Tenants, Landlords and Meter readings.

Amandaajp

Hello, I am very new to all this so please bare with me.   
My daughter took over a property in July 2019 - she has recently left the property, she took a meter reading and submitted it and has now received a huge bill.    When she moved into the property she asked for meter access but the landlord couldnt give her one as he had lost the keys/access number to the area.  (Its an apartment block and all meters are behind locked doors)
So, all meter readings have been estimated - until now, when she was eventually given access a few weeks ago.  
Does the landlord have to taken readings before a new tenant moves in? As I truly believe she has been left with someone else's bill.  She has correspondence between her and landlord of her asking for access - texts and emails etc. 
Its a 1 bed apartment - and she has been charged £1900.   She has been paying a direct debit payment of £45/month which was advised by BG at the beginning of tenancy. 
If anyone could advise I would be most grateful. (I have posted on another forum on here too as I didnt know which was best)  Please be patient with me. 

matelodave

Oh dear, it's not going to be easy to extricate your daughter from all of this without getting sight of the meter to establish that the meter that she thinks she's been paying the bill for is really the correct one and it's going to be even more difficult to find out what the original reading was and any other intermediate readings if she's been accepting estimates ever since she'd been there.

It's a bit late now but all of us on here cannot stress enough the folly of letting someone else read the meter when you move in, not reading the meter when you move out, not setting up our own account when you move in and not closiing it down when you move out. Then add to that not checking the meter reading regularly and making sure that bills are correct and aren't estimated.

I guess that £1900 is excessive, but you probably have a monumental struggle on your hands to try and sort it out especially if the previous tenant didn't close their account with a final reading, which seems highly likely if the key to the leccy cupboard went walk about.
A detailed description of what went on _ ideally in writing not over the phone and sent recorded delivery may get a better outcome than arguing with a call centre.

Hopefully she's kept all her paper work  -  the tenancy agreements and any gas, water and leccy bills etc. I suggest she at least tries to get back in and ensure that the serial number on the meter is the same as the one on her bill and establish that that was actually the meter that was supplying her flat. You could also ask the landlord what info he's got but it's also likely that he hasn't bothered too much especially if he couldn't be bothered to find the keys in the first place.

Make sure she's a bit more organised in her new place to avoid it happening again.

Amandaajp

Thank you for your quick reply ... Its frustrating for us as we kept saying to her you need your meter read etc. and we will probably the ones that are going to have to bail her out.     She has all the details and requests to the landlord - which I think will correspond with bills received.   So, she is handing the keys back today and Ive told her to ask the landlord but as you say I guess that wont get anywhere, when she closes her account today with BG and gets the final bill we will send a letter as you suggested with all the evidence.  I have also asked her to check the serial number... I hadnt thought of that so thank you.  
I have already told her to take photos etc of the new place meter.  

Gerry1

Tell her to switch everything off at what she thinks is her meter and make sure that no appliances then work.  The same meter number might appear on her bills, but it might be supplying the flat next door.

spiro

When she moved in an the inventory was done any meter readings should have been recorded at the same time. If this was done you have no proof of the opening reading. It's possible the bills have been estimated for months/years.
The bills she has received will be based on the opening reading (when she moved in) until the reading she provided when she moved out. Does she have all her bills for the period she lived there, that will tell if the readings used are actual or estimate?
If the opening reading is an estimate then it is a dispute between her and the previous bill payer and nothing to do with the supplier unfortunately.

MWT

Amandaajp said:

Does the landlord have to taken readings before a new tenant moves in? As I truly believe she has been left with someone else's bill.  She has correspondence between her and landlord of her asking for access - texts and emails etc

Sadly the time to get it all sorted out was the day she moved in.

The landlord has an obligation to give her access to the meter, he does not have an obligation to take the meter reading for her... ... nor should she trust a meter reading she didn't take herself.

The energy company are not going to care about her dispute with the landlord though.

This is likely to be a life lesson unfortunately, and an expensive one it seems.