Being chased for an old water bill

jonny2bad

Hi,

This is my first time posting on here, so if there is a more suitable place for my post then please let me know and I will move it.


Whilst I was at university I lived in a shared house (1 year tenancy) with other students approximately 2 years ago and as far as I was aware everything was and has been paid for.

I recently received a letter out of the blue from a water provider 2 years onwards about a water bill of £500 that has now been passed onto a debt collection agency called UKSL.

The letters I received first (about 2-3 weeks ago) had other tenants from the university house' names on the letter, however with my home address (I think they have probably sent several letters to all the other tenants with a mixture of names and addresses to cover all bases).

I eventually received the same letter with my name and address.

I was not responsible for this water bill, I just paid any rent/bills I needed to pay and this water bill was not mentioned at any time during my tenancy and up to this date. The water company would not have had my details unless passed onto them (possibly from LL or EA)

I have also received letters stating that I have broken a payment plan for this bill, which I never made considering I do not know anything about this. I do not know who has set up the payment plan.

another tenant may have agreed to, and paid a share of this bill which they may have had no idea about either.

I would like to point out that I have not made any contact with anyone so far including - water company, collection agency, LL or EA.

I am being hounded by calls, letters and emails and I feel I need to take action quickly.
I would greatly appreciate advice on next steps to make.

Thanks

Exodi

This is too vague to give any meaningful advice on.

Could you clarify what 'I was not responsible for this water bill, I just paid any rent/bills I needed to pay' means in real terms? Did the landlord include bills as part of your rental agreement? Did your housemates agree that you split the bills or give them a set amount?

Depending on the answer to the above may indicate how you should proceed.

From the fact it sounds like the landlord has likely passed on your details to the utility provider, I'd wager it wasn't a 'bills included' agreement so you and the other tenants were all responsible for ensuring utility bills were paid. Did you take meter readings when you left?

They will likely pursue all of the ex-tenants till one pays, I would have stern words with your ex-housemates if you already paid your share of this.

sourcrates

jonny2bad wrote: »

I was not responsible for this water bill, I just paid any rent/bills I needed to pay and this water bill was not mentioned at any time during my tenancy and up to this date.

Unfortunatly water is not free to the end user, just because "it was not mentioned" does not mean its not owed, I assume you split the bills equally, but I guess you all had the same attitude towards the water bill, and here we are.


You maybe need to contact your ex housemates and see if the water bill was indeed paid, or not, ask the water company for a statement, and if it is owed, agree to share the bill equally.

jonny2bad

Apologies for the lack of clarity.

I am currently looking for the contract as it was a long time ago to see if this was included. I will post the confirmation when I find it.

The bill was never discussed at any point with me or any other housemates during tenancy or after.
I do not remember paying amounts specifically towards this at any point in time.

To clarify I have not paid anything to the debt agency, however I think 1 of the other tenants has negotiated their split of the charge and paid this to the debt collection.

Thank you for the help.

jonny2bad

Hi Sourcrates,

Thanks for the time,

I did not mean legally responsible but just in context of all the tenants at the time.

Are there any rules into how much time I can have?, as I only was posted about this in the recent weeks when it was at the stage of being with a debt collection and wasn't notified prior with the water company,

sourcrates

jonny2bad wrote: »

Hi Sourcrates,

Thanks for the time,

I did not mean legally responsible but just in context of all the tenants at the time.

Are there any rules into how much time I can have?, as I only was posted about this in the recent weeks when it was at the stage of being with a debt collection and wasn't notified prior with the water company,

I would not worry too much about the timeframes here, debt collectors always want paying now, truth is they have many, many clients to deal with, and they will soon move on to someone else.

The debt collector does not own the debt, so cannot take you to court, only the debts owner can do that, the debts owner has virtually washed their hands of the whole thing by passing it to the debt collector, are you starting to see how this works ?

They rely on ignorence, imaginary time frames, and bluff in order to get paid, yes you should deal with it, but do not feel pressured into agreeing to something in a hurry, asking for proof of the debt, in writing, should be your first step.

Exodi

jonny2bad wrote: »

Apologies for the lack of clarity.

I am currently looking for the contract as it was a long time ago to see if this was included. I will post the confirmation when I find it.

The bill was never discussed at any point with me or any other housemates during tenancy or after.
I do not remember paying amounts specifically towards this at any point in time.

I'm further confused. If you believe the debt collection agency got your details from the landlord , then surely that on it's own implies the bills weren't included in the tenancy? You can almost see how this debt has happened as you seem to have no idea how the bills were being paid?

Do you know who was physically paying them? Who did you transfer bill money to?

EDIT: hold up, disregard the above, thinking about it £500 in a one year likely indicates that none of you ever paid for water whilst you lived there. Check your tenancy agreement if you believe it should have been included (I think unlikely as the landlord himself seems to have directed the DCA), else this is a bit of an oversight by all of you. Were their other utility bills missed?

WhenIam64

Are there any rules into how much time I can have?,

6 years. They may leave it as a unsecured debt (joint and several) and it may be difficult in court to establish you to be solely liable. Not impossible just difficult.

Your choice might be to ignore all but pre-action paperwork in the hope it times out but it will be a risk.

Which water company? Some are more proactive than others.

Edit. On some bills they are collecting for water and sewerage so some water utility claims may be made for sums to which the water company is not owed unless the sewerage debt has been assigned

EssexHebridean

First thing to do - find your tenancy agreement for the property and establish exactly what was included in your rent - if it says that water was included, then your ex LL is pulling a fast one. If it doesn't, then you need to look to the other housemates. It might also be worth making a request to the water company for a copy of the agreement with them which they are saying you are liable as a result of.

WhenIam64

It might also be worth making a request to the water company for a copy of the agreement with them which they are saying you are liable as a result of.

What agreement would that be?

sourcrates

EssexHebridean wrote: »

It might also be worth making a request to the water company for a copy of the agreement with them which they are saying you are liable as a result of.

You don’t have an agreement for supply of water, you are obliged to use the company that serves the area you live in, you have no choice there unfortunately.