Landlord's bill in my name

Ranmoor

I received a water bill today in my name for a property I no longer live at and in which I never had responsibility for paying bills. Apparently, according to the water company the landlord had never informed them when LL changed from property management to self-management.

I've informed the LL so it should be all getting sorted but I was wondering why I, out of the many tenants who lived there, received liability for this bill and is there any I can do in future to stop such occurrences from happening again.

turnitround

Were all bills included in the rent?

Ranmoor

Yes all the bills were included in the rent.

Bertles

I work for a utilities company and I've seen this before a number of times. Landlords being chased for bills when they were included in the rent and then they put them in one of the tenant's names. 

Do you still have your tenancy agreement? I would contact the company to get it sorted yourself. Don't leave it too the landlord.

I mean it could be an innocent mistake but when you see people being affected by these shenanigans, you start to get suspicious.

canaldumidi

The LL changing from property management to self-managing seems like a red herring. That makes no difference to the tenant's utility services.

As Bertles says, I would write/email the water company (if you phone,make a note of the date, time, name of you speak to, what you say, and what they reply) saying

* you never had an account with them, or

* if they set one up it was without your consent, and

* that your water costs were included in your tenancy, a copy of which you enclose, and finally

* you deny all liability for the charge

Ask them to confirm they are cancelling all charges in your name.

Irishpearce26

Oh hey, byeeeeeeeeeeeee