Incorrect name on deemed contract

Moodysam

Hi All

New to MSE and hoping for some advice please on a problem with Utility Warehouse.

Some background (bit of a saga, please bear with me): My husband and I separated 8 years ago and had a son together, who was 5 at the time and is now 13. We ended up living 80 miles apart and our son stayed with his Dad during the week for school as I had a full-time job and my ex-husband a part time one which was normally worked from home. I paid child support through an informal arrangement as my ex-husband was the main carer.

Five years ago, my husband moved home and his income wasn't enough to cover the rent as the property management company would not take his buy-to-let income, nor my child support into account. To get round it, we jointly applied and both our incomes were taken into account. I fully understood the implications of being his 'joint tenant' as it had little effect on me and he always paid his rent and I knew I would never be liable for anything other than rent if he defaulted as I wasn't there. He got the property and moved in. I continued to live 80 miles away, as my job was there and had our son every weekend.

Shortly after he moved in to the house in 2013, he passed on a letter addressed to me at his new address, from Utility Warehouse, they had decided to bill me for his electricity. Upon contacting them by email, they confirmed that the landlord has given them my name and under the Electricity Act or 'Code' whatever, they had a deemed contract. I protested, explaining that I had my own home and was not responsible for his utilities and fully explained the situation and the landlord had just picked the wrong person from the tenancy agreement.

They sent me a response by email stating that they would not change it into his name until the first bill had been paid by him and just would not accept how silly and unreasonable all of that was, he was willing to have the bills in his name, I was not as I did not use their energy.

He paid the first bill, nothing changed, they bombarded me with emails, asking for meter readings, sending me updates, marketing information etc, to the point that I told them that if they did not stop issuing bills in my name, I was going to charge them an admin fee for every time I needed to respond. They objected and carried on. My ex-husband paid the bill monthly throughout and I just started ignoring their mails etc, as there were no issues apart from my name being incorrectly on the bills.

They did not do a meter reading in 4 years.

Sadly, especially for our young son, my ex-husband suddenly died in Oct 2018 and it has been a nightmare for his family, sorting things out but they are getting there. They did a meter reading, the under-estimated bill (for 4 years) was over £2000 and UW insist I am liable for it as it is (still) in my name.

I never entered either an expressed contract and believe the deemed contract to be invalid as I was not a occupier and have protested throughout and have kept all of the relevant emails. My ex-husband paid them religiously until he died and UW agreed (in writing by email) to put the account in his name after the first bill but did not do so.

What can I do? Am I liable for this debt or should UW apply to the estate of my late ex-husband?

Any advice on what to do next would be really appreciated.

JJ_Egan

As you where joint tenant then you really need a soliciter .
Hope your ex was giving them frequent meter readings .

molerat

JJ_Egan wrote: »

Hope your ex was giving them frequent meter readings .

From the OP obviously not

Moodysam wrote: »

They did a meter reading, the under-estimated bill (for 4 years) was over £2000

JJ_Egan

I know no meter readings just hoped the OP was wrong .
As a joint tennant she is being held responsible jointly for the debt .

Moodysam

Thanks JJ Egan, but I thought the principles of the Electricity Code for a deemed contract was that they could bill the occupier even if no expressed contract was in place? I was never the occupier, despite the tenancy agreement. Therefore, they have gone beyond the scope of what the code allows for a deemed contract? Being on the tenancy agreement does not make you liable, being the occupier and user of the energy does. Have I understood that correctly?

Surely this prevents them from entering a deemed contract and billing me, especially when they have been told on several occasions that I do not live there?

Also, just to reconfirm, the bills were indeed estimated for 4 years. My ex-husband did not give them a meter reading and they never visited to get one, I assume as the property is very remote and isolated with 4x4 access only. Yes, he should have provided them with readings, I didn't know that he hadn't but knew he was paying monthly by DD, but it is too late to chew his ear off now as he is beyond my nagging tongue.

[Deleted User]

I think you may be stuffed seeing as how they have got your name on the account as a joint occupier. They can chase occupiers "jointly or severally ".Possibly you could get a reduction of the bill by informing Utility Warehouse that they failed in the rules set by OFGEM at the time for suppliers to obtain a meter reading every 2 years.They also failed in their liability to obtain what is termed as a "Safety Check ". I used to do these safety checks for quite a few suppliers, but although we did a few meter readings for Utility Warehouse I was never sent to do a safety check for them
..I think Lowri Beck are now the meter reading company who Utility Warehouse now use
.Would nt make any difference about the property being isolated down a long rutted drive..We should be able to get to them .The normal method for these properties is to make an appointment for a safety check on the electric meter. I think you can apply a little pressure on U.W. if you say you want to have an Ombudsman ruling on why they neglected to obtain a safety check..
If they had done that they would have had a meter reading and could see that the occupier was underpaying by quite a lot.

JJ_Egan

Legal expert is what you need as you are joint tennant .
This is a user forum with non legal opinions voiced .

[Deleted User]

JJ_Egan wrote: »

Legal expert is what you need as you are joint tennant .
This is a user forum with non legal opinions voiced .

Yes, but they don t come cheap and I m not sure if our "learned friends " are very good on utility questions..Citizens Advice might assist.
This question has come up dozens of times over the years..Macman is the main man I think and he usually says the same thing about them chasing "jointly or severally ".
. Same thing happens with student houses with one name on the account only but it does nt stop them having a chase of the other joint tenants..We never find out if they are successful though in chasing a joint tenant whos name did nt appear on the account.
If the OP s name is writ on the account I don t hold much hope..Citizens Advice is worth visiting

JJ_Egan

Try maybe Legal Beagles forum .
As i dont see how a joint tenant is not liable unless the joint application was fraud .Further this has been ongoing since 2013 .

Cardew

Moodysam wrote: »

I never entered either an expressed contract and believe the deemed contract to be invalid as I was not a occupier


thought the principles of the Electricity Code for a deemed contract was that they could bill the occupier even if no expressed contract was in place?


Any advice on what to do next would be really appreciated.

Unfortunately the terminology for a deemed contract is 'customer' - not occupier.


https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/ofgem-publications/38982/14319-deemed-contracts-pdf


As the debt morally is your ex-husband's you could see if it can be claimed against his estate. If he left a will the executor might be helpful?

Moodysam

Thank you all so much for taking the time to reply, I will try a visit to Citizen's Advice and then the Ombudsman to see where that gets me and if not, I will probably have to just pay it. I can't get access to the property to see if any other mail or collection threats have been issued as the property has now returned to the landlord. I think he started this problem in the first place, he knew I was never going to live in the property and that it was name only for the rent liability, yet he then gave my name without permission to the utility company. A quick call or text at the time about what details he should pas on would have prevented this whole thing, but I am also annoyed that UW promised in writing to change the account name and then never did it.

I am loathe to give UW my own address but I think I will have to, in order to sort this, they may let me pay it off slowly as I had to give up work when my ex died as I needed to care for our son full time as he was bereaved, so have no regular income now.

It just seems unfair because when I agreed to be on the tenancy, I understood that I assumed the risk of being jointly liable for the rent in the very unlikely event that my ex couldn't pay it. I never was aware that being on that agreement made me a customer for utilities and liable for the bills as well, but a lesson learned.

Thanks for your help all.