To say dd is not responsible for landlord's electricity bill

[Snozzlemaid]

Dd is second year at uni and shares a flat with two others. Bills not included in the rent.

They signed up with an electricity supplier when they moved in at the beginning of September and have been paying this monthly.

The landlord has now messaged them saying she has received an electricity bill from the previous supplier that needs to be paid for the period up to the beginning of November. She wants them to pay it.

She has sent screenshots of the letter. It was addressed to her, the landlord, and posted to her address. It is from a different company than they have signed up with.

The flat was empty for months before dd and friends moved in so I'm guessing the landlord would have been responsible for electricity charges during that period. So surely she should have cancelled her contact when the flat was occupied again.

Sounds to me as if she hasn't cancelled her contract.

I've told dd she shouldn't be liable for this. They have no contract with the provider sending this bill. The landlord does, so she is responsible.
They are with another provider who they have been paying.

Any advice I can give dd for them to deal with this?

@FlowerArranger

So many posts referring to the period or the start date of the tenancy...

It's the meter reading taken on the day they moved in which is the relevant piece of information.

They are liable for the electricity consumed from that point, irrespective of which company supplied it.

Because the tenants (and their mum) have misunderstood that the period the new supplier started charging them from is not the start of the tenancy but whenever they took over the supply. I'm sure they get it now.

@RazzleDazz1e

I’d hand over the baton to your daughter and her flat mates and let them sort this out- great life skills!

I am letting them sort it. I just wanted to give some advice and point them in the right direction.

I don't have full details of contract with new supplier as dd didn't sort that herself. She will need to check all this with flatmate that did.

I will get her to check when new supplier has confirmed they began supplying and will get them to check the meter readings in all correspondence from both suppliers.

They can then work out which company to pay for what bit.

It might be worth contacting the supplier the landlord was with. When a friend moved into a council flat the pre paid meter was in a huge deficit but the company just cleared it when they saw the rental agreement.

If this property is always let to students the companies are used to this.

DS bought his house from a landlord that previously rented it out. The tenant moved out in December and he bought it in may. He was chased by the previous supplier for that period but had taken meter readings on the day he moved in and signed up with a new supplier.

He wrote to the old supplier with the move in meter reading and his completion statement and the meter reading given to the new supplier & they calculated his usage for the two week crossover which was about £12 for gas and electric.

He also gave them the name and address of his seller and left it with EON.

If the bill was for the time of their tenancy they probably are responsible.

Ages ago now, but when I was at uni, we had to start our contract on our rented house in the July, even though we didn't move in till September.

Your daughter is responsible from the date they moved in.

Why did your DD change supplier? They should’ve transferred the current one to their names, did anyone let the old supplier know?

I think they’ve caused some confusion here, if the old supplier was still associated with the address with an account in the landlords name.

They shouldn’t be paying two suppliers, but if the original contract wasn’t cancelled/swapped with final meter readings given I think it could easily cause confusion which it what it sounds like has happened.

You need to go off the meter readings not the dates. If she hasn’t got meter readings then she will need to pay the bill

Unfortunately the bill is for the period of their tenancy

The tenant is responsible for the bills from the date they move in. There is always a time lag with changing suppliers etc, but they used the electricity so they should pay for it.

I work for a landlord. The tenant is responsible for utilities from the date their contract starts. Final meter readings should be taken on the date the previous tenant leaves. Any period between contracts, the void period, the landlord is responsible for standing charges and any usage. The new tenant takes over on the start of contract date whether they live there or not. This also includes periods when they may be back living at home.

Unfortunately landlords do not have access to contracts that tenants take out with utilities companies so have to wait to be contacted by them with any void period bills. Also previous tenants are not always diligent about telling their company they are leaving or supplying final meter readings, hence bills addressed to the 'landlord'. I often have to provide final meter readings from the check out inspection when previous tenants leave for the company to calculate the void period. It is up to the utility company to chase the previous tenant for findl unpaid bills.

In this case the Op needs to provide initial meter readings from the start date on the tenancy agreement. These may be in an inventory provided at check in. An inventory is done, usually by a third party, as it's the landlords evidence to claim any dilapidations from the tenants deposit. Hopefully this should be fairly straightforward to sort out.

