HELP/ADVICE - Outstanding debt from previous tenant

Gooberdargy

Hi all......really need advice on the below!!!

Basically just had letting agent email me to say British Gas have forcibly entered my property (empty now as not got a tenant) and changed the front lock.

After speaking to British Gas they are chasing an unpaid bill for the period my ex tenant was in the property and state they have not received notification from the letting agent that ex tenant had moved out! Another sticking point is that the name on the bill isnt the ex tenants.........it isnt mine either but now I am not sure where I stand as to the debt???

Letting agent state they havent received any written notification of these outstanding bills and ex wife says she returned any mail she had to sender.

Any ideas as to what my next move is as just want it sorted!

Help:(

G_M

Contact British Gas BY LETTER, to their head office, and

1) point out you are the landlord of (address)
2) point out the account in question is not yours
3) point out the tenant no longer lives there
4) point out they have caused damage to your property
5) ask them to agree, in writing, within 3 working days, to compensating you for repairing the damage they have done, and to repplace the locks
6) ask them to confirm that they will take no further action against you since you have no contractual relationship with them
7) offer to assist them in any way you can in tracing the account holders (your ex tenants)

Head your letter "letter before action" and put this on the envelope too.

Gooberdargy

G_M wrote: »

Contact British Gas BY LETTER, to their head office, and

1) point out you are the landlord of (address)
2) point out the account in question is not yours
3) point out the tenant no longer lives there
4) point out they have caused damage to your property
5) ask them to agree, in writing, within 3 working days, to compensating you for repairing the damage they have done, and to repplace the locks
6) ask them to confirm that they will take no further action against you since you have no contractual relationship with them
7) offer to assist them in any way you can in tracing the account holders (your ex tenants)

Head your letter "letter before action" and put this on the envelope too.

I am onto them on the phone at the moment and they are stating that they cant give me many details as I am not the account holder. I have stated that I am the house holder and although they cant give me much information they feel they can forcibly enter my property chasing an unpaid bill for a person who doesnt and as far as I am aware has never lived in the property. The customer service team sought advice from debts who are the ones chasing it and have been told "there is not much they can do about it"!!!!. I am now on hold while they talk to home movers???

Thanks for the reply by the way

theartfullodger

Report break-in to plod, get crime reference number.

Inform insurers to break in & damage but clarify you are not at this time making a claim. Confirm this in writing.

If BG get silly pay £1 to companies house for names & addresses of directors & deal with them direct

Fire_Fox

Gooberdargy wrote: »

Hi all......really need advice on the below!!!

Basically just had letting agent email me to say British Gas have forcibly entered my property (empty now as not got a tenant) and changed the front lock.

After speaking to British Gas they are chasing an unpaid bill for the period my ex tenant was in the property and state they have not received notification from the letting agent that ex tenant had moved out! Another sticking point is that the name on the bill isnt the ex tenants.........it isnt mine either but now I am not sure where I stand as to the debt???

Letting agent state they havent received any written notification of these outstanding bills and ex wife says she returned any mail she had to sender.

Any ideas as to what my next move is as just want it sorted!

Help:(

In addition to G_M's excellent advice ....

Is your letting agent responsible for logging meter readings at the end and end of each tenancy as part of the check in and check out process? Also should they be supplying these to the energy supplier on your behalf? Check your contract with them. Old tenant should give opening and closing readings for THEIR account, new tenant should give opening and closing readings for their account, you or your agent should give opening and closing readings for YOUR account where there is a void. In other words YOU should be paying the standing charge during the void, if you had this situation may not have arisen.

You can also supply the name of the incoming tenant if you wish but you can't actually open or close accounts on their behalf just give the utility supplier a 'heads up' to save yourself aggravation. The agent would not receive notification of debts, they should be in the tenants name and debts are confidential although of course you might have noted red bills arriving in the mail and guessed. Unless you have the wrong end of the stick I wonder if your agent knows what he is doing. No idea whose ex wife you are referring to and what they have to do wit this!

