£1.49 debt becomes £400

scarfey88

Hello

So I'm after some advice as this is going to the Ombudsmen, and I'm not sure if I have a chance in hell.

So basically, I was moved to Germany for 18 months with work, and I decided to rent our flat out whilst I was away. The first tenant moved out after 3 months as he got a new job, and there was a 1 week gap before the new tenant moved in. I left all this to my letting agent who I was paying to fully manage the property.

Anyway, come to June this year, the tenant wasn't paying rent and so I evicted them and me and my wife moved back into the flat. The tenants had left a load of debt, but I rang and changed over all my utilities into me and my wife's name, and everything was sorted as far as I was aware. However, come to October this year, I receive a letter from a debt collection agency (LCS) claiming that I owe some money to Eon (somewhere in the region of £1400). I wasn't with Eon energy so assumed it was for the previous tenant, though I was a bit confused as to why this had taken until October to be sorted out. I sent a copy of the tenancy agreement to the debt collector and told them that the debt didn't belong to me, thinking nothing else of it. Turns out the tenant hadn't bothered changing the electricity bill over into their name.

Eon then rang me and told me that as there had been a week whereby there was no one living in the flat, despite the usage being 0, there was a £1.49 standing order that had been owed from that period. I was happy to pay that, accepting that as the owner I was responsible for that week. However, they told me that because that £1.49 had gone to a debt collection agency, fees had been added and that I now owed £400. This was for a debt that I had no idea existed or that I owed anything. I asked Eon when they had told me about this debt, and they told me that as they didn't know who lived at the property, they had been writing to 'the occupier'. Now the confusing bit is that the debt collection agency had written to me personally, so they somehow now had my name, having not had it before (evidently it took them almost 18 months to get my name and tell me about the debt). Now I told them that I was in Germany at the time, and therefore I wasn't the occupier, so wouldn't have received any bills. Also, they hadn't actually written any demands letters until January 2016, though they had sent someone to the property to change the meter from a credit meter to a prepayment meter in October 2015. What's annoying is that to get access to the property, they had spoken to the tenants who owed the money, yet still didn't put their name to any of the bills! Me, being in Germany, remained oblivious to all of this.

My argument is that the charge is entirely disproportionate, and that at no point was I made aware that any bill was owed. Eon are claiming they have done nothing wrong and that I owe the money, so I'm now awaiting the Ombudsmen. I just can't believe that Eon have been allowed to do this!

Dobbibill

This might be better posted on the House Buying, Renting & Selling board.

There's a few B2L LL on there who may have experience they can share with you.

scarfey88

Moved, thanks.