British Gass account created without authorisation

RanjB

Hi all,

I hope you are well and had a good Christmas/holidays.

Very qq - I reserved a show home in early Sept 2023, exchanged contracts on 8 December and completed/moved in on 21 December. At the time of handing over keys, the development management gave me meter readings so all good.

To my surprise there were unpaid bills by British Gas in my name of thousands of pounds. I called BG and they said you are account holder since 1 October at this property and I have an outstanding amount of thousands of pounds.

They sent many letters and threatened legal action already to the property with my name but obviously I was not the owner or the resident, so I didn't know.

I called the developer and they said they will pay in after Christmas but they didn't and now they are saying they will pay after new year. I am sure they will pay sooner or later but isn't it a fraud to create unauthorised account in my name using my data given to them at the time of reservation of house? Isn't British Gas supposed to verify anything thing?

They ruined our house move as seeing thousands of pounds unpaid and threat letter was not a good sight on moving day.

Regards,

RK

user1977

Didn't you contact British Gas when you moved in to give them your details and the meter readings? You're not liable for the period before you purchased.

housebuyer143

Send British gas your completion documents and ask them to amend your account to reflect the ownership and give them your meter readings. Tell them the developer is responsible before that. 
They can't legally chase you or charge you for a period you didn't own the house. 

I know dealing with BG is hell, but keep on at them.

_Penny_Dreadful

RanjB said:

Hi all,

I hope you are well and had a good Christmas/holidays.

Very qq - I reserved a show home in early Sept 2023, exchanged contracts on 8 December and completed/moved in on 21 December. At the time of handing over keys, the development management gave me meter readings so all good.

To my surprise there were unpaid bills by British Gas in my name of thousands of pounds. I called BG and they said you are account holder since 1 October at this property and I have an outstanding amount of thousands of pounds.

They sent many letters and threatened legal action already to the property with my name but obviously I was not the owner or the resident, so I didn't know.

I called the developer and they said they will pay in after Christmas but they didn't and now they are saying they will pay after new year. I am sure they will pay sooner or later but isn't it a fraud to create unauthorised account in my name using my data given to them at the time of reservation of house? Isn't British Gas supposed to verify anything thing?

They ruined our house move as seeing thousands of pounds unpaid and threat letter was not a good sight on moving day.

Regards,

RK

Contact BG explaining you became the owner 21st December and give them the meter readings from 21st December. You are not liable for the period before that. 

I’ve been in a similar situation (not with BG) where a landlord tried to make me liable for almost 2 years work of gas and electric when I wasn’t even living there. I gave the utility supplier a copy of my tenancy agreement showing when I moved in and the meter readings from the date I moved in. Problem sorted. 

eddddy

As others suggest, it's not really a big deal - just a misunderstanding that will probably be easy to resolve.

Just phone BG to tell them the date you became the owner of the property, and provide meter readings for that date (although if you have smart meters, they might already have the readings for that date).


TBH, it's not really any of your business when the developer plans to pay their bill to BG, for the period before you owned the property. That's for the developer and BG to sort out between themselves.

theartfullodger

Just send them meter readings (and photos of ) when you took possession 21 December - ? both gas and electric?

Also council tax and any 'phone lines.

Sorry this has happened.  I'd stop communicating with the people you have been (salesmen) and start with ceo.  Get email from ceoemail website.

Flugelhorn

just send them the moving in readings - the rest is not your problem

Ksw3

I would raise a complaint with BG. I can never get the regular staff to be helpful at all. I've gone round and round in circles with them before but once I made a complaint, I spoke to someone who could understand what the issue was and resolve it. 

user1977

Ksw3 said:

I would raise a complaint with BG. I can never get the regular staff to be helpful at all. I've gone round and round in circles with them before but once I made a complaint, I spoke to someone who could understand what the issue was and resolve it. 

Complain about what? From what we've been told, they haven't done anything wrong - just gone on the info provided to them by the developer.

chanz4

when you moved in did you not call yourself?

housebuyer143

user1977 said:

Ksw3 said:

I would raise a complaint with BG. I can never get the regular staff to be helpful at all. I've gone round and round in circles with them before but once I made a complaint, I spoke to someone who could understand what the issue was and resolve it. 

Complain about what? From what we've been told, they haven't done anything wrong - just gone on the info provided to them by the developer.

Complain that they haven't resolved your problem, unless of course you haven't called them and made them aware of the problem? If you haven't done that, it should be your first point of call and your issue will probably disappear. 
If you spoke to them and it's unresolved then a complaint is in order.