No water bill, ever!

[mimi14]

Ok, this is quite an odd one, but it keeps me awake some nights and I'm genuinely confused by it.

When I moved into my property (rented) 4 years ago, I called all the utility providers to let them know.
The water company had no record of our property and said it wasn't one managed by them. I tried all the other local companies and they didn't have us on their books either. All my neighbours are managed by the first company I tried.
The house was previously one big house that was split into 2 which is probably where this has gone wrong.

Every so often I worry about this again and try to call the company but still they say the house doesn't exist .

What can I do about this, and am I liable for all of the last 4 years, despite the fact I've tried several times to get them to send me a bill?

I'm guessing that the split is probably the issue - either shoddy paperwork or shoddy workmanship. I once lived in a house that had been split in two and it turned out that the hot water in one of the bathrooms came from next door's boiler!

No idea about liability mind you

Meh, you’ve tried your best.
Maybe save the approximate amount up each month in case you need it, though.

We had a hard time trying to get British Gas interested in taking money from us for gas some years ago (when they were the only company). Eventually they decided we were a business, so we got a business gas account. Whatever.

Wouldn't your landlord know? Or agent?

Yeah your landlord / property owner (if different) will know, it would be bizarre if they didn't! What have they said?

wouldnt the landlord or lettings agent have a record?

If a gas or electric company makes a mistake like this they can only back bill you for a year. I don't know if this applies to water but it seems reasonable once you get accepted as a customer.

Was the house split officially registered with all the utility companies, council tax
planning permission etc? If it was since the rates system started to move over to meters I would have thought a meter would have been installed then.

I would write to the chief executive of the local company with all the details and save the money to pay since you moved in, but bear in mind what I said above, that you may only be liable for the last year.

We had this in a new build several years ago. We only managed to sort it out when we sold, and had to pay a backdated amount. We tried so hard to get the utilities companies to take money but we could never manage it. I think the issue was related to the address we lived at being different to the address of the plot that the house was built (different numbers and road names).

I’m not sure how this affects you as a tenant, in theory it may not if you make reasonable attempts and record them. Including asking your landlord to sort it out. From what I remember it’s not the whole bill you pay it’s going back a set time.

Just save the £45 a month into a separate account. Then if they decide you should pay, you can. Make sure you have email evidence you attempted to rectify the mistake.

My house had two electricity supplies and occasionally they attempt to read the ( long gone ) meter.

Who do you rent from? What have they said about this? Do you know if there was a tenant in the house previously, or have you been the only one since the house was split? (sounds like you might be).

Can you ask them to confirm in writing that your house does not exist?

Which I admit sounds odd 😂

is it a leasehold?
when we last lived in a leasehold property water bills were covered by the lease.

One of the first things to do is to check that your property exists. Obviously it does in a physical sense, but there are a fairly large number of flats in the big cities which have been created informally; these don’t appear on any official database, which can cause problems with unmetered utilities. One easy route to check is to look up the Land Registry records for your building; if your flat doesn’t appear as a seperate title, you can probably guess why you have this issue.

I had something similar only British Gas were insistent they were supplying me even though I told them it was EDF. It turned out after 2 years that my house used to be called something else before being split into flats 15 years previously. BG were using the old name and (disused) meter, and EDF had the correct details. No amount of telephone calls would get them to listen 🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬 Maybe it’s something like that?!

If they catch on I think they can go back six years, but council tax can go back even longer.

This happened when we moved to our current house. It’s a 1930s house! No one had paid water or sewerage ever! We asked to get connected up and they sorted it. Can’t believe previous occupants never thought to do similar..

Given it's a split, I'd suspect another flat is paying for your water as well, whether in rates or there's just one meter coming in to the property.

I once spent two years trying to convince nPower I had a gas supply. They were very insistent that I didn't...

I would contact the ombudsman Ofwat and see if they will look into it for you.

Scottish power screwed me when I moved to a new build. They said I didn't exist, meter want registered etc. Hours of phone calls over 3 months to sort it.

Eventually they fixed it all and slapped me with a £1500 bill for 3 months. I refused to pay it. Month later my bill was £20,000 I refused to pay that too.

Got sorted eventually, but I left for EDF, £59 a month.

I'd be wary that flat connected to you is paying over the odds to cover yours and doesn't realise or that the company has messed up and realises etc. Either could be big bills.

I had this in a house that had been converted into flats. They had my neighbours on record but not my flat. I tried for a long time to sort it. When I moved out I tried again but never paid anything despite being willing to.

There was a similar item on Watchdog last night about British Gas. Some people had waited years for a bill.