Nightmare Situation with Electric Bill and Student House.

DannyWhoWorks

Hey!

Last year Ilived with 5 other people in a student house. The year was a bit of anightmare, and I was glad to be out of there! I was the last in the house, andseeing as no one else had even thought about it; I rang up the electric withthe final reading and got a total.

In the housewe each had a ‘responsibility’, so I gave the total to the guy in charge of theelectric to get each person’s share.

I paid and 3other people paid, But one housemate the ‘nightmare’ housemate all year hastotally vanished and ignoring all Facebook messages, texts etc.

It has nowbeen 3 months since we moved out and of course, it’s still not been paid.

It has cometo a point where the other people have insisted on their money back from theguy in charge of the electric, because it’s not being paid.

So, I reallydon’t know what to do! My name (and my girlfriends) is on that bill and I justwish people would pay up and then it can be all forgotten, but I refuse, to paysomeone else’s share as they are selfish enough to just ignore everyone and notworry about bills, consequence etc.

So, whatexactly is the next step? Everyone is going their own ways, so what exactly happens now? Do they chase everyone? In an ideal world I wish they would, and then I could just pay my share and be happy!

Thanks somuch for any replies!

keith1950

Whose name is on the account ?.......he is ultimately responsible however the obvious compromise would be to split the missing amount between the the remaining housemates.

If it doesn't get sorted someone is going to end up with a trashed credit file and as your name appears to be on the bill that could be you.

HappyMJ

DannyWhoWorks wrote: »

Hey!

Last year Ilived with 5 other people in a student house. The year was a bit of anightmare, and I was glad to be out of there! I was the last in the house, andseeing as no one else had even thought about it; I rang up the electric withthe final reading and got a total.

In the housewe each had a ‘responsibility’, so I gave the total to the guy in charge of theelectric to get each person’s share.

I paid and 3other people paid, But one housemate the ‘nightmare’ housemate all year hastotally vanished and ignoring all Facebook messages, texts etc.

It has nowbeen 3 months since we moved out and of course, it’s still not been paid.

It has cometo a point where the other people have insisted on their money back from theguy in charge of the electric, because it’s not being paid.

So, I reallydon’t know what to do! My name (and my girlfriends) is on that bill and I justwish people would pay up and then it can be all forgotten, but I refuse, to paysomeone else’s share as they are selfish enough to just ignore everyone and notworry about bills, consequence etc.

So, whatexactly is the next step? Everyone is going their own ways, so what exactly happens now? Do they chase everyone? In an ideal world I wish they would, and then I could just pay my share and be happy!

Thanks somuch for any replies!

In reality if the amount is low the electricity company will just write the amount off...without affecting anyone's credit rating.

If it's your name on the bill then its up to you whether you want to take the risk. I would pay as much as you can towards the outstanding bill...i.e 4/5th's and hope the remainder is written off. If they do take further action by taking you to court then as soon as you get the court papers just pay up the remainder and your credit will not be affected in any way.

DannyWhoWorks

keith1950 wrote: »

Whose name is on the account ?.......he is ultimately responsible however the obvious compromise would be to split the missing amount between the the remaining housemates.

If it doesn't get sorted someone is going to end up with a trashed credit file and as your name appears to be on the bill that could be you.

The way it went, there are 4 out of the six housemates names on there. No one will split .

This is what I am worried about, over one nightmare housemate!

Is this how it works then, the electric company just pick one person at random? and force them to pay the whole total (£500 in this case) or do they have to pay extra charges on that too?

Just very worried about this but no one is willing to want to sort it out.

DannyWhoWorks

HappyMJ wrote: »

In reality if the amount is low the electricity company will just write the amount off...without affecting anyone's credit rating.

If it's your name on the bill then its up to you whether you want to take the risk. I would pay as much as you can towards the outstanding bill...i.e 4/5th's and hope the remainder is written off. If they do take further action by taking you to court then as soon as you get the court papers just pay up the remainder and your credit will not be affected in any way.

Thanks for this . The total is £500 so it is quite high!

Problem is, once I have paid my share off, which I have thought of doing, would they not then charge me the full amount and the others get away with it? thank you for your reply!

Cardew

You say your name(and girlfriend) is on the bill; who else?

You need to bear in mind that the Utility company will not get involved in third party disputes.

Pineapple88

DannyWhoWorks wrote: »

The way it went, there are 4 out of the six housemates names on there. No one will split .

This is what I am worried about, over one nightmare housemate!

Is this how it works then, the electric company just pick one person at random? and force them to pay the whole total (£500 in this case) or do they have to pay extra charges on that too?

Just very worried about this but no one is willing to want to sort it out.

All four people named on the bill are jointly and severally liable which means all four people are liable for the whole amount. The electricity company will pursue the party most likely to pay. As they don't know who this is, and it is likely you all have similar ability to pay, they will pursue all four people until they recover the amount. It is in the interest of all four parties to split the bill or all four of you may find that your credit rating is trashed. It is possible that the other housemates don't understand the implications of not paying the bill- can you speak to their parents and explain the situation? They may be able to knock a bit of sense into them.

Have you had your deposit back from the landlord yet? Generally they won't release it until they know the bills have been settled. This may be another incentive for the other housemates to reach an agreement.

Carfal

Had this when I was a student as well. One person decided she would leave the house before the end of term and 'forgot' to leave her share of the leccy bill. The two of us remaining went to the landlady who paid the outstanding balance and deducted it from the non-payer's deposit.

I guess it's too late for you to do this?

keith1950

Are you saying that all the housemates are account holders ? Why does the bill only name you and your girlfriend ?

DannyWhoWorks

Thanks for all the advice guys, I'll try and answer all the questions

Me and my girlfriend are on the bill and two other people, the guy who refuses to pay and the guy 'in charge' of the electric. When singing up, they could not fit all of us on the account!
Sadly, the one housemate who refuses to pay has no parents (lost contact with them years ago, he is mid 20's)
Regarding deposit, we did not have to give a deposit to the landlord, just an admin fee.
The bill has four people on it, me and my girlfriend and two others, sorry if I did not make that clear.
Thanks again for all the replies guys!
I have been thinking and previously, whenever the bill needed paying, we would give the one who now refuses to pay the money and he would pay by his card (we was all there on loud speaker phone so we knew he did it) - because it was on his card, would he be the first person they chase? because they know he has paid before? This would be a stroke of luck if they do because, the rest of us would happily give him the money if he the electric people forced him to pay!

Cardew

The 3 of you named on the bill should pay the bill in full - you have no option, unless you want credit records trashed and one of you chased by a Debt Collection Agency.

As said earlier, the Utility company will not get involved in a 'third party' dispute. How do they know if he has paid you or not?

Then if you can contact the 'non-payer' take him to the small claims court.

Your situation has been raised loads of times on MSE and there is no other solution.