Advice from the board please!

wallace_3

Make sure that the utility company have all of your names on the account - that way you are all jointly liable for the bills. (Explain it is a student house and they should have no problem with having multiple names on the bill).

No-one thinks it will happen to them, *but* if yours is the only name on the bill, and you fall out with your friends and they don't pay you, you are still 100% liable to pay the entire bill.

Also, make sure you take meter readings if you have just moved in, to make sure you only pay for the gas and electric you are using (and not what the previous people used)!

coolsteel

wallace wrote:

Make sure that the utility company have all of your names on the account - that way you are all jointly liable for the bills. (Explain it is a student house and they should have no problem with having multiple names on the bill).

No-one thinks it will happen to them, *but* if yours is the only name on the bill, and you fall out with your friends and they don't pay you, you are still 100% liable to pay the entire bill.

Also, make sure you take meter readings if you have just moved in, to make sure you only pay for the gas and electric you are using (and not what the previous people used)!

Good advice Wallace, my daughter too is going to house share and i didnt know you could get all names on the bills!
Coolsteel :cool:

wallace_3

coolsteel wrote:

Good advice Wallace, my daughter too is going to house share and i didnt know you could get all names on the bills!
Coolsteel :cool:

Well I have only had it done with Powergen, British Gas and Thames Water, but I would assume all companies can do it.

Powergen said they can only print one persons name on the bill, but their computer still recognises that there are multiple account holders.
Powergen also gave us a smartcard so that we could pay money into our account every week, rather than have a big bill every quarter - a big help for students who need to budget!

Also one last point of advice - make sure your local council are aware that everyone in the house are students, and are therefore exempt from paying council tax.