Do I NEED to sign up for a water account?

Mikesww

I used to work for a water company. Any properties that are ‘no occupier’ sit in a work queue. Staff will check things like meter reads (if the property has one installed and a meter reader can access it), land registry and records from tracing agencies. It would go round a few cycles of letters to The Occupier. Each letter gets more assertive (please contact us, contact us... you MUST contact us etc). Then a visit will be arranged for an inspector to attend and check the property.

Sometimes it would be totally empty, demolished, destroyed by fire etc and a decision is made to cut off the supply. They will try and find a landlord/letting agent/builder so they can send a bill for standing charges/water usage, knowing that this might generate a call from a landlord/builder etc disputing the bill, which is then an opportunity to find out who the occupier was. If that wasn’t successful and the property was demolished/damaged/empty, and they couldn’t trace the owner, the charges would be written off and supply disconnected. But that’s really rare. There’s always someone they can find - even the bank! (if it was repossessed) etc etc and that always results in contact with details of the actual owner/occupier. 

The moment you send a final reminder to a bank/letting agent etc they’ll respond with documents to prove they are not liable. 

Legally, they can’t cut off a domestic water supply if the property is occupied. 

When the property looks empty (overgrown, no curtains, furniture etc etc) they will eventually cut it off and say they are reducing the risk of leakage/water damage. 

But it takes a couple of visits, no records and dead ends to get to that stage. Ideally, they want to bill someone for at least standing charges. 

There will be a lot of final notices/reminders etc sent to the property before they disconnect, and if there’s no response, they will say that’s evidence of an unoccupied property

Basically, they will catch up with you. No, they can’t cut you off if it’s obvious the property is occupied, but they won’t let it go. They’ll visit, send letters, pass it to a tracing agency, check land registry - and do anything to get your name. As soon as they have your name, they’ll bill you and go down the normal recovery route.