When does liability end for paying the energy bills of a deceased person?

Shadweller

My father sadly passed away recently and I am now in the process of trying to settle the bills out of his estate.

Please can anyone advise when the liability ends for paying the bills in this situation?

Is it from the date of the end of tenancy (which in this case was one month after my Dad's body was found)?

Is it from the date the body was found?

Is it from the date that I supply a final meter reading?

Due to complicated circumstances that I can't go into right now, my Dad's body was in an uttatended flat, with the heating apparently on high, round the clock for some time (maybe several weeks.) Yes I know that is a terribly sad and shocking situation, and I am dealing with the emotional aspect and aftermath of that quite separately to the financial aspect.

The final bill is already very high as a result of this, and I'd like to know if there is anything that can be done to prevent the bill climbing even higher, or any way of ending the liabilty sooner. For example from the date of the end of tenancy, or from the date that my Dad's body was foud?

The meter is continuing to clock up usage, the heating may be on a timer or something like that and I have no idea where the controls are or how to use them. And the property is 150 miles away from where I live.

Mrs_Z

Hi, sorry to hear about the sad circumstances and whilst I don't know the answer to your question, I would start with speaking to the bereavement department of the utility company. 

Brie

So sorry for your loss.  What a dreadful set of circumstances.

The liability would end, I believe, from the date tenancy ended.  And presumably this is about the same time a final reading was taken.  Hopefully there was a smart meter as that would make things a bit easier, one would hope.  The only way the liability would have ended sooner was if there was another person living in the flat which sounds unlikely from your description.  

Do you know who took over the tenancy?  Presumably the landlord would have needed to do some prep for the next tenant so they would be responsible for any time after the tenancy ended.

Flugelhorn

I would suspect that the estate is responsible to the end of the tenancy - this sounds like a very difficult situation

Shadweller

Brie said:

So sorry for your loss.  What a dreadful set of circumstances.

The liability would end, I believe, from the date tenancy ended.  And presumably this is about the same time a final reading was taken.  Hopefully there was a smart meter as that would make things a bit easier, one would hope.  The only way the liability would have ended sooner was if there was another person living in the flat which sounds unlikely from your description.  

Do you know who took over the tenancy?  Presumably the landlord would have needed to do some prep for the next tenant so they would be responsible for any time after the tenancy ended.

Thank you. Yes it certainly is.

It's a council flat, and they haven't even done the flat clearance yet, although it was supposed to be happening today.

I would imagine that it will be some time before the new tenant(s) move in.

doodling

Hi,

Assuming that there is sufficient money to pay them, after the costs of a funeral have been taken into account, the utility bills will need to be paid until the tenancy ends.

There may be benefit in seeing if you can agree with the landlord that the tenancy will end earlier than the contract would otherwise specify - they may agree to that if they still get the same amount of rent and the benefit for them is that they then have time to do any works they want to do to the property before the next tenants arrive.  The benefit for you is that you only pay utilities until the earlier end date.  Of course, that might not work if you need time to clear the flat before the tenancy ends.

You need to take meter readings on the date the tenancy ends (or as close to it as possible) to avoid any confusion between the utility company, the landlord and yourself as to what the meter reading was when the property was returned to the landlord.  It is not unknown for landlords to attempt to get the previous or future tenants to pay for the utilities in the gap between tenants (when the landlord should be responsible for the bill) by "misunderstanding" meter readings.

msb1234

My mother in law lived in a council flat when she died. The Council gave us 2 weeks to clear the flat, but they only charged rent up to the date of her death. We took meter readings the week after she died, whilst clearing her personal belongings, submitted them to her energy provider and paid up to the date of the readings. I believe the flat was empty for 6 months after she died as it was being upgraded. 

Keep_pedalling

Don’t forget it is your father’s estate that has the responsibility not you personally. 

AnnikaJuarez

In this situation, you need to tell the energy company about your father's passing right away and give them a copy of the death certificate. This is how you start sorting out the account. The responsibility for the energy bills goes on until you give a final meter reading and ask for the account to be closed or changed to someone else's name. Sometimes, the energy company might stop charging from the day your father passed away or when his lease ended, if you can show them the death certificate or a document that proves the lease is over.

HampshireH

doodling said:

You need to take meter readings on the date the tenancy ends (or as close to it as possible) to avoid any confusion between the utility company, the landlord and yourself as to what the meter reading was when the property was returned to the landlord.  It is not unknown for landlords to attempt to get the previous or future tenants to pay for the utilities in the gap between tenants (when the landlord should be responsible for the bill) by "misunderstanding" meter readings.

I have never known social landlord to do this. They generally do not get involved in utilities for normal tenanted properties. The agreement is solely between the then tenant and the utility provider.

It is of course the responsibility of the person who is returning the keys to take a meter reading (in this case the OP) to ensure estimated readings are not used or that a reading from when the social landlord can get in there to do work is not used instead to open their account between tenancies.

A social landlord is unlikely to take a meter reading the day the keys are returned due to the sheer volume of properties becoming empty each week and the time it takes to get round them all. More so in circumstances the OP sadly describes as other works/clean etc will likely have to take place first before its deemed OK for then to enter to carry out day to day works scheduling or clearance.

Sorry for your loss OP.

doodling

Hi,

HampshireH said:

doodling said:

You need to take meter readings on the date the tenancy ends (or as close to it as possible) to avoid any confusion between the utility company, the landlord and yourself as to what the meter reading was when the property was returned to the landlord.  It is not unknown for landlords to attempt to get the previous or future tenants to pay for the utilities in the gap between tenants (when the landlord should be responsible for the bill) by "misunderstanding" meter readings.

I have never known social landlord to do this. They generally do not get involved in utilities for normal tenanted properties. The agreement is solely between the then tenant and the utility provider.

It is of course the responsibility of the person who is returning the keys to take a meter reading (in this case the OP) to ensure estimated readings are not used or that a reading from when the social landlord can get in there to do work is not used instead to open their account between tenancies.

A social landlord is unlikely to take a meter reading the day the keys are returned due to the sheer volume of properties becoming empty each week and the time it takes to get round them all. More so in circumstances the OP sadly describes as other works/clean etc will likely have to take place first before its deemed OK for then to enter to carry out day to day works scheduling or clearance.

Sorry for your loss OP.

I agree, I hadn't seen that post when iI wrote mine.

If the LA is clearing the flat then it sounds like the tenancy has already ended.  The OP needs to get a meter reading ASAP and close the utility accounts.  The standing charges will run until the tenancy end, the energy costs will be based on the readings the OP provides.