Gooberdargy

Fire_Fox wrote: »

In addition to G_M's excellent advice ....

Is your letting agent responsible for logging meter readings at the end and end of each tenancy as part of the check in and check out process? Also should they be supplying these to the energy supplier on your behalf? Check your contract with them. Old tenant should give opening and closing readings for THEIR account, new tenant should give opening and closing readings for their account, you or your agent should give opening and closing readings for YOUR account where there is a void. In other words YOU should be paying the standing charge during the void, if you had this situation may not have arisen.

You can also supply the name of the incoming tenant if you wish but you can't actually open or close accounts on their behalf just give the utility supplier a 'heads up' to save yourself aggravation. The agent would not receive notification of debts, they should be in the tenants name and debts are confidential although of course you might have noted red bills arriving in the mail and guessed. Unless you have the wrong end of the stick I wonder if your agent knows what he is doing. No idea whose ex wife you are referring to and what they have to do wit this!

Letting agent states they did send meter readings at end of letting contract to BG.

As for ex wife it is my ex wife who returned mail to sender BG.

I now live 350 miles from property so dont have easy access

Hump

I vaguely remember someone like Watchdog running a piece on gas companies gaining access (breaking into) properties but I thought they still had to obtain a warrant first - I'd ask their debt / litigation team for a copy of the warrant.

FireWyrm

Im afraid you might be in for a real fight. However, there are a few who have taken them on and won. First of all, you need to write to them, emails, telephone, smoke signals or chinese whispers wont work and you need a paper trail.

You also need to keep an eye on your credit file since they have a nasty habit of registering defaults against the wrong person. You need to establish whether there was a warrant and what on earth they thought they were doing.

This thread from 2009 might yield some useful names and addresses to write to should it prove useless speaking to a CSO : http://www.legalbeagles.info/forums/showthread.php?16417-British-Gas-broke-into-my-house!!

Fire_Fox

Gooberdargy wrote: »

Letting agent states they did send meter readings at end of letting contract to BG.

As for ex wife it is my ex wife who returned mail to sender BG.

I now live 350 miles from property so dont have easy access

By what method did the agent send the readings, can they prove it? Meter readings alone is of limited use because a landlord don't have access to or control over their tenant's account. You (or perhaps your agent) need to open a new account in your name and make arrangements to pay. Sorry but I am not convinced they actually did what they were supposed to, I wonder if they tried to close the tenant's account which clearly never existed. Ask the agent whose name they gave with the meter readings - yours or the tenants. If the letting agent did try to open the new account, that is leverage against British Gas.

Gooberdargy

Fire_Fox wrote: »

By what method did the agent send the readings, can they prove it? Meter readings alone is of limited use because a landlord don't have access to or control over their tenant's account. You (or perhaps your agent) need to open a new account in your name and make arrangements to pay. Sorry but I am not convinced they actually did what they were supposed to, I wonder if they tried to close the tenant's account which clearly never existed. Ask the agent whose name they gave with the meter readings - yours or the tenants. If the letting agent did try to open the new account, that is leverage against British Gas.

The letting agent has photographic evidence of the meter readings concerned so thats one thing they did right. They say they have spoken to BG and are sending the evidence as well as the tenancy agreement confirming that the person whose name the account is in was never on the tenancy. I have sent a letter to BG confirming this also and asking them for advice on how to resolve the matter. Hopefully this is either a BG mix up or can be resolved without action against myself!!!

Fire_Fox

Gooberdargy wrote: »

The letting agent has photographic evidence of the meter readings concerned so thats one thing they did right. They say they have spoken to BG and are sending the evidence as well as the tenancy agreement confirming that the person whose name the account is in was never on the tenancy. I have sent a letter to BG confirming this also and asking them for advice on how to resolve the matter. Hopefully this is either a BG mix up or can be resolved without action against myself!!!

No reason for BG to take action against you unless the flat has been empty for some time and you failed to contact them or respond to letters. You need to pay the debt from the period where there has been no tenant and I would do that ASAP. But an absent landlord is not normally liable for the bills on a tenanted property.