Utility bills during vacant BTL - impact on credit report

itwasntme001

Hi,

My partner has a BTL which has been vacant for a number of months due to low tenant demand.  She is worried that some post she received (at the BTL property - she just went there to collect the post, she hardly goes there given distance etc) has suggested some bills are unpaid and late and how that could affect her credit file/report.

- The energy supplier sent some bills, which are estimates of usage rather than actual readings, however not only are the estimates wrong (looks like they did not receive the correct readings from the previous tenants via inventory report and so my partner is being incorrectly charged) but also the property has been empty since the tenants moved out and no further usage has been made.  Should my partner be liable for this and because of the late payment letters could her credit be affected?  If she never went to the property and waited till she got new tenants, potentially the bills would be late for many months.  She did call the supplier soon after the tenants moved out to explain that it will be empty and she gave the readings according to the inventory check-out report (in order to finalise the bill for the tenants), however it seems they completely ignored this.  They have even opened a new account in her name addressed at the BTL property - so they think she lives there.

Can utility companies, council etc give you bad credit for late/non payment of bills even though the demands were sent to a vacant BTL property?  Energy supplier thinks my partner lives at the BTL (as it was her previous residence) despite her telling them its a vacant BTL property.  Council has corrected themselves and sent revised bill to her home which she will pay in time.

Dellgrad12

Who is the energy company in question? They don’t all report data to credit reference agencies.

2021BJ

You partner is responsible for any bills when the property is untenanted.

Whilst she could, in theory, argue the toss over the bills being sent to the BTL rather than her home address, I'm not sure it's relevant. From the sounds of things, she doesn't seem to think utility bills are generated on vacant properties, which is absolutely not the case.  She should have been expecting a bill, for it to go months unpaid appears to be as much down to her having no idea how utilities work as much as it is down to not being sent a bill to her home address.

FWIW most utilities don't report to the CRAs anyway.

Probably worth adding that you say she mentioned that the property was vacant but unless he expressly requested the bill be sent to a different address, it's going to go to the property that is being supplied.  It's got to go somewhere after all.

itwasntme001

The supplier is EDF.  Their letter seems to suggest that non-payment may affect credit report etc.

Seems a bit unfair for that to happen given property is unoccupied.  Obviously she has the letters now so will speak to them but she did call them about the situation soon after the tenancy ended which seems to be completely ignored by EDF.

Who needs to provide the final meter readings of the tenancy, me or the tenants?  What proof is required?

2021BJ

itwasntme001 said:

The supplier is EDF.  Their letter seems to suggest that non-payment may affect credit report etc.

Seems a bit unfair for that to happen given property is unoccupied.  Obviously she has the letters now so will speak to them but she did call them about the situation soon after the tenancy ended which seems to be completely ignored by EDF.

Who needs to provide the final meter readings of the tenancy, me or the tenants?  What proof is required?

The tenant would.  But obviously, if they don't then you'll need to supply something.  Most landlords would either take a meter reading with the tenant when the tenant moves out or have whoever is managing the property do something similar.

No proof would be required unless the readings don't add up or, in the case of the tenant not supplying the readings, they complain that the final readings are wrong.

MaryNB

itwasntme001 said:

Hi,

My partner has a BTL which has been vacant for a number of months due to low tenant demand.  She is worried that some post she received (at the BTL property - she just went there to collect the post, she hardly goes there given distance etc) has suggested some bills are unpaid and late and how that could affect her credit file/report.

- The energy supplier sent some bills, which are estimates of usage rather than actual readings, however not only are the estimates wrong (looks like they did not receive the correct readings from the previous tenants via inventory report and so my partner is being incorrectly charged) but also the property has been empty since the tenants moved out and no further usage has been made.  Should my partner be liable for this and because of the late payment letters could her credit be affected?  If she never went to the property and waited till she got new tenants, potentially the bills would be late for many months.  She did call the supplier soon after the tenants moved out to explain that it will be empty and she gave the readings according to the inventory check-out report (in order to finalise the bill for the tenants), however it seems they completely ignored this.  They have even opened a new account in her name addressed at the BTL property - so they think she lives there.

Can utility companies, council etc give you bad credit for late/non payment of bills even though the demands were sent to a vacant BTL property?  Energy supplier thinks my partner lives at the BTL (as it was her previous residence) despite her telling them its a vacant BTL property.  Council has corrected themselves and sent revised bill to her home which she will pay in time.

itwasntme001 said:

The supplier is EDF.  Their letter seems to suggest that non-payment may affect credit report etc.

Seems a bit unfair for that to happen given property is unoccupied.  Obviously she has the letters now so will speak to them but she did call them about the situation soon after the tenancy ended which seems to be completely ignored by EDF.

Who needs to provide the final meter readings of the tenancy, me or the tenants?  What proof is required?

Apologies if I've misinterpreted but she should  have set up an account with EDF as soon as the tenancy ended. Even if no energy is used there is still a standing charge that applies. I wouldn't consider it unfair, it's pretty basic stuff.

