LCS Debt Collectors for out of the blue British Gas Bill, Help!!

mazzey

Hi all,

First time poster over something I am a little worried about. Having looked through some similar threads on the forums it seems some people have a little more experience with these debt collection agencies than me.

I have recently moved out of a house in London where I had been living since July 2010 (always sharing with three others). I moved into my new address on last week

Not two days after moving I got a letter from LCS debt collection agency claiming I owed £2,473.80!! This was for a period of May 2010 (two months before I moved in) and 2011 (when we had a pre-paid meter installed in the house). British Gas or LCS had never attempted to contact me while I was at the address. My tenancy was also for a single room in the house, and not the whole house. I also do not know how they got my details.

Obviously i'm a bit shocked at this as my agreement with the Landlord had been all inclusive of bills. Although we had a standard contract that bills were to be paid by the tenants, this contract ran out after 6 months and was not renewed, the Landlord paid all of these (including council tax, water and electricity) as that was our agreement, as the flat was advertised as such and was the case with all other tenants sharing the house (same contracts). I have emailed him about this letter, and he has suggested not to contact the organisation, that they are just chancing their arm to get someone to pay the debt, and that they will stop contacting me after one or two attempts. In the emails, he did not state that the debt was mine.

I have called the agency to tell them that this is not my debt as the landlord agreed to cover the cost of the debt, and that I have never had an account with British Gas in my life, but they are asking that I pass on the details of my landlord, or provide a copy of the tenancy, which I'm not sure I should do. The landlord has asked that I do not pass his details on to the agency

I will speak to the Citizens Advice Bureau on Monday, but am a bit worried as have not dealt with debt collection agencies before.

Would appreciate any advice

Andy_WSM

mazzey wrote: »

The landlord has asked that I do not pass his details on to the agency

Of course he has! With several thousand £s of debt outstanding I'm very sure he won't want anyone to know where he is!

It's not an unreasonable request to want a copy of your agreement that says the landlord is going to pay the bills. Why wouldn't you provide them with this?

Majestic12

Looks like the landlord is trying to get out of paying.

If everyone else had the same tenancy agreement (as in landlord pays those bills) then surely the landlord is liable? Were the bills in the landlords name?

When you lived there, do you remember you or the other tenants receiving the British gas bills at all?