Am I responsible for Ex's electricity and gas bills?

LMHXF

Ok this is a slightly complicated one.

In 2010 me and my ex split up and I moved out of our jointly owned property.

She took over the bills but was unable to release me from the mortgage.

A month later she then moved her boyfriend into the property and married him about a year later.

Last year unbeknown to me they stopped paying the mortgage. They abandoned the property and moved out of the country.

Since I was unable to pay their mortgage on top of my own housing costs I ended up with 6 months of defaults on my credit history AND I had to pay a couple of grand shortfall on the mortgage.

Nightmare over, so I thought.

I've now recieved an electric and gas bill for the property totaling nearly £1K.

I explained that I haven't lived in the property since 2010 and that my ex took over the bills and lived there with her husband, but all I recieved back was a snotty response that because the mortgage was held in joint names they will pursue us both for the debt.

Since my ex is flatly refusing to face up to her responsibility, that's leaving me with another nasty bill.

Are they right in saying that because we jointly held the mortgage I'm responsible for the utility bills for the property?

The complication is that obviously I signed the original agreement with the energy suppliers when we moved into the property, when she took it over she might have only taken over the direct debit and left it in my name.

I checked my experian report and they are not down as one of my accounts, but I don't know if they register with Experian.

Have I a leg to stand on, or do I have to pay it?

I really can't afford to shell out another Grand for nothing.

Fire_Fox

You are not responsible for utility bills that are not in your name when you can prove you did not live at the property, ie. prove someone else used the energy. Landlords are not liable for their tenants bills despite being named on the mortgage, this is somewhat similar. However landlords are expected to open and close their accounts (are liable for utilities when the place is vacant) properly, and are expected to provide evidence of who the liable party is in the form of tenancy agreements etc.

When you moved out did you supply final readings, take your name off all the bills, change all your mail to your new address so you were no longer linked to your ex and the old property other than via the mortgage/ land registry? Then when you moved back in you supplied meter readings and opened a new energy account, went back on the electoral register, changed all your addresses on your bank accounts?

If so you have piles of documentation demonstrating you are not liable for the bill, write a formal letter of complaint to the energy supplier. If you didn't bother to take readings, didn't bother to take your name off the bills and didn't bother to check your mortgage was being paid you will have an uphill battle proving what you are and are not liable for. In that case you *may* be best settling the debt and pursuing your ex via a small claims action in the county court.

LMHXF

Stupidly I didn't take a final reading. I did check the mortgage was being paid for a while but stopped checking. When breaking up these details were the last thing on my mind.

Would the small claims be effective though considering she is living abroad?

Fire_Fox

So you didn't close any of the household bill accounts? Your ex cannot take your name off anything as such, one account is closed and settled and a new account in different name(s) is opened - that holds for mortgage, utilities and council tax. Didn't you let the mortgage lender and land registry know your new address? Lender should have written to you when there was arrears, land registry would notify you of any attempts to change the listing or sell the place or suchlike.
http://www.landregistry.gov.uk/public/faqs/i-am-a-property-owner-and-i-have-changed-my-address.-what-do-i-need-to-do

You can't use small claims without a residential address here, you could try with the last known UK address given her name is still on the mortgage/ land registry. You might get a CCJ which you could then lodge against the value of the house if there is enough equity to make that worthwhile. Or wait for her to return to the UK before you action the CCJ with bailiffs.

You can try to provide evidence to the supplier that you were not living there since 2010 (change on electoral register, all bank statements changed that month or the one after, utility bills at new place in your name). But as owner would still be liable for any bills whilst the property is empty/ after it was abandoned so you should offer and make part payment at least. Not sure how you would go about proving when that occurred.