Is it my Responsibility?

Dude240502

I rented my house out for a year, the Letting Agent then terminated the lease early due to the electricity in the house not meeting current safety requirement, the tenants left some oustanding bills from the time the were in te house that normally would have been settled by the Agent at the end, since the lease was terminated early this did not happen. The actual reading was a lot higher then the Bills estimated, I was told that once I sent a forwarding address for the tenants it is not my responsibility to see that it is paid, however, I recently visited the address they told me and it seems the tenants do not live there. If I was told a wrong address and the Bill doesn't end up being paid, is it possible they could return to me looking for it? Does anyone know?

D3PO

if the bill isnt in your name it cant come back on you to pay.

To setup an account with the energy supplier they should either have been paying by DD or had to pay a €200 deposit. Now if they did neither then thats the ESB/ Airtricities/Bord Gais's fault and not yours.

Dude240502

The account was definitey set up in their name witrh they moved in, The Bill was definitely in the the tenants name, if the address is incorrect, does anyone know how they would look for payment, do they take it to the Gards to look for the person, or does it end just being lost? I'm just interested?

djimi

So long as the reading was taken the day they moved out you are only liable for anything after that. If the bills are in their name then you are not even legally allowed to open them so how can you be responsible for them?

Dude240502

It was not taken the day they moved out, as I said it should normally have been settled with the Agency but they terminated the lease so this didn't happen. The house was not occupied for a while , I know that they had missed a few payments and these were estimated Bills so the amount was higher. I left it and didn't anything about it until now. Does anyone who works in any of these know what happens in tracking down outstanding Bills, if the person isn't at that address anymore, do they still chase after them? I don't mean to annoy, I'm just interested?

djimi

If a final reading hasnt been taken then take one and send it into the ESB and get the account back in your name. If the tenants didnt do this when they left then its their problem, not yours; the account is still in their name so the bills are still their responsibility. You are only responsible for what is in your name. How the ESB persue the former tenants and get the money back is not your problem.