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Gollypolly · 5 September 2018 at 5:27PM

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HatAndScarf · 5 September 2018 at 6:08PM

Gollypolly wrote: »

Hi
My son is a sole trader Blacksmith. He took over the tenancy for his industrial unit in December 2014 from the Local Authority. The tenancy did not specifically mention utilities and when we received no bills made the now foolish assumption that electricity was included in the rent and service charges. He uses very little power, maybe 30 KWh a month. Yesterday he received a thick envelope of bills from British Gas going back to 2014 and demanding over £1000 to be paid by tomorrow!! The vast majority of the bills are horrendous standing charges.
Hours on the phone today to British Gas it eventually transpires that the bills have been sent to the Local Authority and apparently the responsibility for the meter was put into my sons name only last month, when I presume BG were chasing for payment. We have still not been informed of this by the council and have been unable to contact the property dept. ( nothing new there).
As a result we are on ‘deemed rates’ paying through the nose. Since we did not know about this we could not change the contract/supplier.
Does anyone know if there is anything we can do? Are we protected by back billing laws?
I’ve managed to put a week block on the bill so have until next Wednesday to sort it out. I have also changed the energy contract to pay less than half the current charge rate. I’m so cross and frustrated. Are the council culpable in any way for this debt.
Fingers crossed lovely people for some advice
Thanks
Kath

So your son assumed the utilities were included?
He maybe uses 30kWh per month of electricity??? Seems extremely little. Does he do all his work by candlelight?
And what about the gas??? As a blacksmith is that also assumed to be about 30kWh per month? :rotfl:

Anyway, the good news.
Some form of backbilling limitations do apply. The supplier has 6 years (or even perhaps just 5 if in Scotland) to recover their debt.
The bad news is this was only over the last 4 years.
Your son will be responsible for the cost of his consumption from the start of his tenancy agreement.
He may want to clarify with all parties who he will be responsible to, up until last month.

What should your son do?
First find the meters, and then get into the habit of reading them regularly so he knows what he is consuming.
Ditch & switch if he thinks he can get a better deal elsewhere. Or negotiate a better deal with the existing supplier.
There's some info on commercial gas & electricity in this MSE article
https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/banking/small-business/#cheapest
(Note that the article was archived in 2016, but a good place to start I would suggest)

Gollypolly · 5 September 2018 at 6:30PM

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Savvy_Sue · 5 September 2018 at 10:08PM

I'm afraid I can't help with the actual issue, but the lesson your son needs to take from this is NEVER assume anything in a business contract! Or assume the worst ... ie if it does not say the landlord is responsible for something, assume that you are! And you absolutely CANNOT rely on the 'other side' for anything.

I am guessing he did not get legal advice before signing his tenancy agreement, so I hope that when he comes to give it up there are no nasty surprises in there.

It may now be worth taking some legal advice over what he can do about the local authority's failure to notify BG that they were no longer responsible for the bills, but there are high expectations on business owners to know what they are doing so I wouldn't hold your breath there. However having someone on side in negotiating with BG over reducing the payments (because he'd have changed tariff if he'd known) may be helpful.

00ec25 · 7 September 2018 at 7:58AM

as the post above

there is a huge difference between consumer contracts and business contracts. As a business "you" are expected to be aware of what you are signing and to have taken appropriate advice before doing so.

I doubt his commercial tenancy agreement makes no reference whatsoever to liability for utilities. When was the last time he read it? The answer to your question re the council liability will be in there, but I think the chances of them being liable for their tenant's consumption are negligible. If they are then as a taxpayer you should name and shame the council for letting commercial premises on such open ended lunatic terms

Thanks

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