If she had taken a picture of the meters the day she got the property back and submitted meter readings it would have avoided a lot of confusion. It is unfortunate that the tenants meter readings have been considered unreliable but ideally when an account is set up the new account holder sumbits their own meter readings separately to the closing meter readings submitted by the previous bill payers in case there is a discrepancy. The tenants were responsible for closing out their own account, she was responsible for setting up the new account.

She's not liable for any upaid bills relating to usage while the tenants are in the property but is absolutely liable once the tenancy has ended and before new tenants moved in. Who else would be liable for the standing charge during the vacant period if not her?

itwasntme001

MaryNB said:

itwasntme001 said:

Hi,

My partner has a BTL which has been vacant for a number of months due to low tenant demand.  She is worried that some post she received (at the BTL property - she just went there to collect the post, she hardly goes there given distance etc) has suggested some bills are unpaid and late and how that could affect her credit file/report.

- The energy supplier sent some bills, which are estimates of usage rather than actual readings, however not only are the estimates wrong (looks like they did not receive the correct readings from the previous tenants via inventory report and so my partner is being incorrectly charged) but also the property has been empty since the tenants moved out and no further usage has been made.  Should my partner be liable for this and because of the late payment letters could her credit be affected?  If she never went to the property and waited till she got new tenants, potentially the bills would be late for many months.  She did call the supplier soon after the tenants moved out to explain that it will be empty and she gave the readings according to the inventory check-out report (in order to finalise the bill for the tenants), however it seems they completely ignored this.  They have even opened a new account in her name addressed at the BTL property - so they think she lives there.

Can utility companies, council etc give you bad credit for late/non payment of bills even though the demands were sent to a vacant BTL property?  Energy supplier thinks my partner lives at the BTL (as it was her previous residence) despite her telling them its a vacant BTL property.  Council has corrected themselves and sent revised bill to her home which she will pay in time.

itwasntme001 said:

The supplier is EDF.  Their letter seems to suggest that non-payment may affect credit report etc.

Seems a bit unfair for that to happen given property is unoccupied.  Obviously she has the letters now so will speak to them but she did call them about the situation soon after the tenancy ended which seems to be completely ignored by EDF.

Who needs to provide the final meter readings of the tenancy, me or the tenants?  What proof is required?

Apologies if I've misinterpreted but she should  have set up an account with EDF as soon as the tenancy ended. Even if no energy is used there is still a standing charge that applies. I wouldn't consider it unfair, it's pretty basic stuff.

If she had taken a picture of the meters the day she got the property back and submitted meter readings it would have avoided a lot of confusion. It is unfortunate that the tenants meter readings have been considered unreliable but ideally when an account is set up the new account holder sumbits their own meter readings separately to the closing meter readings submitted by the previous bill payers in case there is a discrepancy. The tenants were responsible for closing out their own account, she was responsible for setting up the new account.

She's not liable for any upaid bills relating to usage while the tenants are in the property but is absolutely liable once the tenancy has ended and before new tenants moved in. Who else would be liable for the standing charge during the vacant period if not her?

You did seem to have misinterpreted what i have said.  My partner did call the energy supplier soon after the tenancy end date.  She supplied the meter readings and was told that since the property is unoccupied there would be no standing charge as long as no energy is used.  As far as she was concerned that was the end of it until new tenants would move in.  When she saw the many posts from EDF she was surprised why EDF seem to have completely ignored her phone call.

She is understandably worried that there will be a bad credit on her file just because she assumed based on her phone call with EDF that nothing more needed to be done.  Why should she get blamed and have bad credit based on being lied to by EDF???

[Deleted User]

I think your partner is being a bit naive here.  I certainly wouldn't trust EDF with a single phone call and then hope everything was sorted out.  Once the new account was created in your partner's name it is very likely she was put on EDF's standard variable tariff and there are daily standing charges.  Only having to pay standing charges on days when energy is used doesn't make any sense so either your partner misunderstood or was misinformed by EDF.

My advice to your partner would be to pay the outstanding bills to EDF and then make a complaint.

https://www.edfenergy.com/for-home/help-support/making-complaint

itwasntme001

My partner will call tomorow and pay the outstanding bill.  How does she know whether it has affected her credit?  All the letter says is that it may affect it if payment is late.  At what point do they mark your file?

liggerz87

Credit karma mse credit club and clear score those are to check the three credit ref agencies

Hasbeen

She or her agent should have been there to confirm the tenents put the correct readings on the inventory report.

They might have put low readings in to get a lower bill?

The second they moved out she should have informed EDF to put the supply's in her name.

She then would give actual readings then, not much later from the report.
Once in her name they would put her on expensive tariff.

She could change this with EDF or switch to another provider.

There will be daily standing charges and  any usage if boiler was left on auto for winter settings etc.

These will be estimated, she should asap read meters tell EDF and pay actual amount owed.

Should be ok.
As long as no debt collection agent letters.
and check all free credit reports  regularly

This is normal practice for Landlords.

Edit:
Hopefully she has notified Council tax, water company etc also that all is in her name from that date?

A lesson learned for future.