Advice on £900 water bill...

kiiabby

Hello! I'm hoping someone could give me some advice on a water bill that's been giving me massive headaches for a while now.

First, here's some background info! I'm a student living with seven other people in our house (5 of these are tenants on the property, with two boyfriends who contribute to bills). When I moved into the property in July last year the previous tenants had moved out leaving a lot of unpaid bills. I spent two months fending off debt collectors who were chasing after the naughty boys who lived here before and thought I had everything sorted out.

There's a problem with the way our house is registered- it appears as 46-48, but I don't think number 48 on our road actually exists- the house is semi-detached and next door is number 50! There are also two basement flats in the building- one below each side of the house. So there are four separate properties attached to eachother. I have a feeling this may be contributing to this water bill problem as well...

I underestimated how useless Southern Water are. They sent a letter demanding around £350 from the previous tenants shortly after I moved in. The letter was not addressed to anyone, just to the property. I called them up and said I had just moved in and that the bill belonged to the previous tenants. The water board said, fine, not a problem. They blocked letters being sent to me whilst they dealt with this issue. I made it very clear I didn't want to duck out of paying my bills and that as soon as they sorted out the previous tenants bill then I would work with them to pay the water bill for the time I've lived in the property.

The next thing I heard was in January when I received a letter from a debt collection agency addressed to me personally for the £350 water bill. I called up the debt collection agency and informed them this was not my bill and would they please stop harassing me by phone call whilst I sorted out this problem. When I called the water bill they agreed with me that it wasn't my bill and they were still looking into it. They said their warning letters informing me that they were going to be going to a debt collection agency hadn't been sent to me because of the account block they had set up originally. Sit tight, they said. We'll get this sorted.

Forward to February, when I receive a water bill through the post for £900. This was including the previous tenants unpaid bill of £350 as well as the bill for next year as well. Again, I called them up and explained the £350 can't be my bill and could they please come round and ensure that the bill is for my property and not the three others attached to it. They assured me they would, but I've not had anyone come round to the house and have had no further letters from them.

I've been incredibly busy since then with assignments and working etc and so I've not got round to sorting this out. I am moving out at the end of June (contract's up) so I want to get this sorted and out of my name before I leave. I've also considered just sending Southern Water a letter when I leave detailing who will be living in this house next year (most of my housemates are staying here so i can obviously provide the water board with contact details and phone numbers for them all) and leaving them to sort it out.


So, any suggestions for getting this sorted? Could I put a complaint in to OFWAT with regards to the way they've handled the previous tenants bill? How much you would estimate a unmetered water bill should be for a 6 bedroom house? Any tips for actually getting through to someone at Southern Water who has a clue?

Any and all advice will be appreciated. Thanks in advance and my apologies for the length of this post!

whatatwit

Have you put your facts in writing to them?
Usually, this is the only way.

The bill for an unmetered property is based upon the Rateable Value, this is going back to pre Poll Tax days and the RV is multiplied by the water boards figure for the year. So water bills for unmetered properties do vary quite a lot.

Maybe, in your letter, you could explain the layout of the property and the various 'households' that should be getting billed. This is presuming that 'your' bill is shared between the 6 tenants.