Gas capped off without permission

dannya1978

JoeCrystal said:

Did you let the supplier that you are their new customer on deemed contact?

Didn't know who the supplier was as the tenant sodded off and didn't tell us.

dannya1978

MWT said:

dannya1978 said:

We went to start the renovation last week and the gas company had changed the locks, broke in with a warrant from court, replaced the meter for a pre-payment and capped the gas off!

Has anyone experienced this before? Are they within their right to do such a drastic action? I wanted to know my rights before I contact the company. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

As long as you set up your account with the energy supplier to take responsibility on the day the tenant vacated the property then I'd say you have a valid complaint as long as the changes happened after the tenant left...

If you didn't do that, or the changes happened while your tenant was still in residence then you don't really have any basis for a complaint as it looks like they were following due process with the only customer they were aware of, your ex-tenant...

I would have set it up.....if I knew who the supplier was

dannya1978

JoeCrystal said:

diystarter7 said:

JoeCrystal said:

Did you let the supplier that you are their new customer on deemed contact?

This is where most LL's get lost as T's can chose their own supplier and the supplier won't have the LL's details/phone unless they do tell them. However, T's do not bother at times to tell the LL who they are with. 

Is it worth pursing them via small claims court for costs/etc, but I doubt it from what you have said

That is no excuse since you can find out who the property's gas supplier is online. I used this one when I moved in when the previous tenants left without giving any information. https://www.findmysupplier.energy/

I wasn't aware of this, but at the time it wasn't critical as regards timing.....we had taken meter readings and turned the gas and elec off ready for the refurb the week or so after, we certainly didn't expect the supplier to break in and rip the meter out and cap the gas off.

dannya1978

stewie_griffin said:

Astria said:

"replaced the meter for a pre-payment and capped the gas off!"

Normally if they cap the gas off, I wouldn't have thought they'd replace the meter, but rather remove the meter and gap the gas at the meter installation point ? But that would certainly be a drastic action and typically only on request - I would expect a fully working gas supply but with a prepayment meter.

I suspect they haven’t capped the supply but put in a blanking disc as they were unable to test any gas appliances in the property. If this is the case then any gas safe engineer can remove it.

In retrospect I believe this to be the case...I was unsure of terminology as they had used the words "capped off" on the report.

dannya1978

FreeBear said:

Astria said: Normally if they cap the gas off, I wouldn't have thought they'd replace the meter, but rather remove the meter and gap the gas at the meter installation point ? But that would certainly be a drastic action and typically only on request - I would expect a fully working gas supply but with a prepayment meter.

They may have decided that the boiler was "at risk" and capped the supply for that reason.

Is there a valid & current Gas Safe Certificate ?

Yes, of course there is a valid gas cert.

SAC2334

dannya1978 said:

JoeCrystal said:

diystarter7 said:

JoeCrystal said:

Did you let the supplier that you are their new customer on deemed contact?

This is where most LL's get lost as T's can chose their own supplier and the supplier won't have the LL's details/phone unless they do tell them. However, T's do not bother at times to tell the LL who they are with. 

Is it worth pursing them via small claims court for costs/etc, but I doubt it from what you have said

That is no excuse since you can find out who the property's gas supplier is online. I used this one when I moved in when the previous tenants left without giving any information. https://www.findmysupplier.energy/

I wasn't aware of this, but at the time it wasn't critical as regards timing.....we had taken meter readings and turned the gas and elec off ready for the refurb the week or so after, we certainly didn't expect the supplier to break in and rip the meter out and cap the gas off.

They would have used a trained locksmith to pick or drill  change the lock .That is the usual method

.Your ex tenant has disappeared probably owing many thousands to the supplier plus £150 for the warrant and £100 for the locksmith  and is now probably moving on to another  landlord where he can live for a couple of years paying the bare minimum until he gets the same thing happening again with suppliers having to take steps to stop losing money .
You can check the total debt on the meter that he owed. My record debt I have seen on a prepay meter is £10,000 and £3000 debt is not uncommon 
They are professional renters who flit around and also end up owing landlords many thousands in back rent which they never get back .
 Its no good getting angry at the supplier  "breaking in and ripping out the meter " Choose your next tenant  carefully .

ariarnia

JoeCrystal said:

diystarter7 said:

JoeCrystal said:

Did you let the supplier that you are their new customer on deemed contact?

