OVO energy bill

missie1990

I rent out a house and I recently evicted tenants on the 17th June  I had a letter from OVO through my door for a final bill dec-june 17th in my name so when I call them I tell them I'm not responsible as the house was tenanted they told me it doesn't matter you have to pay . Got my letting agent to ring them and OVO told them to send on copies of tenancy agreement and also asked for me to , so I called OVO back to ask where do I email the tenancy agreement and the court bailiffs eviction paperwork to  I also  asked how is the account on my name when I never set it up, they said the tenants took their name of the utilities and as ovo have a partnership with the lettings agency after a period of time if nobody registers the account by default goes back onto my name, they told me on the phone that because they can see when the tenants moved in they will send this to their home move department and will do a reverse search and try to track the ex tenants down and get the debt wiped off my name this will take 10 days I'm worried they'll say because the tenants took their name of utilities and it automatically went to my name I'll be liable has anyone had any experience and what happened.

GrumpyDil

Doesn't matter who's name was on the bill.  Until the day you took possession of the property the tenants were liable for water, gas, electricity etc.

missie1990

GrumpyDil said:

Doesn't matter who's name was on the bill.  Until the day you took possession of the property the tenants were liable for water, gas, electricity etc.

Thank you the person I spoke to in OVO the first time I contacted them said it doesn't matter your the landlord your responsible just pay it or your credit score will be affected and you will get bailiffs knocking at your door.

elsien

You  only get baillifs knocking on your door if they go to court to get a CCJ against you and win, and you then fail to pay within 30 days. 

missie1990

elsien said:

You  only get baillifs knocking on your door if they go to court to get a CCJ against you and win, and you then fail to pay within 30 days. 

I'm hoping it will get sorted before all that .

elsien

I’m sure it will be. They send a years worth of red letters to even think about getting to that point. Just putting that out there to show that the customer service person was not being fully accurate.

Scot_39

GrumpyDil said:

Doesn't matter who's name was on the bill.  Until the day you took possession of the property the tenants were liable for water, gas, electricity etc.

It's be no means as clear cut as that.

These days its rare - as most landlords now know to protect themselves - but some in past have understandably arguably been a bit naive about the risks.  

[A former colleague and his now wife decided to rent out her flat after moved in together few years ago - they used a local agency - but turns out utility responsibility clauses were missing - so got burned on that.

That and damage to the flats internals - doors, kitchen and walls (over 9m rent went on repairs / redecoration - plus over £1000 on gas / electric).  They gave up renting and sold flat soon after.]

However providing you have the utility responsibility clearly defined - they should back down.

But it doesn't mean companies wont try it on regardless. Take this example

https://forums.landlordzone.co.uk/c/residential-letting-questions/landlord-responsible-for-energy-bills

Not checked the truth of all of this - but landlord seemed to know his rights - but the company still argued.

There even is a suggestion in threads like that landlords should now request explicit permission to share tenants data - so can tell suppliers dates, names etc they become responsible - in case they do not. Its very unlikely to come to anything - but certainly if doing so as a business - GDPR could in limit be a factor.

There are other non regular things landlords can now fall foul of too.  Like here in Scotland over legionella - they are now advised to explicitly tell tenants - in writing - so in the tenancy agreements - NOT to drop tank or flow temperatures.   Times move on, laws and responsibilities change - tenancy like other contracts need to adapt. 

missie1990

Scot_39 said:

GrumpyDil said:

Doesn't matter who's name was on the bill.  Until the day you took possession of the property the tenants were liable for water, gas, electricity etc.

It's be no means as clear cut as that.

These days its rare - as most landlords now know to protect themselves - but some in past have understandably arguably been a bit naive about the risks.  

[A former colleague and his now wife decided to rent out her flat after moved in together few years ago - they used a local agency - but turns out utility responsibility clauses were missing - so got burned on that.

That and damage to the flats internals - doors, kitchen and walls (over 9m rent went on repairs / redecoration - plus over £1000 on gas / electric).  They gave up renting and sold flat soon after.]

However providing you have the utility responsibility clearly defined - they should back down.

But it doesn't mean companies wont try it on regardless. Take this example

https://forums.landlordzone.co.uk/c/residential-letting-questions/landlord-responsible-for-energy-bills

Not checked the truth of all of this - but landlord seemed to know his rights - but the company still argued.

There even is a suggestion in threads like that landlords should now request explicit permission to share tenants data - so can tell suppliers dates, names etc they become responsible - in case they do not. Its very unlikely to come to anything - but certainly if doing so as a business - GDPR could in limit be a factor.

There are other non regular things landlords can now fall foul of too.  Like here in Scotland over legionella - they are now advised to explicitly tell tenants - in writing - so in the tenancy agreements - NOT to drop tank or flow temperatures.   Times move on, laws and responsibilities change - tenancy like other contracts need to adapt. 

Yes in the agreement it clearly states tenants are responsible for utilities.