Backdated Bill Received for Old Flat - Thought Landlord was Paying

jackqu7

I moved into a flat in 2012. I called the electricity supplier EON on the day I moved in to set up an account. They advised me that someone else was paying the bill and therefore I didn't need to do anything.

I contacted the lettings management agency about this and they confirmed that I was not responsible for paying electricity. Unfortunately I don't have this in writing.

I renewed the tenancy a year later and moved out after two years (2014.) I was not told about any change in energy arrangements when I renewed, nor did I receive any correspondence from EON, not even a "to the Occupier" letter.

Recently I received a bill from EON at my new address for £1.3k relating to energy used at the flat. Interestingly, the dates on the bill are exactly those of my second contract, so presumably whoever was paying prior to that stopped at that point.

As you can imagine, I don't have £1.3k laying around, especially at this time of year and I feel someone should have contacted me when the arrangements changed, as they apparently did.

I was wondering if anyone had any advice on what I should do next?

Cardew

Not sure I understand your contact with Eon.


When you moved into a property it is self evident that someone would be paying the bills up to the date you move in. All Eon would know is the bills were being paid. They would have no knowledge of arrangements after your occupation, although the natural assumption would be you would be paying.


How did you know Eon were the supplier if 'nor did I receive any correspondence from EON, not even a "to the Occupier" letter.'



It is certainly not normal for a landlord to pay for electricity, however the letting agreement should clearly state if the electricity is included.


Without any written evidence to the contrary, it seems that the bill is very clearly your responsibility. You should ring Eon and try to arrange a payment plan over the next x months.


Don't delay because the debt will be passed to a Debt Collection Agency.

E.ON_Company_Representative:_Helena

Hiya jackqu7 and welcome.

I'm so sorry you've found yourself in this situation, I do know this isn't nice at all.

It sounds as though when you first moved in the bills were included with the rent and these were all paid.

When you renewed the tenancy agreement for the next two years it sounds like there were some changes to your agreement, but you don't appear to have been informed about these.

I think, it sounds like the energy bills should have changed in to your name at this point for you to pay the bill, but we haven't been advised of this, the same as you.

This really puts this dispute as a third party dispute, between yourself and the letting agent and it's them I'd advise you to speak to.

We have obviously now been provided with your name and forwarding address for us to send the bill to and it may be worth speaking to the letting agent about this also.

I'd also be having a look to check the meter reads, are these accurate? Did someone read the meter, when you moved in and out?

I would say though the follow up will continue with the information that we have if we don't receive payment, so If you can speak to them as soon as possible.

I hope you can sort this out quickly.

Helena

Cardew

E.ON_Company_Representative:_Helena wrote: »

It sounds as though when you first moved in the bills were included with the rent and these were all paid.

When you renewed the tenancy agreement for the next two years it sounds like there were some changes to your agreement, but you don't appear to have been informed about these.

I think, it sounds like the energy bills should have changed in to your name at this point for you to pay the bill, but we haven't been advised of this, the same as you.

I think it more likely that the letting agent were paying the bills initially - along with water charges and service charges, Council Tax etc, and whilst the property was unoccupied; it is fairly standard for this to happen after the landlord moves out. However they can fail to pick up that the tenant is not paying electricity and just continue paying.


That said it is completely implausible that Eon would have 'advised me that someone else was paying the bill and therefore I didn't need to do anything.'