Electricity and eviction

45002

New here and hope this is in the right place but hope somebody here can help me. Can you be thrown out of a rental property / letting agent for non payment of electricity ?
Have contacted the electricity company numerous times and even asked for a meter to be installed and they kept assuring me this would be done but never was.
Now some-one from the letting agent has turned up to take a meter reading then went.
I've just been made redundant but rent is up to date and not in arrears. Just wondered where I stand on this.

So why now has the OP stated to panic and does the OP have proof they have contacted the supplier ?


Very easy to find out who the supplier is anyway

http://www.uswitch.com/gas-electricity/guides/who-supplies-my-electricity-and-gas/

chenille

G_M wrote: »

Seems very clear.

1) this issue is nothing to do with the landlord as it is between you and the electricity supplier
2) you could be evicted by the landlord (which appears to be one of your concerns) in the usual way via a S21Notice either when your fixed term runs out or at any time during a Periodic (monthly) tenancy, subject to the required notice and court process
3) you could NOT be evicted by the LL via a S8 notice under any ofthe 17 grounds (eg ground 8 rent arrears) since you owe the LL nothing for electricity and are not in arrears
4) Give the electricity supplier the meter number.
5) Read:

Well, this has put my mind at rest in some ways and I thank you for that.
I also thank the people who have had this experience, at least I'm not the only one.
Cheers.

RAS

Forget the card payment meter; you need to pay the outstanding bill.

As you are in a periodic tenancy, the LL can give you 2 month's notice any time for no reason at all.

chenille

45002, thanks for the link, doesn't show the electric supplier but there is a phone number for my region which I will ring tomorrow.

BitterAndTwisted

The OP has started to panic because they fear the LL will evict them due to the electricity arrears. I thought that was plain from the first post.

You might not believe that they have been trying to extract a bill from the supplier but other posters have had the same problem, so it's not completely beyond the bounds of possibility.

That link is very useful but the OP may not have heard of it before, or known where to look.

OP: I hope you've got £500 set aside from your redundancy money to pay up once they get their @rses in gear.

chenille

RAS wrote: »

Forget the card payment meter; you need to pay the outstanding bill.

As you are in a periodic tenancy, the LL can give you 2 month's notice any time for no reason at all.

I don't know what the bill is, e-on kept promising to sort it out and send me a bill etc.

Guest101

chenille wrote: »

Don't know if this has coincided with my redundancy but it looks like e-on have contacted my letting agent about the meter and all hell has broken loose.
As stated, a payment meter would be an answer to my prayers but can the letting agent evict me as this would be a nightmare.

Well they shouldn't if you are the bill payer.

No, la can't evict for any reason, but your landlord can for any reason.

chenille

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

The OP has started to panic because they fear the LL will evict them due to the electricity arrears. I thought that was plain from the first post.

You might not believe that they have been trying to extract a bill from the supplier but other posters have had the same problem, so it's not completely beyond the bounds of possibility.

That link is very useful but the OP may not have heard of it before, or known where to look.

OP: I hope you've got £500 set aside from your redundancy money to pay up once they get their @rses in gear.

Yep, what you have wrote there is exactly where I am at in a nutshell.
I know I am in the wrong and trying to sort it out.

Utseya123

You need to be able to demonstrate that you made all efforts to contact and pay the electricity company and are willing to pay it now, subject to it being a true and correct reading. You also need to be able to demonstrate that the LL was aware of this. Ideally, you should have kept aside funds for payment of the power bill on an estimated basis. If the amount is not known, what is it that they are demanding of you.

bouicca21

Chenille I suggest you write your electricity supplier with a formal complaint, setting out the number of times you have contacted them with the information they require to set up an account and bill you. It is frankly going to be patently obvious to them that something has gone wrong at their end, and that they are at fault.

Do it pretty sharpish because if eon are anything like EDF, as soon as they did get their @rses in gear, they were very pushy about getting paid in full instantly.

I think when I complained they made a good will payment. I have found this is how big companies operate - they don't bother sorting out their systems and procedures or ensuring that their staff are managed properly they just make a one off token payment to make you shut up.