Previous Occupant Debts on my son's first apartment

rus66

So this has taken the shine of my son's first step into the real world. At 19 he rented his first apartment on Feb 21 during lockdown and was excited. He moved in and we rented all of the previous post to the respective senders. However, it appears the previous occupant left debts with Utilia & SSE so I contact them and the former was really helpful and I tried to give them information about the letter agency to help them trace the previous occupant. However, SSE is on a different scale, contacting initially I thought all would be fine, however, a few weeks went past and my son receives a letter associating the debts with him, but not just that they had addressed it to him and his twin sister naming her as his wife, who has nothing to do with my son's property and still lives with me at home. So again I contacted SSE supplied all the relevant details and was assured it will be sorted and I also contacted the debt recovery company as I did not want people turning up at his door. I also asked that my daughter be removed. So no surprise this week we receive another letter from SSE addressed to both of them demanding money for a period last year. So I am looking for some advice and guidance on the debt and also removing my daughter from their records. 
My son does owe them for 14 days of his initial period when he switched electricity provider which he organised before he moved in. But they have not yet issued a bill just for the whole amount from last year.
Thanks

user1977

Probably better on the Utilities board than here, but maybe confusion has been caused by you entering into any sort of correspondence with them about the previous occupier's debts.

eddddy

rus66 said:

My son does owe them for 14 days of his initial period when he switched electricity provider which he organised before he moved in. 

The normal procedure would be for your son to take a meter reading when he moves in, and contact SSE to open an account and give them the meter reading - then once the account is open, start the process of switching providers.

It sounds like you're saying that your son started the switching process before he moved in, therefore he was switching an account he didn't own.

I suspect that as part of the switching process, he had to confirm that he was the account holder at the flat. So based on his confirmation that he was the account holder before he moved in, SSE are billing him.

Or have I misunderstood the sequence of events?

In your/his position, I'd write a letter to SSE with a clear concise explanation of what has happened - and hopefully get it resolved that way.

macman

All he has to do to to prove he is not liable for the debts of the previous tenant is to show them a copy of his tenancy agreement: the dates on that will be enough.
As pointed out above, it's not his job to engage with the tracing of 3rd party debts: any bills received addressed to others should simply be returned as 'not known at this address'.