United Utilities 7 year old debt

Matadonna

Please excuse me first of all as I usually manage to read through past threads and find my answers there and my first post is somewhat complicated and needy.....

A month or so ago my Partner received a letter to our home address with regard to her past address from an agency on behalf of United Utilities.

When she contacted the agency the aggressive agent reduced her to tears so I got her to add me to the inquiry as a point of contact.

The details are as follows ;
United utilities alleged that she lived in a rented flat from feb 2006-end 2011.
The flat has a water meter attached to the address which had been used constantly during the period in question
My partner lived there for 6 months between Feb 2006-September 2006. In that time she paid all utility bills promptly and the landlord took as part of the monthly rent an allowance for the water.

So far I have refused to acknowledge the debt and have provided council tax bills to prove the period of residency.

As the rental was over 5 years my partner got rid of all the agreements during our annual checking of our documents a considerable time ago and we have no copy of the tenancy agreement or even a contact for the landlord other than his first name.

Out of principal I want to contest this as far as possible as clearly there has been some wrong doing somewhere along the line, but do not want to affect our credit rating at our home address by doing so.

In a response to the proof of residency UU have stated that my partner from their perspective will be responsible for the costs accrued during her 6 month stay as our claim that the landlord was responsible is a third party dispute that they will not investigate, even though the property remained in use and other tenants may have come and gone and paid the landlord in a similar way.

I suppose my questions are;
Is there anyway of getting hold of a tenancy agreement from 7+ years ago from what appears to be a dodgy landlord who I have no details for?
Is the debt still applicable after all this time?
Am I wasting my time trying to argue this?
As we have no paperwork is it worth going to the police?
Can UU assign the debt to us and affect our credit rating without our acceptance of responsibilty

All help is appreciated

Cardew

Welcome to the forum.

Do you live in Scotland by any chance? I ask because in England you should keep bills for 6 years and I understand it is 5 years in Scotland; and you stated 'As the rental was over 5 years my partner got rid of all the agreements during our annual checking of our documents'.

In England as you have explained the situation, my understanding is the debt is Statute barred under the Limitations Act after 6 years. See below and a host of other websites that Google will reveal.

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/manuals/ihtmanual/ihtm28384.htm

That said when you have contacted a Debt Collection Agency(DCA) you will get nothing but hassle. They have 'bought' the debt and they will bully and pester.

In other sections of MSE there is guidance of how to deal with these ghastly companies so you need to again Google

http://www.money.co.uk/article/1009025-how-to-deal-with-debt-collectors.htm

The main lesson is never phone them, deal only in writing and in the correct format. It is up to them to prove now that you are liable for any debt.

Matadonna

Good Morning Cardew

Thankyou for the welcome and the information.

We do in fact live in England and from now on will keep all our documents for 7 years following this debacle.

I have looked at the limitations act fact sheet and do think that the debt would be classed as Statute Barred, the only concern I have with that is that it could affect my partners and our home addresses credit rating as the debt can still be recorded.

UU have written to my partner and informed her that they have instructed the agency to cease all activity on the account and that they will review the situation and send their position by 30.12.2013. I am certain that they will assign some debt to my partner as their terms read that if you occupy an address you are liable for charges unless you can prove otherwise.

I suppose I should read up a bit more on the limitations act and for now try and enjoy Christmas and see what they come back with.

My biggest annoyance is the landlord but as I said we trawled back through all our records and have nothing to identify him or confirm the tenancy agreement. I can only hope that other tenants have better records and he gets what he deserves further down the line.

Moral of the story keep records of everything!!!!

Again big thanks for the response and also to MSE as although this is my first post I frequently find other helpful information on the forum and also the website

spacey2012

The Limitations act does not stop them asking or demanding payment, it just provides a defence against court action.
Once a debt is established by you as barred, you wend them a put up or shut up statute barred letter and ignore them unless you receive stamped court papers.

They will refuse to admit it is bared and keep demanding whilst every you will answer to them.

Matadonna

Thanks Spacey.

As yet they haven't even wrote back to me,I spoke to the complaint handler today and they are no further on obviously my initial aim is to get the debt written off.

I have however read all the guides now on the limitations act and will follow that path if I need to.

macman

As Cardew advises, don't speak to them-communicate only by letter.

Cardew

macman wrote: »

As Cardew advises, don't speak to them-communicate only by letter.

That really is important - apart from the premium rate telephone numbers they use!


If you phone, you will doubtless have their (mis)interpretation of the conversation used against you.('you agreed on 6th January etc')


Above all bear in mind that the DCA have not the slightest interest in the merits of your case. They have bought the debt and will use any means to get it paid.

Matadonna

Ironically the DCA have written again today so a change in tact is in order.

As advised no more polite telephone calls. Letter to be drafted this evening to UU and DCA.

Its like you have a crystal ball Cardew....

Cardew

Matadonna wrote: »

so a change in tact is in order.

Freudian slip?


Or are you not a sailor;)

Matadonna

Cardew just bad grammar

Final update- Entire debt has been written off without mentioning limitations act.

Apparently after considerable investigation United Utilities realised that the meter was installed 2 years after we left the flat and prior to that all the flats in the property were on one meter thus confirming my initial claim the landlord was taking money off everyone in the property.

I wonder if they would have found that had we just coughed up the dough?????

Matadonna

And a £25 cheque for not handling the complaint correctly