Large landlord debts, landlord not paying bills

blckbrd

coinxoperated wrote: »

Agreed - but going to lengths to find financial information relating to someone else isn't acceptable.

Anyone can ask anyone what they like.

If some idiot, with a duty to protect data, gives away information - yhat's not the OP's problem.

macey90

blckbrd wrote: »

Anyone can ask anyone what they like.

If some idiot, with a duty to protect data, gives away information - yhat's not the OP's problem.

Yes I was curious as to why I might get 'done' for getting told this information - we were told when they came to shut off the power to the house and again on the phone

HarryBarry

macey90 wrote: »

Okay I see, thanks for the advice.

I guess that makes sense, it just seemed very real at the time when engineers turn up with a locksmith and a warrant. They left the power connected when they realised that the residents were not named on the bill, but stated they would imminently be back to shut it off. Empty threats I guess...

'Trying to scarper' is a bit much, ideally I would just like to live in the house I pay considerable cash for without the stress of people turning up to cut off the power. My fear was and is that I pay my £1600 rent and then a week later have electricity cut off and me seeking compensation from a disolved company and having nowhere to live.

I think that is the point some people in the thread are ignoring.

I think you'd have to be a bit dim to just "pay your rent and keep your nose out". I'm not saying you should end up with holding rent, but it is right to consider it when you already know that they have turned up to cut you off (and only didn't when they realised who lived there), he owes 10k on it and he has a track record of disolved companies.

It isn't exactly a normal set of circumstances. There might be a mistake by EON, I've been billed too much by mistake in the past - and when I challenged it and didn't pay the first step wasn't to turn up to cut me off with a court warrant. They looked into it, saw there had been a mistake and agreed a new amount to pay. Your landlord might be right but I'd say by the time it gets to that stage EON certainly aren't willing to accept it is their fault and they are the ones who decide to cut you off - not the landlord.

And it certainly IS your business whether the landlord is paying the bills as it is you that will end up losing out. You wouldn't hand over £1000 for a new sofa if you thought they were not going to pay their supplier that they already owe money to.

Maybe just pay some money week by week. The landlord might be a bit miffed but he is hardly likely to start anything legal knowing that he is getting his money and by the time anything gets resolved you probably would have paid it all.

Weird_Nev

£1600 seems a lot to pay in one hit. Is that a term?
Is there any way you could pay it monthy instead to reduce your potential loss if what you fear will happen, happens.

BUt other than that, concentrate on your studies. It's of no consequence to you that the landlord can't manage his affairs properly.
FWIW it's quite routine for large businesses to not pay things like invoices and bills until the absolute last moment, because he can be sat on that £10k, putting it to use earning interest or investing in yet more property until he absolutely has to pay.
This does sound like it's gone a bit beyond that. But I wouldn't worry overly. If he controls as many properties as you say, the university will have to get involved if it goes belly up.

HarryBarry

Kynthia wrote: »

I know it can't be comfortable but you are paying for a property to live in and use of utilities. You are getting these so you have no cause to withhold payment. If you withhold rent your guarantor will be pursued. The bill with Eon is not in your name and therefore absolutely nothing to do with you.

If you do get cut off then you have a valid dispute. We could then give you suggestions over what you could do, such as reporting him to Environmental Health or asking for compensation for the disruption.

But he isn't just considering to withhold payment for no reason, there are valid concerns here. It's not like he has just had a scenario pop into his head based on nothing.

I thought this was a money saving forum. The guy is after ideas to protect his money. He hasn't come on here saying he wants to avoid paying rent. He is going to feel really stupid if he hands over his money and then the worst does happen, knowing what he knew in advance. The guy from EON said they would be back to cut them off so its a very real possibility.

Giving consideration to the set of circumstances up front is a lot better than paying and then having to chase compensation in future (from someone that might have no money). He'd get slated on here if he was posting a thread saying "just paid out £1600 but now I have to find somewhere else to live. I knew they might cut us off but decided to just pay anyway, what compensation can I get from someone who has no money".

macey90

Weird_Nev wrote: »

£1600 seems a lot to pay in one hit. Is that a term?
Is there any way you could pay it monthy instead to reduce your potential loss if what you fear will happen, happens.

Yeah it's three termly payments over the academic year. It's a good idea to try and pay in smaller payments, but it has been raised before by another tenant. Unfortunately the landlords companies response is along the lines of 'please see the contract you signed, all payments must be made in full by the date set otherwise a 10% charge will be placed on the entire house (the total rent of the property is 50,000 between 10 students).

Rosemary7391

Paying your rent is one thing, as that money is something you'd have to pay anyway. I'd be more concerned about getting my deposit back at the end of the tenancy - OP, have you paid a deposit? Is it registered with a deposit protection scheme and do you have the prescribed information about it?

That clause sounds horrible! I'm not sure that's very fair - is it a joint contract? That's basically saying if you don't pay your rent on time, you have to pay twice as much, assuming an equal split between all tenants :eek: Or is it 10% of the late amount..?

macey90

Rosemary7391 wrote: »

Paying your rent is one thing, as that money is something you'd have to pay anyway. I'd be more concerned about getting my deposit back at the end of the tenancy - OP, have you paid a deposit? Is it registered with a deposit protection scheme and do you have the prescribed information about it?

That clause sounds horrible! I'm not sure that's very fair - is it a joint contract? That's basically saying if you don't pay your rent on time, you have to pay twice as much, assuming an equal split between all tenants :eek: Or is it 10% of the late amount..?

It's a joint tenancy, so if one person is late, then 10% is charged on the balance, so for this final payment 10% of £15,883.

Yeah the deposit was something we wrote off not long after we moved in, unfortunately we heard of the reputation of the landlord only after we signed. Notorious for keeping deposits, but we will see. I am not sure if it is in a deposit protection scheme, I have heard nothing of it, but I haven't asked the lead tenant, perhaps they dealt with it.

macey90

thanks for all the responses by the way, especially those that haven't jumped to accusing me of trying to dodge paying rent or telling me to mind my own business, it has helped me think through what's going on a lot

anotheruser

Question: Does it state in your contract that the LL will be responsible for paying the electricity?

If so, I would question where (part of) your rent is going if he isn't paying the bill. Another question to consider is what other bills aren't being paid?