Moving into rental property - outstanding balance addressed to “The Occupier.”

matelodave

As you did what you were supposed to do ie - read the meters and open an account in your name then you have no liability for the previous bill. I assume that you've got a welcome letter and that you can see your account on the suppliers website. Check that that they are using the meter readings that you gave.

Do as others have said, tell the energy co that you have no responsibilty for the outstanding amount before you moved in and that you have passed it onto the landlord/letting agency (tell them the name and address of the landlord) and then give the letter to your landlord.

Dont use the teephone, send and e-mail and request an acknowledgement or send a letter and get it signed for as proof of reciept.

Make sure in the future that you read your meters once a month, send the readings into your supplier and CHECK your on-line account to ensure that your readings are being used for billing. Ideally download a PDF of your bill/statement every month and save it, so you've got a record of your energy consumption and any payments.

Nearly all problems like this are caused by people not following the correct process when moving in or moving out, however as you did the right thing when you moved in, it's someone elses problem.

Ideally the landlord should have read the meter and correctly taken over the account when the last tenant left and read and agreed the meter reading with you when you moved in and closed the account. If he didn't then it's up to him or her to sort out any arrears from the previous tenant.

MWT

@Nick212010 - who is your supplier and which tariff are you on?