Still being charged by British Gas

Regalia6969

Hi gang,

Dealing with nans estate and property as executor, I settled her last bill with BG, closed her account, and shut off the power at the fuse box.

Then started getting letters from BG sent to her house addressed to "the occupiers" (notably not addressed to myself or sent to my house as executor which they were doing) saying they'd taken the liberty of opening a new account and started charging.

Spoke to BG and made it clear the house was unoccipied, power shut off and no provider was needed. And that we wouldn't be paying for this. This new account isnt in my or my nans name but they seemed to suggest it would pass onto the next owners of the property.

Went back to check recently and a new bill has been posted now up to £200. I don't expect the next owners (offer recently accepted on the house) to pay this outstanding charge and don't see why we should pay it when the house is unoccpied and my nans debts were settled and account closed.

Also found a letter sent a month ago saying they'd be tracking down who was responsible for this bill to settle it. But no word has come to me directly as yet.

Where do I stand with this?

GrumpyDil

Until the property is sold the estate is responsible for paying standing charges plus any actual usage. Unfortunately you can't avoid those charges.

mta999

As above, there will be at a minimum standing charges to.pay

As for usage, send meter reading(s) (unless the property has smart meters of course)

otb666

Also as well as standing charge for ultilities you generally have to leave the heating on for the house insurance to remain valid. The estate has paid 400 for gas bill over last few months and 30pm on electric a smaller amount for water. The buyer buying lost their first buyer and is now on their second buyer this has taken over 6 months and still outstanding just a heads up. We also had to fill a form in for tv licence people to stop pursuing empty property.

Keep_pedalling

As the executor of the estate you are responsible for all the utility bills for the property and although you may not have signed a contract with them you have a deemed contract with BG and need to settle the bills. If you can’t pay the bill because of lack of funds the you need to tell them that you will settle the bill once the house has been sold and the estate wound up.

You also have a responsability to the beneficiaries to protect their inheritance so you should not have left the place unheated over the winter although you are probably safe on that front now we are well in to March.

user1977

You can't close the estate's account until the estate has completed the sale of the property. Did somebody advise you otherwise?

Regalia6969

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81924219#Comment_81924219

Nobody has advised me of that. When I contacted BG to inform them of the bereavement and to pay the final bill and close the account they processed it all with no issue and said nothing else on the matter.

Regalia6969

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81924211#Comment_81924211

Of course and I've finalised all those bills, for example no one from the water company has been in touch since closing and paying the final bill. Its just BG, no one informed me of this when I told them of the bereavement, paid, and closed the account, they processed it all for me. When I spoke to them they seemed to imply we weren't responsible for this new account and bill.

The house has no central heating and she never heated it anyway, but I take your meaning.

la531983

The estate will also be responsible for the water bill until the day the house is disposed of, btw. I would be contacting them back.

Bit of a life lesson for you, sadly.

SiliconChip

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81924379#Comment_81924379

There might not be anything to pay for water, when my mum died Severn Trent advised that they only billed up to the date of death and there would be no charge from then up to the time the house sold (we actually got a refund as the monthly DD that had been taken covered some days after death).

I'd have thought the only way to avoid standing charge and use bills for gas and electric would be to have the supply terminated, there might be charges for doing that and there would certainly be charges for re-establishing supply in the future.

la531983

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81924549#Comment_81924549

Well the OP needs to check. My bill with a different water authority includes a quarterly standing charge and quarterly surface water element, regardless if I use anything or not.