ESB Deposit

ronkmonster

I moved into a shared house back in march.
At the time the ESB was in a previous tenants name from years ago.
First bill was late but was paid in time. So all good.

Last week I received a letter welcoming me to esb with new connection and they are looking for a deposit of 300 to be returned (as credit on bill) after 14 months.

Is this normal practice or should it be on landlords name? I think I'd also be eligible for the whole bill if other occupants were to leave and not pay.

I don't want to pay 300 deposit and end up not being in the house when it's returned as credit to give someone else 2 bills(close enough) worth of free electricity.

The_Conductor

ronkmonster wrote: »

I moved into a shared house back in march.
At the time the ESB was in a previous tenants name from years ago.
First bill was late but was paid in time. So all good.

Last week I received a letter welcoming me to esb with new connection and they are looking for a deposit of 300 to be returned (as credit on bill) after 14 months.

Is this normal practice or should it be on landlords name? I think I'd also be eligible for the whole bill if other occupants were to leave and not pay.

I don't want to pay 300 deposit and end up not being in the house when it's returned as credit to give someone else 2 bills(close enough) worth of free electricity.

Whose-ever name is on the bill, is eligible to be chased for the bill. I.e. if people came and went without paying their contribution- you would be stuck for it. Its unfair to nominate a person in a situation where you are a single person in a houseshare- you are taking on a responsibility over and above what you should really be doing.

If you were renting the property outright- I would suggest putting the utility bills in your name- paying the ESB deposit etc- but as a single person in a house of strangers- why should you do this?

ronkmonster

That's is what I'm thinking.

May get onto the landlord and see what he says.

holyjoe

I dont see what the problem is here

1) If its a houseshare then everyone should be paying an equal amount of the esb deposit to start with.
2) If everyone is leaving the house in say 6 months then the esb will give the deposit back (as long as all bills have been paid on time)
3) If the OP is the only one leaving the house in 6 months then they just get his/her part of the deposit from the new tenant whos moving into the room.


its normal practice that the bills are in one of the tenants name.
a fair way is if everyone take a seperate bill and is responsible for collecting the money for that bill from the others and paying it every month.

any landlord with a bit of common sense would not put the bills in thier
own name as this leaves them wide open to be billed for huge amounts if the tenants do a legger.

The_Conductor

holyjoe wrote: »

any landlord with a bit of common sense would not put the bills in thier
own name as this leaves them wide open to be billed for huge amounts if the tenants do a legger.

Thats in part the purpose of the deposits.....?

holyjoe

smccarrick wrote: »

Thats in part the purpose of the deposits.....?

and what happens when the deposit dosent cover the bills?

ronkmonster

we only have the one bill and I was not told about my name (solely) being put onto it.

there were 2 lads living there before i moved in.
1 just left and the original woman that showed me the place moved back in.
why wasn't there an existing deposit in place?
is this just because it's being moved to my name and it's my first esb account? if so why put in my name.

The_Conductor

holyjoe wrote: »

and what happens when the deposit dosent cover the bills?

How likely is it that there would be a build up of debt owed on bills over the course of several months- if the landlord was getting the bills and knew whether they had been paid or not? Deposits tend to be 1 months rent in advance (in some areas its 2 months rent in advance)- and the tenants do not have the right to use this as their last month's rent. In theory- the tenant should vacate the property on Date X- with their rent fully paid up to date and the landlord having an extra month's rent which should be returned to them- less any damage or unpaid bills etc.

It would be incredibly difficult to use over 1k of electricity, gas and utilities in the space of a month.......

ronkmonster

the only common bill is ESB. we have oil heating but it's pay on fill so no chance of not paying.
no phone or broadband at the moment.

holyjoe

ronkmonster wrote: »

we only have the one bill and I was not told about my name (solely) being put onto it.

there were 2 lads living there before i moved in.
1 just left and the original woman that showed me the place moved back in.
why wasn't there an existing deposit in place?
is this just because it's being moved to my name and it's my first esb account? if so why put in my name.

yes i would definetly query who switched the account to your name
without asking you. thats sounds strange.

there may not have been an existing deposit becase
1) the account might have been in the previous persons name for
a long time nefore the deposit was a requirment,
2) There might have been a deposit there but the person who left
colud have been the person whos name was on the account and who have paid the deposit thus taking it with them.


yes there are asking for a deposit becuase its a rental house and you dont
have any history with them.

ronkmonster

so if i go ahead and pay full 300 and leave in my name. then leave in 9 months

can i just get my 300 back and let esb do what they want to connection.

holyjoe

smccarrick wrote: »

How likely is it that there would be a build up of debt owed on bills over the course of several months- if the landlord was getting the bills and knew whether they had been paid or not? Deposits tend to be 1 months rent in advance (in some areas its 2 months rent in advance)- and the tenants do not have the right to use this as their last month's rent. In theory- the tenant should vacate the property on Date X- with their rent fully paid up to date and the landlord having an extra month's rent which should be returned to them- less any damage or unpaid bills etc.

It would be incredibly difficult to use over 1k of electricity, gas and utilities in the space of a month.......

its very easy for bills to be more than what the deposit is,

1) you don't need to do it use it all in one month,
ESB and GAS bills only come every two months,
by the time you get the bill you have already used two months of services. so dont pay the bill these bills once and your suddenly have 4 months of bills to pay the next time. Is the landlord going to cut off the ESB and GAS to the house after one bill is not paid? probably not.

2) could be a huge phone bill. I lived with a girl from OZ who left us
with a bill for 750 euro from calls home for just one month.

3) all the tenants have to do is refuse to pay the bills for a few
months and just leave. what can the landlord do, if he ring the bill companies and tell then to switch off the ESB, GAS, TV, Broadband then
he will have to pay re-connection fees for all these services for the next tenants
which is more costs.

holyjoe

ronkmonster wrote: »

so if i go ahead and pay full 300 and leave in my name. then leave in 9 months

can i just get my 300 back and let esb do what they want to connection.

yes its my understanding that once the bills are paid in full and on time that the despoit will be returned at any time you want.


but as i said, why dont you ask the other housemates to share the deposit between ye? after all they will be using the ESB as well!

ronkmonster

yeah i'll talk to them this evening.

bladebrew

i dont think you need to pay a deposit if the bills are paid by direct debit from your account,i know this might not be suitable if you dont know the people well though,

tenchi-fan

You must have signed something! I don't think it's legal to just put a bill into some one else's name without a contract being signed!

Either way, it is standard practice for the utility bill to be put in a tenant's name. If you are not the sole tenant you should definitely get your name removed.