Chased for water bill i did not know about 3 mths after moving out

scrattyrat

I was recently living in Bournemouth for 6 months, and paying a water company the whole time. Since I have left the house over 3 months ago I have been contacted by a separate water company claiming i owe them for water. I explained my account was with another provider to which they said that company was just for sewerage and that theirs was for the actual water. I explained that the whole 6 months i was living there that I had not received any letters from themselves stating that, nor had they made any effort to contact anyone in the property regarding setting up an account.I have never lived anywhere that had separate water companies for sewerage and water, and nobody at the water company i did have an account with told me this, nor the estate agent.

If i have to ay it then that is fair enough, but do they have any rights to chase me now, 3 months after leaving the property (so 9 months late) to set up an account for something that as far as i knew i did not have to pay. It was a shared rental property and as such is now going to be very problematic to track down all the other occupants and drop this on them too.

Any advice? surely if they could not be bothered to make contact in the 6 months we lived there, or the 3 months since leaving then they have missed the boat?! I dont think it is reasonable to now hit me with a 6 month bill when i could have been paying it monthly if i had known.

I addition, the bill makes no sense as the statement shows credits I have not paid, and also a charge for future water and also covers dates I was not in the property, as well as spelling some of the occupants names incorrectly and missing one occupant off altogether.

Any advice appreciated.

Thanks

Cardew

It is quite common for water to be supplied by one company and sewerage facilities by another.

Your bill would have shown that it was for water only. The letting agents should have informed you that water and sewerage were separate.

That said, I believe it is standard procedure that the water company will inform the company providing sewerage facilities that a customer has occupied a property.

Properties often remain vacant for years and water/sewerage companies have no idea when the property is occupied unless the occupant informs them.

So from your post it would appear that the bill is valid. That being the case the company have 6 years to claim from the occupants.

If the debt is passed to a Debt Collection Agency(DCA) they will chase whoever they can for the whole amount as you are all 'jointly and severally liable'. Technicalities like names spelt incorrectly will not matter. So don't let it get to a DCA as it could well reflect on your credit record.

You could seek further advice from the Consumer Council for Water.

scrattyrat

OK thanks for your reply. Quite an annoying situation that only now did they decide they wanted to setup an account.

Thanks.