Housemates not wanting to pay bills, Myself wanting to pay my share.

DannyWhoWorks

Hi, I live in a student house with 5 other people. These people are the most unreliable, untrustworthy and irresponsible people I have met (as you can tell, I love them ) Anyway, It's nine months then I'm out of there, so I'm thinking of it like that. I've come to the conclusion that the bills will be high, I have seen them use electric like its going out of fashion, having heaters on 24 hours of the day, leaving lights on, Putting heaters on the hottest day of the year just to dry clothes etc. This realy does grate on me but I've come to know that there is sod all I can do about it but just go around turning these things off when I see them. The next problem is, something I have realised 3 weeks ago when our first electric bill came in - Noone wants to pay it. I have always been brought up to pay these things straight away and to get them out the way but theres not a single person in the house who seems to want to pay it! When asked the response is 'Not got time', 'Not got money' 'Not my problem ...' or just fob me off!

What exactly can I do? Can I just ring up, pay my share by card or something then just leave the rest to them? That would be such a relief to me if i could, and then could trace back that it was me as I'd pay on my card so I would not be responsible if any further action is taken if these 'fools' just want to ignore the bills etc.

If anyone has any advice on this matter it would be such a relief.

On a side note, you might say just man up and make them act like grown ups but its 5 against 1, they are saying it's equally there house too and they can't just live by my rules and tbh, how can I argue with that?

dacouch

Whose name are the bills in ?

P.S You can calculate the cost of running the heating by finding out how many watts they are eg 1500w normally your bill tells you how much you pay per kilo watt hour. Thus at 13.5 per kilo watt hour a 1500 watt fire on full will cost 20.25p (13.5p x 1.5) per hour to run. This sounds cheap but multiply that by 24 hours and it's £4.86 per day, if three housemates have a fire on each for 24 hours your looking at £15 a day in heaters alone and a lot of electric heaters use more than 1500 watts...

Sambucus_Nigra

whose name is on the bills?

exarmydreamer

Hi, If I were you, check no bills in your name and get out of there ASAP. The problem being, you are on the contract with them and will end up with a bad credit rating by the time you leave there. Leave a recorded payment for what ever you owe with the land lord or letting agency, (ask for a receipt).

Let whoever you have a utility bill or connection to a bill know that you are moving out ( and on what date) and then disassociate yourself completely.

Find another flatshare or find a room through the college or uni. Seriously, by the time 9 months has past. You will be the only one left to pay the bills. I have seen this happen before, believe me, its worth paying an early exit clause to get out of there.

MoneySavingUser

Get out of there as soon as possible! (Yes I know this isn't easy)

Make sure your name isn't on any of the bills or you will be liable for the entire bill - the electric companies don't care if you are sharing with other people and legally each person doesn't have a 'share' of the bill - whoevers name is on the bill is legally liable to pay the whole bill!!

If there are any bills in your name get your name removed and tell the company you are moving out (even if you aren't) - I guess eventually they'll cut you off and you may have to endure a lot of discomfort whilst the others learn to grow up.....

Alternatively I knew some people like your housemates they had to get a prepay meter and put tokens which they had to buy into it to use electric - can you get this? (prepay electric may be more expensive though)


edit: you might not be able to argue with the fools - but eventually you will all suffer due to their idiocy (as you can notice this topic drives me crazy - I've dealt with my fair share of unreliable, untrustworthy and irresponsible people when I was at uni :mad:)

chanz4

Its a third party dispute, so really who ever is on the account is liable

sophlowe45

is your name on any of the bills?

if so, can you call up with the latest meter readings and get it changed into the landlords name or to the occupier. That way you won't be liable.

I was thinking you should tell the company you are moving out too, then the bills will switch to the occupier.

who pays the water, landline, internet bills? Are they minimum 12 months contract? Assuming you have an electricity only house so no gas bill.

talk to the landlord or agency, put all this in writing, talk to the advice person at the students' union, ours was excellent. got our deposit back for us and helped people move into other flatshares if things went wrong.

sophlowe45

this topic makes me mad too, I dislike flatshares for so many reasons, one of them being collecting bill money and the bills having to be in one persons' name and having to pay extra for other peoples overuse of electricity and gas.

misterbarlow

as everyone has already said in in amost every reply, only the name/s on the account will he hassled for the bill..
if yours isnt on the account i wouldnt worry about it....
if it is ring your supplier and advise them of the situation....

i often go to houses with 4/5/6 students sharing but i only have a single name on the account...

undaunted

I would worry about it if you are living there they may chase you for the bill & not just "your share". They aren't going to want to hear that you've paid your share, it was 5 v 1 etc they will just want their money. Do not tell them you are moving out unless you are doing so - that sounds like an attempt at deception / fraud to me. Unless your flat mates want to risk being cut off they need to grow up & decide how you will deal with this. Is there someone at the uni. / landlords you can raise your concerns with?

Transactionumber

Move out simples !