Energy company put bill in my name without my knowledge

halfasheep

I recently took back my property from a tenant. All legal and above board, registered landlord (Wales), agreement in place, but no bond as he was a friend of a friend.

There were stacks of letters for the tenant, all debt collection stuff, but he advised he has contacted them all (he refuses to give me a forwarding address though).

I have now come across letters behind a radiator in my name, for gas usage totalling £1600 during his tenancy.

Turns out he was with a company that went bust, and Shell Energy took over the supply. As I am the homeowner, they put the account in my name (off Land Registry).

They refuse to transfer the account into my ex-tenants name, despite me providing them with electoral roll details, lots of utility bills (including council tax reminders/bills, and relevant dates.

I have explained that I no longer have a copy of the tenancy agreement (lost it at some point between my marriage breaking down 10 months ago and when I took the house). The tenant refuses to sign a letter of liability (screenshotted and forwarded all the Whatsapp messages).

It's with their complaints department, and I know I have to exhaust the procedure, but am I being unreasonable in that surely the fact that I was clearly living elsewhere for the entirety of his tenancy, that CIFAS will pull back all the relevant records too, should be sufficient and they're just being pains? I know this will end up in Ofgem at some point, but have never had anything like this happen!

Any advice would be appreciated as to my position regarding this

Thanks in advance

Mstty

Just forward them a copy of the signed tenancy and give them the meter readings for the day you took the property back over. State no known forwarding address.

halfasheep

That's the issue. As stated in my post, I don't have a copy of the tenancy agreement to send. Surely all the other evidence should suffice to show who was living there at the time

Mstty

You mentioned agreement in place, I presumed a signed agreement with dates?

Mstty

Bit of a grey area,.council tax must have been in their name and paid maybe ask the Council Tax office for a letter stating you were not residing there? Same for Water and other utilities?

Gerry1

For future reference, note that it's the Ombudsman that you would need to approach, not Ofgem.

pochase

I understand that you only have proof that you did not live at the property, but not that somebody else did?

You are responsible for the energy bill, especially standing charge as the landlord, even if the property is empty. So you currently can prove that you did not live in the property, but that on it's own does not help you and it sounds as if your tenant will deny that he ever lived in the property, if he can even be found.

Are the council tax bills in the tenants name, and is he on the electoral role? It seems the tenant also did not pay council tax? Did he pay rent and into your bank account? Do you have a final bill from your supplier when you moved out before the tenant moved in?

You write he was with with one of the companies that went bust, did he register with them or was it also under your name.

You need to collect as many facts that prove that the tenant lived in the property as possible. Ofgem does not deal with single customers, you will need to contact the Ombudsman instead.

halfasheep

@pochase I have council tax bills in his name, countless CCJ letters, other utility bills - he's on the electoral roll, and as I work in the financial sector I'm aware he will appear there over the last 6 years on various credit check databases that Shell Energy will have access to. There is sufficient legal evidence to show he was resident there for the relevant time preriod.

I thought Ofgem was the ombudsman lol. Thank you for clarifying that for me.

I have no idea if he ever registered with the other energy company as I haven't found any correspondence from them unfortunately.

pochase

I somehow was under the impression this was only a short term lease, but you are saying it was six years?

I just don't get why Shell would have changed the name of the account holder during the onboarding process. 

OK at the moment you are a customer of Shell, as you have the property back and they were the last supplier. Did you take a meter reading and did you contact Shell that you are the new customer?

EssexHebridean

Did you  by any chance ever email the signed tenancy agreement anywhere? Could be worth checking your email account for it just in case. 

If you're saying that when Shell took over the account they put it into your name rather than using the name of the accountholder they had inherited via the SOLR process, then I'd think you have a very valid complaint.

Ultrasonic

At what point did the energy supply contract switch to your name? At the point of the transfer to Shell or some time sooner?