Outstanding bills on property

Twee.

We are moving into our own house which was rented previously and there are unpaid bills on electricity and PAYG gas. Not sure how you get such debt in PAYG but anyway. I assume the previous owner/estate agent/property manager should have made sure this was all clear when the tenant moved out. We're not talking €50 here either, it's in the very high hundreds. The bills are just addressed to the Occupier and are obviously dated for a periods when we were not the owners.

The owed utility provider has seen two proofs now that we are the current owners and occupiers of the property yet are sending us away a third time for proof. We were just going to set up our new accounts with them but they've been such a pain.

Can we just open up accounts with a new supplier and deal with this later so we can just get going? We are moving in imminently and have no heating!

Can we just flick it back to the estate agent and tell them/previous owner to deal with it? (I assume no, but that would be nice 😅)

Any advice welcomed!

Aint Eazy Being Cheezy

Yes, you can just switch providers, avoiding all this hassle. And you should. It’s those companies problem to chase up their arrears.

spaceHopper

I'd get on the the gas provider and say get their meter out of the house and use the regular Board Gais one. Tell them both you have supplied two set of proof that you are the owner. If they don't want to accept them then the only thing you can do is complain to comreg.

Switch to a new supplier. I've alway found Board Gais bad to deal with and Electric Ireland very good to deal with.

head82

Is it not the remit of your own solicitor to ensure any outstanding utility debts were fully paid up before closing on purchase of property?

Peregrinus

This is usually dealt with by way of adjustment on closing — e.g. if there is an accrued but unpaid liability of €x for electricity, the sum paid over on closing is reduced by that amount. There must be a reason why this didn't happen in this case.

Claw Hammer

Generally PAYG gas or electric arrears are written off when a new account is opened.

Former Former Former

Can we just open up accounts with a new supplier and deal with this later so we can just get going? 

Yes, this is exactly what you do.

Ideally, you would have taken meter readings (with photos) as soon as you got the keys. If not, do so immediately.

Then any bills that arrive for 'the occupier', just reply with your date of occupancy and say these bills don't apply to you. If you want to provide details of the previous owner or his solicitor, sure why not.

But you absolutely are not liable.

mondeoman72

I had killings with Bord Gais over a prepay meter a tenant left behind with big money owed. They installed it after running up a bill and then left with a debit balance.

It took threats, screaming and shouting, but they eventually disabled it. Expect them to drag it out though

RichardAnd

When I moved in to my house, I got a ream of letters addressed to someone whom I don't know. It was not even the name of the former owner, so I just ignored them. Eventually, I accidentally opened one, and found it to be a debt-collector's note threatening legal action for an outstanding bill. I called the supplier (not my own) and informed them of the matter, and I added that under no circumstances was I to receive any contact from any debt collectors again. I've heard nothing since.

herbalplants

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121227893#Comment_121227893

Sorry for my ignorance, but how can there be a debt left on prepay meter 😳. I thought the whole point of prepay is that you put money on the meter before you use. No money, no electricity or gas.

mondeoman72

The tenant knew they were leaving so built up a large debt on the normal electricity bill. To avoid getting cut off, they had to accept a prepay meter but it was installed with a debit balance. Every top up they did took a percentage off the debt i.e. every 20 topped up had a fiver taken off the debt and 15 or so as useable credit. They then left leaving me - the landlords agent, to get it removed.

Caused an almighty row. They had no consent to install something on the property without the landlords consent, so that is what got it removed.

Kerry25x

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121229819#Comment_121229819

We have a prepay gas meter, if it runs out we can get an emergency €20 credit to tide us over until we can get to the shop to buy more credit for it. Lifesaver if it runs out half way through cooking dinner. Sounds like OP is talking much higher sums than that though.

Twee.

It does appear they racked up arrears on credit and then were switched to PAYG as a debt management tool, and then when they moved out just ignored it, and also took the card with them!

We've managed to sort the ownership of the debt with the utility supplier after a lot of waiting on the phone! Looks like we have the PAYG back up and running so we will use that in the interim and get a normal meter put in asap (with a different supplier!)

Thanks for all the advice!

Claw Hammer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121229819#Comment_121229819

prepay meters attract a standing charge so if there is no gas used and the meter is left idle the standing charge will continue to accrue on the account. When someone tries to put it into credit to use it, most of the money paid in will be deducted to pay the standing charge arrears.