Liability for Surprise Bills?

2 Posts

in Water bills
Hi all,
Three years ago we moved into a new flat. At the time we were told that we had to pay for cold water through a certain company, and that boiler costs were a part of the service charge. However, we recently found out that there is a second company who charges us for hot water, even though they have never got in contact with us. Consequently, there are three year's worth of unpaid bills to settle.
From a legal perspective, are we liable for bills for a service we were not made aware of and did not consent to? If we had known at the time we would have happily paid the bills, and of course will be happy to do so going forward. It just feels like it isn't quite right for a company to allow three years worth of debt to accrue without attempting to establish why this is the case and contact the new residents. We have no intention of cheating anyone, simply wondering if there are any legal guidelines for this sort of thing.
Thank you for your help!
Three years ago we moved into a new flat. At the time we were told that we had to pay for cold water through a certain company, and that boiler costs were a part of the service charge. However, we recently found out that there is a second company who charges us for hot water, even though they have never got in contact with us. Consequently, there are three year's worth of unpaid bills to settle.
From a legal perspective, are we liable for bills for a service we were not made aware of and did not consent to? If we had known at the time we would have happily paid the bills, and of course will be happy to do so going forward. It just feels like it isn't quite right for a company to allow three years worth of debt to accrue without attempting to establish why this is the case and contact the new residents. We have no intention of cheating anyone, simply wondering if there are any legal guidelines for this sort of thing.
Thank you for your help!
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Lewis Carroll
That part wasn't really the fault of the hot water company, but it does seem a little dodgy for them to allow three years of bills to mount up. It's already a quite considerable sum, what if this had hit us ten years down the line and we were suddenly facing a crippling charge? I'm wondering if there is any rules for protecting consumers based around this or precedent for challenging some of the charges?
Again, definitely acknowledge that hot water isn't free. We just thought we had already paid for it and three years seems like a long time to allow something like this to go on for. Thank you for your help!
'Boiler costs' is meaningless: to me that would simply mean maintenance of the communal boiler and it's associated network, not the actual fuel or hot water costs.
If the billing has not been raised in 3 years, then a formal complaint to the managing agents is in order, as they presumably contracted with the supplier? Are your neighbours similarly affected?
Some compromise should be reached whereby you are given an extended period in which to pay off the debt: with conventional suppliers this would be the same period over which the debt accrued. How much is now owed?