Charged utilities for a house not attached to!

ard_2_da_bone · 14 February 2013 at 4:12PM

Hi guys & girls

I woould like some advice and wondered if any of you lovely people can help.

My partner moved out of a house in Nov '12, contacted the utilities company Dec '12 to be removed from bill. She saw a bank statement recently that showed the utilities company removed bills for December and January even though she had paid all up and should have been no longer linked to the house or account. The account is linked with a current tenant, but the utilities company are refusing to reimburse her money and say they can not as they can not retrive the money from the occupier even though she has not had anything to do with the account or house.

What is her legal stand point, I think she is within her right to be reimbursed and the company should chase the current tenant but the utilities company says they will not reimburse her even thought they have removed her from the account.

Anyone know of her legal stand point with the utilities company?

Kind regards

cattie · 14 February 2013 at 4:22PM

You haven't made yourself really clear. Was your partner sole tenant of property & if so when moving out did she notify utility co of her final date there and provide them with meter readings for moving out day?

Or was this a shared house with more than one occupier?

shaun_from_Africa · 14 February 2013 at 4:25PM

Did your partner get written confirmation back from the utility companies stating that they had received notification that she was moving out of the property concerned?

If she can prove that the companies were aware that she would no longer be liable for the bills, then she should contact her bank and inform them of what has happened and tell them that the 2 payments were unauthorised and that she wishes to claim on the direct debit guarantee. (if she paid via DD).
If the payment was made by plastic, then contact the card issuer and request a chargeback for the unauthorised payments.

Wywth · 14 February 2013 at 4:30PM

I've answered this in your ealier thread here:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4447067

ard_2_da_bone · 14 February 2013 at 4:33PM

Hi

Thanks for your reply

No, I don't think she received written confirmation, it was confirmed over the phone and it was by DD from her personal account. Without written confirmation, does this mean she does not have any legal standing with the company?

ard_2_da_bone · 14 February 2013 at 4:38PM

Sorry Cattie, she was 1 of 4 tenants at the property, their were 2 tenants attached to the utilities accountt, herself and another, the utilities hold account details for a shared business acount that all tenants deposit money into, but it looks like it bounced due to insufficient deposits made by current tenants and they automatically took it from her bank details that they had retained.