Ex Tenant not paid utilities

[Nouvellenovel]

16 months ago after an awful year we finally evicted our tenant who had trashed the house and stopped paying rent.

As energy costs were high we opted to use another utility supplier giving them the meter readings.
We knew from letters that our tenant owed more than 4k to the utility company.
The new supplier took the tenant's phone number to give to the old supplier. Presumably they chased the ex tenant.
This week we've received a letter from the old supplier clearly addressed to the ex tenant.
We've also received a letter from the energy suppliers solicitors addressed to the legal owners and intimating that we may be responsible for the bill.

What is the best way to respond please?
Any advice greatly received.
After 16 months we no longer have a contract with our agent.
Obviously we're not responsible for the bill but i know the ex tenant won't pay a penny.
We still get many bailiffs letters and I'm sick of it now.

We have just been through a similar situation, though our Tennant was commercial and had managed to not only build up over 15k of unpaid utilities - but had also managed to get the building physically disconnected from the electricity grid ! It was very difficult to deal with and it took 5 weeks after they were gone just to get power restored, obviously at our cost.
We consulted closely with our solicitor, who was happy that our lease was correctly written and that we had followed correct procedures. He wrote to the utilities providing copies of the lease and his opinion that we could in no way be held liable. So far we have heard nothing further. All utilities have now accepted that the Tennant has gone and have opened accounts in our name. They all tried to get us hooked into deemed rates, which are horribly expensive, but we used a good energy broker to get this resolved before agreeing to any supply.
We have just finished the repairs and refurbishment and advertised for let again. There are a constant stream of payment demands still arriving but thankfully non addressed to us. We are simply crossing out the address, marking as "no longer at this address" and reposting. In theory the post office then open these and try to return them to the original sender. No idea so far if that actually happens though.
It's been a massive headache, expensive, and may cause some extra issues for the next Tennant. Its the cost of doing business though and just has to be swallowed and learned from.

Send the utility company a copy of the tenancy agreement highlighting that they were responsible for the bills, plus any other documents regarding eviction/moving out date.
They are only writing to the property address because they don't have any other address details for the ex tenant.

This

Thanks all.
Have sent tenancy agreement this morning.

Their solicitor tried to tell me that if I didn’t respond in 7 days it would affect my credit rating, blackmail basically, I told him that as I live in France good luck mate.
The tenant owes me more than he owes the utilities so they’ll never get the money. The ex tenant just doesn’t care.

I think utility companies try it on sometimes OP. If you can prove the tenant had responsibility for the bills under the lease and moving in and moving out dates then you are not liable. Did you take a meter reading and photos when the tenant left as evidence? When did the utility company go read the meters/even better if there is a smart meter?
If the utility company tries it on too much with you - put everything in writing in emails and threaten to complain to the regulator (after going through their own internal complaints procedure).
It is the utility companies job to refer the tenants debt to debt collection. They can trace the tenant etc and go after him or her directly. Post in the legal section on MN if you need more help.

Thank you.

We have all the proof we need.
I rang my energy supplier yesterday who said that the previous supplier should have asked for a repayment plant to be set up at the time of me taking over the supply if they believed it was my debt.
I think they have tried to get the tenant to pay but he won’t, he doesn’t pay anyone.
I’m a soft target they think.

It's not your problem, you were not responsible for the bills - just keep pushing back with them

So update.
This company of solicitors are based in offshore, my dh did some digging.
They buy up debts and harass people.
The result of my giving proof of tenancy agreement is that they’re now using my name on intimidating letters rather than ‘the owner.’
They manage to get 15% of people to pay out of fear and make millions.

Our strategy now is to throw all letters in the bin and eventually they’ll go away.

My partner was harassed by one of these companies for a bit, over an unpaid bill at a flat he used to rent. He wasn't a tenant for that time period.

Yes, they buy up debts and intimidate people. I guess it's any name/address they can find with a connection to the property. They 'offer' you the chance to clear the debt at a lower price. Straight in the bin, heard nothing since.

It might be worth talking to The Solicitors Regulation Authority.

Are they actually a 'law firm' because if they are not and pretending to be one that is big Doo Doo for them

I would also complain to the Energy Company as they sold the debt in the first place and to someone who is outside of the UK