british gas revenue protection

samara

hi

sometime last year i had a tenant in a rental property of mine growing cannabis.
apparently he had run up a few large bills,but i informed BG of this and told them he had left ,and they said they would try to chase it.
a few months later i get a call from a BG officer,saying they are going to take out the meters and replace them with pre payment ones.
#Fine i thought,no drama,had to get an electrician in to remove some kind of temp feed box the tenant had put in to by bpass the meter.

a few months down the line,a get a letter and a bill from BG for 24,000.
After a few hours on the phone I am told this is now with revenue protection and i can t cotact them until monday.

Are they pursuiing me for this money(as the landlord),assuming it was me that did this?

How exactly do i stand?

any advice please on this as i am very worried

ollski

Was the bill in your name?

chanz4

As long as you have proof it was a rental at the time, and not just a tennancy agreement you should be fine.

antrobus

samara wrote: »

....Are they pursuiing me for this money(as the landlord),assuming it was me that did this?

How exactly do i stand?...

UKL: Are there circumstances where landlords could be pursued for tenants’ unpaid bills?

No. Utility companies cannot pursue the landlord if the bill was left unpaid by the tenant and the account is in the name of the tenant. The only exception to this is if the landlord was unable to produce a signed tenancy agreement (when requested) covering the period of the bill.

Says one Keith Russell. From British Gas.

http://www.landlords.org.uk/news-campaigns/news/expert-advice-gas-and-electricity-management-your-rental-property

Hopefully you can produce a signed tenancy agreement when requested, and tell British Gas to, err, stuff that in their pipe and smoke it.

[Deleted User]

Did I read that amount correctly ? they are wanting £24,000 ?. This huge amount would take years to accumulate.
Cannabis growing in rental properties is now a career option, yielding a minimum of £40,000 a year just from 3 crops of 14 plants a year. According to the Daily Mail, one house in 44, (200,000 properties ) is now growing cannabis All landlords should be monitoring their properties like a hawk nowadays. A house . near where I live, caught fire due to poor bypassing of the electric meter last year. I wonder how you would stand with your house insurance if your house burnt down. I hope you keep a proper eye on your property with the next tenant. The properties start to stink like hell at the last couple of weeks of the 12 week growing period. Watch out for blacked out windows and tenants never ever opening doors if you knock.

macman

It would be interesting to know on what basis the billing estimate is made, if the meter has been bypassed.
A £24K bill is not based on average consumption.

samara

for the record,in the event of any damage caused to the property by cannabis growers,most insurances won't cover you.
My insurer said i was ,until they sent me the clauses in the policy:

did you recieve rent via bank transfer? No- not covered.A lot of cannabis growers pay in cash,some upfront. He was paying in cash and the agent taking it and not giving it to me.A cannabis grower isn t going to not pay rent are they??
I couldn t even get any money for the light refurb,I'm just glad there was no fire,because then i would be in trouble.
Insurance once again a big con.
It is the rogue agent that is to blame,they put him in there,and apparently I heard the referencing agency said he was a known drug dealer,but they still put him in!

samara

i know there was some british gas bills in his name,as I found them and informed them he had left.
What I don t know is that the billing was transferred to him from the moment he moved in,so I may have some liability(?)

antrobus

macman wrote: »

...A £24K bill is not based on average consumption.

Maybe it's based on the average consumption of your typical cannabis farm.:)

samara wrote: »

....It is the rogue agent that is to blame,they put him in there,and apparently I heard the referencing agency said he was a known drug dealer, but they still put him in!

The "rogue agent" can presumably still produce a signed tenancy agreement. They might well find the liability sitting on their shoulders if they have been negligent in not obtaining one.

ollski

macman wrote: »

It would be interesting to know on what basis the billing estimate is made, if the meter has been bypassed.
A £24K bill is not based on average consumption.

I bought a 3 bed council semi a few years ago, they had taken all the plants but just left all the equipment. There were 20 1kw lamps and ballasts and 300 plant bags left. Nothing seemed to be on a timer so probably using about 75 quid a day. That didn't take the cooling and ventilation or automatic watering system into account.

macman

samara wrote: »

i know there was some british gas bills in his name,as I found them and informed them he had left.
What I don t know is that the billing was transferred to him from the moment he moved in,so I may have some liability(?)

Your liability will cease during changeovers from the moment that you informed the supplier of a new tenant and gave them opening readings. It's normal to get the tenant to check and sign for those readings at handover. Did you not do that?
Furthermore, your liability should anyway cease from the date of the start of their tenancy agreement.