Utilities with newly owned house and notice on rental

GolfR

Hi everyone. I have today completed on my house purchase and have come from private renting. I’ve spoken to Scottish power who have the utilities in the house I’ve bought and I’ve set up an account with them but I’m wondering what happens from here with regards to my current suppliers in my rented house. I know I’ll have to pay both during my months notice and that’s fine but what are the logistics of it? Do I need to let my current suppliers know now that I’ll be leaving the rental in a months time? And can I then get rid of Scottish power and take my current utility companies to the new house when I’ve officially left my rental?

If I may ask also, what happens with council tax? I’ve paid the year on my rental and was looking forward to the two months off that I had coming! Will I have to pay the last two months of the financial year at this house or will it be transferred across for me?

Sorry for all the questions, thanks for any advice you may have!

Brie

I'd give the company with the rental utilities notice of your end date.  And ensure you take photos of the readings on your last day to ensure you receive a proper final bill.  Likewise take photos as soon as you can of the house you are moving to.  It's unclear to me if you are moving in there before your rental actually ends but potentially there will be an overlap.

As I understand it you will go on SPs standard tariff until such time as you move to something else.  I don't believe you can simply transfer your account from the rental to the house. 

As for council tax - there wasn't any overlap when we moved.

GolfR

Brie said:

I'd give the company with the rental utilities notice of your end date.  And ensure you take photos of the readings on your last day to ensure you receive a proper final bill.  Likewise take photos as soon as you can of the house you are moving to.  It's unclear to me if you are moving in there before your rental actually ends but potentially there will be an overlap.

As I understand it you will go on SPs standard tariff until such time as you move to something else.  I don't believe you can simply transfer your account from the rental to the house. 

As for council tax - there wasn't any overlap when we moved.

Hi Brie, thanks for your quick response. I didn’t give my landlord notice until this morning as we exchanged and completed today and my notice is one month so I’m officially not leaving the rented house until 6th February. I’ll ring my energy companies this evening when they’re hopefully a little quieter - it took me an hour to get through to SP earlier! Thank you very much 

tealady

Council tax is usually charged by the day but is often paid in 10 monthly installments.
You need to tell the Council when you move from one address to the other so they can calculate how much you should owe (or they owe you!)
Bear in mind if the properties are in different bands it could go either way.

canaldumidi

Rental property:

*you pay utilities till your tenancy ends. on the final day of your tenancy there, take a meter reading (+photo the meter?), call the suppliers, and ask for a final bill.

* same with council tax. Inform the councilof your final date of tenancy.However you may be entitled to a vacant property discount,or discount related to 'occupying' 2 properties during overlap - check the council website or ring and ask. If you've paid in advance you'll get a refund from date your liability ends.

New property:

* once you have established an account with the existing utilitiy suppliers you are then free to shop around and switch.

* council tax becomes your responsibility from date of Completion, but se above re potentia ldiscounts

deannagone

Also be sure to look on your TA.  You are quite often expected to give a full period's notice.  So the notice could be longer than a month.