Deposit and Bill Problems from Rented Flat

loose_lips

Hello All,

Apologies if you have heard this before but I'm convinced I have found myself in a unique situation.

I have moved out of a rented flat and into my own property in September but I am having trouble getting my money back from the letting agency.

My girlfriend arranged the bills in the flat but didn't set up the gas. The flats were quite new which is offering a slight problem. The letting agency wants confirmation that we have paid all the bills - but we don't have one for the gas.

We have tried to set up a bill and back date the gas but that is proving impossible with the gas company, EDF, who have stated that they have never supplied gas to the flat, despite the letting agency confirming them as the supplier.

Essentially, there is no bill and never will be any bill, especially as Transco cannot search for who else may have supplied the gas. In return we cannot get a bill to reclaim our deposit.

I have read that a letting agency cannot withhold deposits with unpaid bills - but in this case there is no bill to paid, nor can we have one generated. Is this correct?

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Guy_Montag

Have you mentioned to the LA about the gas bill?

If not, don't just submit those bills you have. If they query the lack of gas bill, explain the situation. You've done everything you can & a damn sight more than more. They can corroborate your situation with a quick call to Transco.

loose_lips

Yeah I have, they actually picked up on the fact that we hadn't gone and sorted it out.

Whilst my girlfriend was sorting this she was told by the letting agency that there was an issue with the gas meter and that technically, although I sure there is a more thorough explanation, that it had never been registered. I think from my conversations to date twith Transco and the letting agency that the flat was simply receiving free gas - and there was no supplier, our gas meter didn't exist which is why no one can bill us.

What I am interested in proving to the letting agency is that there is no bill and there never can be a bill because no one has supplied any gas according to their records and Transco can never prove who has supplied it before us as their records do not go back that far.

With this in mind can a letting agency hold back a deposit?

olly300

If you can prove their is no bill then the letting agency or landlord has no legal defence to hold back the deposit. So prove that there was no bill in writing, send them and the landlord a copy and then at the end of it put in a request for your deposit in 14 days otherwise you will take the correct party to court.

prudryden

If you never saw a bill for gas, then it must have been sent to your address in someone else's name (the previous tenant perhaps). Sounds like the tenant changed the supplier without telling the LA or the LL and then didn't cancel the contract when they left. The LA needs to sort it out by contacting the previous tenants to find out who the supplier was.

When you moved in, the LA should have notified all utilities and council that you are the new tenant. At least, that is what my LA does, but I always doublecheck with the utilities myself because I had the same thing happen to one of my tenants who changed the supplier without telling us. Caused a bit of a problem, but got sorted in the end.

loose_lips

prudryden wrote:

If you never saw a bill for gas, then it must have been sent to your address in someone else's name QUOTE]

This is the odd thing - there were no letters sent through to the previous tennant that ever looked like a bill. Whilst I was never aware of this issue, my girlfriend sorted the electricity based on the fact we received a final demand from the electric supplier which we sorted from the meter readings. She kept an eye on the post and nothing of this sort came through for the gas.

In response to the item above, how do I prove that there is no bill? Just by sending a letter stating the fact that Transco and EDF (the supposed supplier) cannot find any evidence of gas being supplied to the flat?