This is where most LL's get lost as T's can chose their own supplier and the supplier won't have the LL's details/phone unless they do tell them. However, T's do not bother at times to tell the LL who they are with. 

Is it worth pursing them via small claims court for costs/etc, but I doubt it from what you have said

That is no excuse since you can find out who the property's gas supplier is online. I used this one when I moved in when the previous tenants left without giving any information. https://www.findmysupplier.energy/

thats what we had to do every single time we moved into a new rental on the day we moved in. takes minutes to check and call.

i would have thought it would be a priority for a professional landlord to make sure there tenant couldnt underestemate usage then try to argue the landlord had used the difference because of the delay in them taking over the account. 

dannya1978

SAC2334 said:

dannya1978 said:

JoeCrystal said:

diystarter7 said:

JoeCrystal said:

Did you let the supplier that you are their new customer on deemed contact?

This is where most LL's get lost as T's can chose their own supplier and the supplier won't have the LL's details/phone unless they do tell them. However, T's do not bother at times to tell the LL who they are with. 

Is it worth pursing them via small claims court for costs/etc, but I doubt it from what you have said

That is no excuse since you can find out who the property's gas supplier is online. I used this one when I moved in when the previous tenants left without giving any information. https://www.findmysupplier.energy/

I wasn't aware of this, but at the time it wasn't critical as regards timing.....we had taken meter readings and turned the gas and elec off ready for the refurb the week or so after, we certainly didn't expect the supplier to break in and rip the meter out and cap the gas off.

They would have used a trained locksmith to pick or drill  change the lock .That is the usual method

.Your ex tenant has disappeared probably owing many thousands to the supplier plus £150 for the warrant and £100 for the locksmith  and is now probably moving on to another  landlord where he can live for a couple of years paying the bare minimum until he gets the same thing happening again with suppliers having to take steps to stop losing money .
You can check the total debt on the meter that he owed. My record debt I have seen on a prepay meter is £10,000 and £3000 debt is not uncommon 
They are professional renters who flit around and also end up owing landlords many thousands in back rent which they never get back .
 Its no good getting angry at the supplier  "breaking in and ripping out the meter " Choose your next tenant  carefully .

Fair points......but we brought the house with tenant in situ....."she" was in a professional relationship that broke down and unfortunately appeared to have subsequently developed mental health problems and just "left".

dannya1978

ariarnia said:

JoeCrystal said:

diystarter7 said:

JoeCrystal said:

Did you let the supplier that you are their new customer on deemed contact?

This is where most LL's get lost as T's can chose their own supplier and the supplier won't have the LL's details/phone unless they do tell them. However, T's do not bother at times to tell the LL who they are with. 

Is it worth pursing them via small claims court for costs/etc, but I doubt it from what you have said

That is no excuse since you can find out who the property's gas supplier is online. I used this one when I moved in when the previous tenants left without giving any information. https://www.findmysupplier.energy/

thats what we had to do every single time we moved into a new rental on the day we moved in. takes minutes to check and call.

i would have thought it would be a priority for a professional landlord to make sure there tenant couldnt underestemate usage then try to argue the landlord had used the difference because of the delay in them taking over the account. 

Oh well, you live and learn eh

ariarnia

dannya1978 said:

ariarnia said:

JoeCrystal said:

diystarter7 said:

JoeCrystal said:

Did you let the supplier that you are their new customer on deemed contact?

This is where most LL's get lost as T's can chose their own supplier and the supplier won't have the LL's details/phone unless they do tell them. However, T's do not bother at times to tell the LL who they are with. 

Is it worth pursing them via small claims court for costs/etc, but I doubt it from what you have said

That is no excuse since you can find out who the property's gas supplier is online. I used this one when I moved in when the previous tenants left without giving any information. https://www.findmysupplier.energy/

thats what we had to do every single time we moved into a new rental on the day we moved in. takes minutes to check and call.

i would have thought it would be a priority for a professional landlord to make sure there tenant couldnt underestemate usage then try to argue the landlord had used the difference because of the delay in them taking over the account. 

Oh well, you live and learn eh

theres a housing and rental board on here that might be interesting to you. including a really big sticky for landlords on all sorts of things.

not saying you have but if you didn't know how to find out your tenants supplier then maybe there's other things they can help you with so you dont' get caught out again?