Landlord ran up huge energy bill and wants tenant to pay

theoretica

If SSE had been undercharging this should all be on their records and she needs to talk to them - doesn't matter if it is the same person or not. They should also send her a bill which makes it clear what the charges are for and when, why the underpayment occurred. Has she read what they sent in detail, or just seen the headline figure and panicked?

If it is an underpayment, she needs to sort it out with SSE, and as the other charges are so low it seems likely. If it was two months of high use then talking to SSE is the way to show this.

Pixie5740

lookstraightahead wrote: »

Why? The property is not fit for purpose. I would pay initially as I would not want it on my credit file, but then claim back. The inconvenience of staying in a hotel I wound also want compensation to be honest. Remember this us supposed to be someones home. Paying for an inconvenience? Seriously!

Compensation? :rotfl:

Hopefully you never find yourself in the same situation because believe it or not the tenant was lucky to be put up in a hotel at the time.

Pixie5740

OP, whose name is on the bill? Did your friend take meter readings the day she moved in?

It would take some doing to burn through £700 of electricity even if the workmen were using dehumidifiers and power tools.

Red-Squirrel_2

Pixie5740 wrote: »

Compensation? :rotfl:

Hopefully you never find yourself in the same situation because believe it or not the tenant was lucky to be put up in a hotel at the time.

Why lucky? That's a fairly standard thing covered by insurance (which landlords should always have) when a property is uninhabitable. If its longer term they'll also pay for alternative rented accommodation.

baldelectrician

LandlordProb wrote: »

I'll have to ask her.She just feels that there is something not quite right in so much she returns back to the flat,after 2 months in a hotel, to be met with a huge bill, a land lord who will not tell her who he has been dealing with at SSE and a suspicion that it somehow involves the work carried out on the damp room. It was obviously a major job on the flat if she had to leave for 2 months.

I smell some manure


The landlord cannot call SSE and discuss the tenants account for data protection reasons.
If he has then SSE have been breaking the law (assuming the tenant did not give the landlord permission to access her account)


The tenant needs to call up SSE and actually see the dates and numbers of the readings they have.
Then she can match things up

LandlordProb

Yes,she suspects things are not quite as the land lord is portraying them! I'll have to ask her, but I suspect she did not take a meter reading when she moved in.So, would SSE be able to see,via remote monitoring, what the reading was on the day she moved in and subsequent readings when she was out of the flat and the work was being carried out?

Wicked_Lady

So, if she has the reading from when she moved in in September and she has the current readings then SSE should be able to discuss this with her on the telephone.
Amounts owed prior to September should not be her problem.

Fosterdog

LandlordProb wrote: »

Yes,she suspects things are not quite as the land lord is portraying them! I'll have to ask her, but I suspect she did not take a meter reading when she moved in.So, would SSE be able to see,via remote monitoring, what the reading was on the day she moved in and subsequent readings when she was out of the flat and the work was being carried out?

Unless she has a smart metre then the only way SSE will have access to the readings is if somebody has read the metres and given them the readings. Is it also possible that she got the reading wrong on the day she first moved in?

lookstraightahead

Pixie5740 wrote: »

Compensation? :rotfl:

Hopefully you never find yourself in the same situation because believe it or not the tenant was lucky to be put up in a hotel at the time.

I would expect every landlord to do this as standard through insurance. The tenant is not lucky they have a contract for a home to live in. The compensation was a bit tongue in cheek but no one wants to live in a hotel all the time not even owners, let alone ‘insignificant’ tenants.

pinklady21

I don't understand how if the electricity bill is in the tenant's name, the landlord is able to discuss matters with the electricity company?

When has the tenant taken meter readings? Does the meter only supply her flat?