SSE granted a Warrant of Entry to my home!

LegalNim

I completed on a house yesterday and moved in. The property had been vacant for three and a half years prior to us moving in after the previous owner died. There were some scary looking letters which, when opened, say that a Warrant of Entry has been issued to cut off our gas supply for lack of payment and to change our electricity meter to PAYG. Our gas supply has already been cut off - we do not want to be moved onto a PAYG meter. The warrant means they can force entry whether we're here or not, change the locks and use a dog handler for our dogs! From the post arriving here, it looks as though the executor hasn't told anyone that the previous owner died - there are a million overdue bills, charity subscriptions still being paid out, NHS letters arriving for overdue eye tests etc. 

Other than phoning SSE as soon as possible, what can we do?

tacpot12

Speak to the solicitor who acted for you on the purchase. 

flower77g

also worth registering the details of the person who died and your address here: Registration | MPS Online 

ariarnia

if i was you I would set up my new account immediately using the online tool. https://homemoves.ovoenergy.com/move-in

then phone SSE/ovo first thing monday morning to set up the account. i would also look at those letters as they should give the court that issued the warrant. then phone them as well to ask them for advice on how to pause or cancel the warrant given you are the new owners of the house. the debt is associated with the person (now there estate) and not the house so hopefully that will be enough to get them to at least pause things while you get it sorted. then you dont have to worry about someone just turning up.  

i would also keep my passport and any letter i had proving id just bought the house (dont know if you have the deeds pack from the solicitor yet if you only just bought the place but maybe you have a morgage letter?) then if someone does come to enforce a warrant you can show them the proof of new owernship and explain. 

Zanderman

What are the dates on the letters? Are they actually recent? You say it's been empty for several years?

If the owner died three and half years ago I'm surprised their charity donations are still being paid. Their bank account(s) should (in theory at least) have been frozen ages ago, so I'd expect the charity letters to be saying they've been unable to take the payments.

I'm just puzzled about the timing - it seems odd, as probate must have been granted for the sale to happen and so processes must have been gone though. 

A matter for your solicitor I think!

LegalNim

Zanderman said:

What are the dates on the letters? Are they actually recent? You say it's been empty for several years?

If the owner died three and half years ago I'm surprised their charity donations are still being paid. Their bank account(s) should (in theory at least) have been frozen ages ago, so I'd expect the charity letters to be saying they've been unable to take the payments.

I'm just puzzled about the timing - it seems odd, as probate must have been granted for the sale to happen and so processes must have been gone though. 

A matter for your solicitor I think!

Very recent. The most recent was just a few days ago - they go back to April but there's absolutely no post here from before April so clearly someone has been picking it up before then. 

Their bank accounts absolutely should have been frozen - but they weren't. Their energy providers should've been informed - but they weren't. This is the exact problem. They did get probate but, it appears, did nothing else. Essentially, they appear to have done the bare minimum to ensure they got their hands on as much of her estate as possible and absolutely none of the other obligations of being an executor. They don't need to have sorted her bank accounts or energy accounts etc in order to get probate.

ariarnia

LegalNim said:

Zanderman said:

What are the dates on the letters? Are they actually recent? You say it's been empty for several years?

If the owner died three and half years ago I'm surprised their charity donations are still being paid. Their bank account(s) should (in theory at least) have been frozen ages ago, so I'd expect the charity letters to be saying they've been unable to take the payments.

I'm just puzzled about the timing - it seems odd, as probate must have been granted for the sale to happen and so processes must have been gone though. 

A matter for your solicitor I think!

Very recent. The most recent was just a few days ago - they go back to April but there's absolutely no post here from before April so clearly someone has been picking it up before then. 

Their bank accounts absolutely should have been frozen - but they weren't. Their energy providers should've been informed - but they weren't. This is the exact problem. They did get probate but, it appears, did nothing else. Essentially, they appear to have done the bare minimum to ensure they got their hands on as much of her estate as possible and absolutely none of the other obligations of being an executor. They don't need to have sorted her bank accounts or energy accounts etc in order to get probate.

but i think if the debts havent been settled from the estate before the cash was released to the benaficiaries then the energy company can chase the benaficiaries. you can just give them any info you have (you probably have there address somewhere in your deeds bundle). 

hoping all your phone calls go well tomorrow. what a stressful start to living in a new home!