Help!

nathalie296 · 25 May 2019 at 8:15AM

Hi everyone! I’ve had an ongoing issue with southern water since 2014. I split up with my partner and moved out but the water bill was still in my name and the water bills had mounted up. A debt collection agency contacted me in 2016 and told me I owe £266. The amount due was from when I didn’t live there, I explained this and they emailed me saying (and I still have the email) they can see I was on the electoral roll at a different address and that I shouldn’t hear from them again regarding the matter. They recently contacted me again saying I still owe the money! This time I even gave them my divorce papers where my ex had stated the date I moved out etc but they said it’s not enough and they need a tenancy agreement (which I don’t have as I moved back in with my mum) I forwarded the email I got from them saying they can see I wasn’t living there etc and they said that was a different account or something 🤔 they’ve said the next step is court. What do I do??

es5595 · 25 May 2019 at 8:33AM

First steps, change the thread title to something more accurate “Billed by Southern Water after moving out”. Then put some paragraphs into your post so it’s not a bit block of text!

Gather together all your evidence, divorce details, previous contact with Southern, any bills/statements from your mums address, a signed statement from your mum confirming the dates you moved in, basically everything!

Then write a letter to Southern, clearly explain the dates you moved out and the dates they were informed that you were no longer living there, along with a copy of all your evidence, and ask them to acknowledge this and desist from further action.

If they do attempt to go to court in the future, you’ve got all the evidence and can prove you’ve informed Southern on multiple occasions.

Cardew · 25 May 2019 at 9:29AM

Debt Collection Agencies are not interested in the merits of the case, they will use threats to get money.

As suggested above, do not deal any more with the DCA; write to Southern water with a copy of the DCA email. It won't do any harm to send the DCA a copy of the letter* - but don't get into any correspondence with them.

* to prevent your credit record being affected.

texter · 25 May 2019 at 1:05PM

nathalie296 wrote: »

Hi everyone! I’ve had an ongoing issue with southern water since 2014. I split up with my partner and moved out but the water bill was still in my name and the water bills had mounted up. A debt collection agency contacted me in 2016 and told me I owe £266. The amount due was from when I didn’t live there, I explained this and they emailed me saying (and I still have the email) they can see I was on the electoral roll at a different address and that I shouldn’t hear from them again regarding the matter. They recently contacted me again saying I still owe the money! This time I even gave them my divorce papers where my ex had stated the date I moved out etc but they said it’s not enough and they need a tenancy agreement (which I don’t have as I moved back in with my mum) I forwarded the email I got from them saying they can see I wasn’t living there etc and they said that was a different account or something 🤔 they’ve said the next step is court. What do I do??

Send it to your solicitor, asking what settlement was agreed regarding this bill according to the divorce papers you refer to.

Help!

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