Is my husband liable for his ex-wifes utility bill?

KDC80

My husband broke up with his ex-wife 5 years ago and moved out. It was a bad split and he had to move out quickly and only had time to pack one bag full of as much stuff as he could.
Just over three years ago his divorce was finalised and with it a financial order. I believed this meant that he was no longer liable for any debts she built up after this date, and could not pursue him for anything more than the Child Maintenance agreed with the CMS.
Yesterday a letter turned up at my house address to my husband and his ex-wife from EON. It said that £160 was owed for energy used. It goes on to say they are writing to my address because they've been advised the is the account holders current address by a credit bureau.
It asks that the £160 is paid in full online or to call them and discuss direct debit payments. If it's not paid in full it will cost more and if they are not contacted they will:

• apply further charges to the amount owed
• pass your account to an external debt collection agency who may add futher charges to your account.
• take legal action against you to recover what you owe
• Share information about the way you pay with a credit reference agency which may affect your ability to get credit from other lenders in the future.

Now it appears that although my husband maintains he contacted EON and told them he no longer lived at that address, and to remove him from the account, they did not do that. His name is still linked to her account. Now they are chasing him as she's apparently not paying up. Is he liable to pay this debt?! He hasn't lived there for 5 years or more!
Is this going to cause me and him ongoing issues with credit rating etc, being that this is now linked to my address?

sevenhills

KDC80 wrote: »

Yesterday a letter turned up at my house address to my husband and his ex-wife from EON.


His name is still linked to her account. Now they are chasing him as she's apparently not paying up.

I am guessing that the account would have been in his name. Is it likely that he contacted EON, if it was a bad split and he only packed one bag?

Under 'back billing' rules, your supplier cannot send you a bill for energy you used more than 12 months ago.
If your supplier tries to charge you for more than 12 months’ energy use, you should write to them.
Tell them that you’re protected by the back billing rules and should only be charged for 1 year's energy use.
The back billing rules started on 1 May 2018. If you got your bill before 1 May 2018, you should be covered by the old rules. You should contact your supplier and tell them you're protected by the 'back billing code of practice'.

Not sure if the above applies, give them a call and try it.

D_M_E

T%ell him to WRITE to EoN and head the letter COMPLAINT.

In the letter, state the fact that he moved out of the premises on xxx date 5 years ago and informed EoN at the time, so why are they chasing him to pay for energy used since that date?

Also write and tell the DCA the "debt" is in dispute and as such they should stop collection activites until the dispute is resolved.

Also edit your post title to in clude EON and one of the Eon reps on here should see it and respond.

Click on EDIT then click Go Advanced and edit your title then click save.

EDIT - the £160 is either a current bill or could be one from before the 5 year period since he left.

twhitehousescat

Eon have a habit of "forgetting" change of occupant , or telling them you have moved

only when "pushed" will they find transcript of call or letter sent

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5884390/eon-lowell-ombudsman-update

wild666

Simply put NO I had a problem about 9 years ago when the ex wife died and to stop the son being kicked out of the council bungalow I moved in as they said my name was still on the lease. I found out that she was paying off a debt of thousands to Npower & British Gas so after getting nowhere in 3 weeks I contacted the CEO giving him 2 weeks to sort it as I was not responsible for another persons debt, if it wasn't then it went to court and I would be asking for compensation. Within a week the matter was sorted and they gave me £40 credit for the meter.

PasturesNew

If it's "only £160" and just this one bill turns up .... it's probably easier to just pay it and be done with it.

It'd cost so much more in time, effort, stress, to go down the route of arguing the toss and dragging it all up again.

If you can afford it. Just do it and forget it.

brewerdave

wild666 wrote: »

Simply put NO I had a problem about 9 years ago when the ex wife died and to stop the son being kicked out of the council bungalow I moved in as they said my name was still on the lease. I found out that she was paying off a debt of thousands to Npower & British Gas so after getting nowhere in 3 weeks I contacted the CEO giving him 2 weeks to sort it as I was not responsible for another persons debt, if it wasn't then it went to court and I would be asking for compensation. Within a week the matter was sorted and they gave me £40 credit for the meter.

IF your name was on the lease you were fortunate to get the wife's debt written as the Utility Cos. usually pursue any potential occupant for outstanding bills. Did you have to prove that you hadn't been living there prior to her death??

Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc

KDC80 wrote: »

My husband broke up with his ex-wife 5 years ago and moved out. It was a bad split and he had to move out quickly and only had time to pack one bag full of as much stuff as he could.
Just over three years ago his divorce was finalised and with it a financial order. I believed this meant that he was no longer liable for any debts she built up after this date, and could not pursue him for anything more than the Child Maintenance agreed with the CMS.
Yesterday a letter turned up at my house address to my husband and his ex-wife from EON. It said that £160 was owed for energy used. It goes on to say they are writing to my address because they've been advised the is the account holders current address by a credit bureau.
It asks that the £160 is paid in full online or to call them and discuss direct debit payments. If it's not paid in full it will cost more and if they are not contacted they will:

• apply further charges to the amount owed
• pass your account to an external debt collection agency who may add futher charges to your account.
• take legal action against you to recover what you owe
• Share information about the way you pay with a credit reference agency which may affect your ability to get credit from other lenders in the future.

Now it appears that although my husband maintains he contacted EON and told them he no longer lived at that address, and to remove him from the account, they did not do that. His name is still linked to her account. Now they are chasing him as she's apparently not paying up. Is he liable to pay this debt?! He hasn't lived there for 5 years or more!
Is this going to cause me and him ongoing issues with credit rating etc, being that this is now linked to my address?

Hello KDC80 and welcome to the Forums.

What period does the £160 cover? Is it for the time before your husband left the property in question?

Over 5 years ago, accounts could be in more than one name (this isn't the case now). If the balance refers to the time he was at the property and the account was in both names, we'll be looking for payment from either party.

I'd suggest your husband asks us for a full breakdown of the charges including the period the £160 covers. As he's named on the account, there'll be no difficulty in letting him have this information including copies of the relevant bill or bills.

Once more is known, I'll be able to give you a better steer.

Malc

KDC80

Hello KDC80 and welcome to the Forums.

What period does the £160 cover? Is it for the time before your husband left the property in question?

Over 5 years ago, accounts could be in more than one name (this isn't the case now). If the balance refers to the time he was at the property and the account was in both names, we'll be looking for payment from either party.

I'd suggest your husband asks us for a full breakdown of the charges including the period the £160 covers. As he's named on the account, there'll be no difficulty in letting him have this information including copies of the relevant bill or bills.

Once more is known, I'll be able to give you a better steer.

Malc

Hello Malc,

The letter that came through does not detail the period of the debt. However, my husband is confident that all bills were up to date when he was last at the property, otherwise his ex would have been after half of the money owed in the financial order, like the oil bill was.
So I would assume this debt is recent and he is not liable. We had a second letter through yesterday which tells us that she has contacted EON and agreed to pay £40 per month for the next four months to clear it. However, she does have previous for not paying up for these sorts of things. Really my husbands name needs removing from the account. He hasn’t called yet though and he can procrastinate. I tried calling yesterday, but I didn’t get anywhere as my name is not on the account. It is my house the bills are now coming too though, so it worries me her bad finances could affect my credit score.

KDC80

If it's "only £160" and just this one bill turns up .... it's probably easier to just pay it and be done with it.

It'd cost so much more in time, effort, stress, to go down the route of arguing the toss and dragging it all up again.

If you can afford it. Just do it and forget it.

Absolutely not. There is no way on this earth I’m paying my husbands ex-wife’s energy bill because she can’t organise her own finances. She receives benefits and a large child support payment every month to cover these things. If we paid it we’d never see that money again and she’d likely do it to us over and over.
This woman has had too much fro my husband already.

Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc

KDC80 wrote: »

Hello Malc,

The letter that came through does not detail the period of the debt. However, my husband is confident that all bills were up to date when he was last at the property, otherwise his ex would have been after half of the money owed in the financial order, like the oil bill was.
So I would assume this debt is recent and he is not liable. We had a second letter through yesterday which tells us that she has contacted EON and agreed to pay £40 per month for the next four months to clear it. However, she does have previous for not paying up for these sorts of things. Really my husbands name needs removing from the account. He hasn’t called yet though and he can procrastinate. I tried calling yesterday, but I didn’t get anywhere as my name is not on the account. It is my house the bills are now coming too though, so it worries me her bad finances could affect my credit score.

Hello KDC80 and thanks for the additional information.

Your husband needs to see the breakdown I mentioned earlier. If it helps, he can give permission for you to talk to us on his behalf. There's a Letter of Authorisation on our website that can help here.

If the £160 does refer to the time he was at the property and his ex-wife clears the balance, this should end the matter. It could be different if we're talking about a recent or ongoing debt.

Let me know if you've any more information as happy to help.

Malc