Class A exemption, the property needs to be uninhabitable and undergoing structural renovation (as well as being unfurnished). Maximum 12m exemption.
A Class C exemption requires the property to be unoccupied and unfurnished. This exemption is for a maximum of 6m. Is the property unfurnished?

eniacs

Macman;

Yes it is unfurnished. The property purchase completed whilst we were away and we are still away and will be for some time. In the terms of the insurance, it must be empty and checked every 30 days, which it is. The council tax does not worry me, i have managed to claim empty property befor for my rental homes. It is easy, they checked up on me last time and aside from a house full of tools and rubbish they were happy enough. Even though i was camping in the house whilst i refurbished!!

Helena;

I wont be back for some time and calls are expensive here. I would prefer to leave it until i am back in the uk. Satellite calls at a high cost per minute and bad call quality do not go down well with energy provider call centres, or any other call centres for that matter.
Will it be ok for us to register with the company the day we return? I think i have the meter readings somwhere from when we took ownership of the house. I think we are either with EON or EDF not sure. It definately had an E in the name!

Thanks for help.

E.ON_Company_Representative:_Helena

Hi eniacs,

Sounds great that you have the meter readings, it means we can bill you accurately.

You can just email the details, so you don't need to call in, details on the E.ON website.

Hope this helps.

Helena

grahamc2003

eniacs wrote: »

. The council tax does not worry me, i have managed to claim empty property befor for my rental homes. It is easy, they checked up on me last time and aside from a house full of tools and rubbish they were happy enough. Even though i was camping in the house whilst i refurbished!!

.

I'm glad it's easy to avoid contributing to the community services you obviously take for granted which other people, some probably much less well off than you, pay for you. Hopefully, you'll try the same thing again and get caught, which then, with a bit of luck, will give you something to worry about.