Swapping over utility companies is fairly standard for tenants and is usually mentioned in the tenancy agreement.

They are responsible from the first day of their tenancy eg the summer holidays even if they hadn't moved in

It also takes a while to switch so expect a bill until the switch date

@CloseYourEyesAndSee

They can't have been paying new supplier from 1/9 if this was a change of supplier. If this supplier was already supplying the house then there cannot be two supplies to the same house so something has gone wrong, but if they changed supplier then there will have been a delay during which period they will have accrued a debt with the previous supplier.

This. There should not be two supplies at the same time, so they should investigate what’s happened.

She needs to pay from the date her tenancy started.

She needs to email over a tenancy agreement to prove she's not liable.

@furbabymama87

She needs to email over a tenancy agreement to prove she's not liable.

How does this prove anything if the bill is for during her tenancy period?

This. There should not be two supplies at the same time, so they should investigate what’s happened.

I agree, I think perhaps the former supplier wasn’t informed properly of the switch?

When I’ve rented I’ve always initially taken over the account already set up, or had to get permission from the landlord to change supplier.

@LawnFever

Why did your DD change supplier? They should’ve transferred the current one to their names, did anyone let the old supplier know?

I think they’ve caused some confusion here, if the old supplier was still associated with the address with an account in the landlords name.

They shouldn’t be paying two suppliers, but if the original contract wasn’t cancelled/swapped with final meter readings given I think it could easily cause confusion which it what it sounds like has happened.

Legally, you can only have one energy supplier at a time. There's a national database to see who supplies your property- if you call, they might be able to say who was supplying the property from September to November. She should only have to pay one supplier- if she's paid the wrong one, it's up to them to return the money and your DD will need to pay the correct supplier.

www.uswitch.com/gas-electricity/guides/who-supplies-my-electricity-and-gas/

My advice would be don't panic. Don't get defensive/aggressive with the landlord just puzzled 'how strange let's work out what's happened'. So sending the paid bills and saying 'how strange, look!' rather than 'no we're not liable.' you can always get tough further down the line if appropriate.

Also don't forget water meter readings if it's metered water.

There are utility providers that now use contracts for all students living in the property so it doesn't have to go in one name. Brilliant idea as it stops the arguments about who has used what when 'Sasha' decides to spent two months in Bora Bora for her hols and doesn't want to pay her share because she wasn't there All students equally liable for the bills and collected by the provider individually.

ThirdElephant thank you. That's really helpful to know there is a national database so they should only need to pay one supplier.

As I've said one of the other flatmates took on sorting electricity so I'm not sure what she did and whether or not she would have thought to notify previous supplier. I'm not sure she would have known who that was either.
Landlord expected them to sort own supply and account when their tenancy started so I would have thought (maybe wrongly) that she would or should have told previous supplier.

@ThePlantsitter

My advice would be don't panic. Don't get defensive/aggressive with the landlord just puzzled 'how strange let's work out what's happened'. So sending the paid bills and saying 'how strange, look!' rather than 'no we're not liable.' you can always get tough further down the line if appropriate.

Thank you. That's how I have been suggesting they speak to landlord.

They don't want to fall out but are confused by this at the moment.

@Dacquoise

Also don't forget water meter readings if it's metered water.

There are utility providers that now use contracts for all students living in the property so it doesn't have to go in one name. Brilliant idea as it stops the arguments about who has used what when 'Sasha' decides to spent two months in Bora Bora for her hols and doesn't want to pay her share because she wasn't there All students equally liable for the bills and collected by the provider individually.

Thank you. Water is all sorted and okay thankfully.

There's only 3 of them and they're close friends so they've sorted one utility each which is working well for them.

@A580Hojas

Well did they get permission from the landlord to switch energy supplier and who ended the contract with the previous supplier? Who read the meters on the day they moved in?

They don't need to. It has long not been legal for a landlord to insist or have any say on providers.

@Snozzlemaid your DD needs to provide the LL with their bills, the starting reading of the meters etc. Then the LL can go back to the provider she had a contract with and get it sorted. The LL should know how this works but has made an error that should be easily fixed.

Until that happens nobody can say what is owed by who?