BF housemates owe money for bill won't pay

fluffytulip

Hi,

Im so sorry for posting here. i have went through the forum twice to see where to post this but i could not see anywhere else. please could someone move it if it is in the way here.

Basic story is bf live's in a rented house. in april they got a gas bill for 800euro none of them would pay it then another 300 gas was used so 1000 they all chipped in 50 quid and paid 250 of it. My boyfriends name is on the gas bill dont ask i dont know how this came about he was the first one in the house when it was rented before the other lads moved in. The rest of them havent given anything in ages my boyfried has paid another 250 of the bill but the rest refuse to give anything now there is letters coming in the door saying they will disconnect and today they are saying they have no choice but to take legal action.

I told my bf to get the landlord onto them but he cant reach him. 2of the other lads lost there jobs a while ago so dont have much money but enough as they are gettin the dole. I am really worried for him as its his name on the bill can anybody offer any help? what do they mean legal action? can the landlord do anything?:(

Wurly

Get your boyfriend to take his housemates to the small claims court.

I had to do this to get my deposit back from a previous housemate. And even though I didn't have much proof of the situation, I won my case.

He should call the gas company too to explain what the situation is and tell them that he intends to get small claims involved. Then follow that up with a letter. A paper trail is important here, should the gas company issue legal proceedings against him.

I presume he has asked the housemates over and over for the money? Perhaps, he should send each one an email, outlining his intentions over the small claims. Again, this adds to his paper trail and makes the matter a formal one.

It is not the landlord's responsibility to get involved over the payment of utilities.

fluffytulip

Thanks for that, he has asked time and time again and shown them the bills. they just say oh sod them they will be ok...well they wont not when they are sending letters like that through the door. they all claim not to have used the gas at all:rolleyes: well someone has been because im astonished at it. i also have gas in my house and my bills are about 120-150 for two months. I will tell him about the small claims.

Do you think if he pays them a bit more it will stop the letters? i will tell him to ring them tomorrow to explain. the last letter was just left in the sitting room unopened,i said why arent you opening it and he said because it those that should pay the rest. im like yeah but its your name on it your in the s**** because of it. He isnt at the house alot either over in my place because it is a tip..im ranting now!

Wurly

fluffytulip wrote: »

Thanks for that, he has asked time and time again and shown them the bills. they just say oh sod them they will be ok...well they wont not when they are sending letters like that through the door. they all claim not to have used the gas at all:rolleyes: well someone has been because im astonished at it. i also have gas in my house and my bills are about 120-150 for two months. I will tell him about the small claims.

Do you think if he pays them a bit more it will stop the letters? i will tell him to ring them tomorrow to explain. the last letter was just left in the sitting room unopened,i said why arent you opening it and he said because it those that should pay the rest. im like yeah but its your name on it your in the s**** because of it. He isnt at the house alot either over in my place because it is a tip..im ranting now!

Well his housemates will have a hard time proving that they didn't use any gas (ffs). :rolleyes: So tell him not to worry about that side of things.

I probably wouldn't pay any more towards it just yet. Advise him to call the gas company tomorrow anyway and see what they say.

He might be as well to contact threshold for advice on this one too. I would say stuff like this is extremely common and they will prob have good advice for him.

Yeah, he really can't avoid these bills. Unfortunately, as his name is on the bill, he is liable for payment.

Good luck anyway, some people are right sh*ts, aren't they?x

(p.s. - this will prob get moved by a mod as it's not exactly a PI.x)

fluffytulip

Tri wrote: »

Good luck anyway, some people are right sh*ts, aren't they?x

(p.s. - this will prob get moved by a mod as it's not exactly a PI.x)

yes some people really are. I thought it would get moved allright didnt know where to post. will report back tomorrow and see what happens! thanks for the advice. night

Victor

Phone the gas company and arrange to have the gas cut off. Have him tell them that the gas is being cut off on X date, where X is the day before it is to be cut off. If he has any other bills in his name - electricity, TV, etc. start cutting them off aswell. Watch money come out of the wood work.

Tri wrote: »

Get your boyfriend to take his housemates to the small claims court.

SmCC is designed for consumer complaints against businesses and may not work.

chickenhawk

This won't help with getting the money off the housemates but if you ring the gas company and explain the situation they will stop sending letters and give you as long as you ask for.

I was in the same situation years ago. A flatmate owed me 300euro for a bill. I rang them up, told them I was not disputing that I had to pay it as it was in my name but could I have six weeks to get the money off my flatmate. They were grand about it and gave met the six weeks.

Flatmate done a runner though and never seen her again. But I remember her name and when I do see her I'll get that money and interest. :mad:

LegacyUser

I have an idea.
Could he not just do a runner and just move in with yourself altogether.
Afterall, U said the place he's in now is a bit of a tip.
If nobody knew where he went to and they couldn't find him
then there is not much anyone can do about it. Amd I am supposing
as well that the ex-housemates would then have to cough up the muny
anyway in order to avoid getting cut off.

StormWarrior

Can't you get some kind of coded lock put on the boiler so that your boyfriend can use the gas but no-one else can? Then they can freeze until they pay.

Victor

Top_Drawer wrote: »

I have an idea.
Could he not just do a runner and just move in with yourself altogether.
Afterall, U said the place he's in now is a bit of a tip.
If nobody knew where he went to and they couldn't find him
then there is not much anyone can do about it. Amd I am supposing
as well that the ex-housemates would then have to cough up the muny
anyway in order to avoid getting cut off.

Hi,

Can you consider other people and not use txtspk?

MagicMarker

Gotta agree with Victor...

If the bills are in his name, cut them all off. Lets see how the housemates get on without gas, tv, internet...

Make sure he hides all the bills so the other housemates can't get a hold of account numbers and ring up themselves.

Wurly

Victor wrote: »

SmCC is designed for consumer complaints against businesses and may not work.

Read my post. It sure worked for me in a situation like this.

Drummerboy2

I'd pay the remainder of the bill and leave the rent to the lads to pay. Then go and get a new place, let the old landlord deal with the lads.

Redpunto

Sorry havent read all the posts but we had a similar situation when we moved into a place and none of the bills had been paid and there were threatening letters being sent to the house. We got in touch with the landlord who eventually organised that all bills would be sent to his home address and there fore he would have the problem of chasing down the money. We did have to initally pay off some of the bills but the landlord paid us back. It suited us as the people we were living with were crap at paying bills so as long as we gave our half to the landlord, that was us off the hook and we werent getting a bad payment record with all the bill companies coz our names were off the bills.

flogen

Ring the gas company up and tell them what's happening - tell them the others in the house are refusing to pay and ask the gas company to cut off the supply asap.

Whatever he does, he shouldn't ignore the letters. If he rings the gas company and speaks to them they probably won't take legal action, especially if they know they can get their money back another way.