£1000 + water bill

metal675

Hi,

I moved to a new build property a few years ago. As usual, I took on electricity, gas, broadband and paid them as normal - either the vendor contacted me OR the builder provided my details to these utility companies.

Since I moved in, I never had any water bill and no water utility company contacted me. I did not initiate contact with any water company.

I now received a letter for a water bill saying - based on the credit records they believe I am the owner of this address and have sent me a bill exceeding £1000 for the last few years. The letter has the usual if you are not the owner then please contact us and if you are the right person then to pay the bill.

What are my options here please?

Who is at fault? The company never contacted me previously and suddenly sent me a huge bill and asking me to repay.

They have sent a second letter asking for payment and that non payment will result in CCJ and affect my credit rating.

Thanks

SaverRate

You should have contacted the water utilities company when you moved into make them aware you were the new owners. So its your fault.

Check that the usage readings on the bill match your move in date. Any usage before your move in date you need to inform them they need to take that off your bill as you were not the owners then. 

Call them and ask for a payment plan or get an interest free credit card and pay the bill with that?

Were you not putting money aside every month for the water bill?

victor2

metal675 said:

Hi,

I moved to a new build property a few years ago. As usual, I took on electricity, gas, broadband and paid them as normal - either the vendor contacted me OR the builder provided my details to these utility companies.

Since I moved in, I never had any water bill and no water utility company contacted me. I did not initiate contact with any water company.

I now received a letter for a water bill saying - based on the credit records they believe I am the owner of this address and have sent me a bill exceeding £1000 for the last few years. The letter has the usual if you are not the owner then please contact us and if you are the right person then to pay the bill.

What are my options here please?

Who is at fault? The company never contacted me previously and suddenly sent me a huge bill and asking me to repay.

They have sent a second letter asking for payment and that non payment will result in CCJ and affect my credit rating.

Thanks

Unfortunately, it appears you may be at fault for not finding out who supplied your water and letting them know you had moved in.
If you have a water meter reading from when you moved in, then you can check that against the bill now sent to you. Assuming you are being billed for water you have actually used, then payment is due. You might be able to negotiate a payment plan with the water company if paying it in one go is going to be difficult for you.

metal675

Many thanks for the replies so far.

Just to clarify - This was a "new build" apartment when I moved in and I was the first occupant immediately after the construction was complete.

There was no previous tenant/ landlord to take meter reading from.

When I moved in, I was contacted by my electricity provider, council, and others except the water company - hence I am not sure.

Robin9

Have you found the meter ?

Keep_pedalling

metal675 said:

Many thanks for the replies so far.

Just to clarify - This was a "new build" apartment when I moved in and I was the first occupant immediately after the construction was complete.

There was no previous tenant/ landlord to take meter reading from.

When I moved in, I was contacted by my electricity provider, council, and others except the water company - hence I am not sure.

Well that makes things simple as you won’t end up paying for any the previous occupants use. You used the water so you need to pay the bill. How many years are we talking about? Anything over 6 years should not be enforceable.

freesha

Presumably you have been putting the money aside for when you eventually got a bill.. no?

metal675

Thanks all for the helpful and the rhetorical responses

MattMattMattUK

Keep_pedalling said:

metal675 said:

Many thanks for the replies so far.

Just to clarify - This was a "new build" apartment when I moved in and I was the first occupant immediately after the construction was complete.

There was no previous tenant/ landlord to take meter reading from.

When I moved in, I was contacted by my electricity provider, council, and others except the water company - hence I am not sure.

Well that makes things simple as you won’t end up paying for any the previous occupants use. You used the water so you need to pay the bill. How many years are we talking about? Anything over 6 years should not be enforceable.

However there will have been usage by the builders and plumbers, that might only be a few m3, or it might be a few dozen, normally as part of the handover that should have been recorded. OP can you check your handover documents to see if it has a water meter reading?

metal675

Thanks Matt, I will have a look at the completion docs.

Main point I had was if the onus was on me or the company, especially when other providers contacted me and this was an exception.

Surely it was a failure on their part too if they did not see this for 2 years.

Robin9

The onus is always on you for all the utilities   -  then you can only blame yourself.  We hear too many horrible stories on this forum where caretakers, builders, agents are involved.