Landlord passed the water bill to me without my knowledge

[PlanB]

Re: Landlord passed the water bill to me without my knowledge

--- thank you so much, flaming parrot for the links you have posted. The template was very useful and very concise. I am feeling more confident now about this case and i am hoping that this collections agency and thames water will stop harrassing me.

If they don't stop harassing you then let us know and we'll help you move on to Phase 2 :beagle::beagle:

[bluebottle]

Re: Landlord passed the water bill to me without my knowledge

BB would the Landlord have committed a criminal offence if he/she set up a Thames Water account in someone else's name without their explicit permission to avoid paying his dues :mod:

Yes. It would be Fraud by False Misrepresentation, contrary to Section 2, Fraud Act 2006, as he would be exposing the OP to loss or the risk of loss and, quite possibly, Thames Water, too.

The OP would be wise to report this matter to the police and inform Thames Water and Advantis, in writing, of this, quoting the Crime Reference Number. If they still persist, the OP should seek advice from their local Law Centre or Community Legal Advice.

[bluebottle]

Re: Landlord passed the water bill to me without my knowledge

--- i have no idea whether he had permission to have the property in multi-occupancy. I guess i really need to do some digging and educate myself more about this kind of stuffs. I really want to hunt this landlord down and set him up straight before he tries to fool another person. I want him to face his responsibilities and not hide. Is there anyway i could track a person as to where he lives? Sounds impossible but maybe someone knows? I have his name and bank details if that should be of any help?

Contact your local planning authority, which will be the council for the area in which the property is located, They will be able to advise you if the landlord has planning permission for multi-occupancy. Please be aware that the council may order other residents to leave if their safety is at risk or potentially at risk or it is legally overcrowded. As for tracking the landlord down, the police could trace him through his bank account details.

[PlanB]

Re: Landlord passed the water bill to me without my knowledge

Yes. It would be Fraud by False Misrepresentation, contrary to Section 2, Fraud Act 2006, as he would be exposing the OP to loss or the risk of loss and, quite possibly, Thames Water, too.

The OP would be wise to report this matter to the police and inform Thames Water and Advantis, in writing, of this, quoting the Crime Reference Number.

That's what I was hoping you would say :mod: :mod: :mod:

[Xenaorbit]

Re: Landlord passed the water bill to me without my knowledge

I think is they don't send you any bill on your new address than you are not liable to pay any things.As you don't have any information about that.And your old landlord use your identity for using that.

--- i've never received a single water bill from Thames Water at my new address.

If i may just add, the bill of £711, as they say i owe them, was for the water usage from April 2011 to November 2012. I moved out of that property on July 2012. If Thames Water is claiming that i am the new account holder, how come i did not even receive a single bill addressed to me from them when i was still living in that property? If i had only received one before then i would have known sooner that my landlord has been lying to me all those times and i would have been able to contest this issue to Thames Water sooner.

[FlamingParrot]

Re: Landlord passed the water bill to me without my knowledge

--- i've never received a single water bill from Thames Water at my new address.

I don't think Colt is a reliable source of information, see this: http://www.legalbeagles.info/forums/...276#post334276

If i may just add, the bill of £711, as they say i owe them, was for the water usage from April 2011 to November 2012. I moved out of that property on July 2012. If Thames Water is claiming that i am the new account holder, how come i did not even receive a single bill addressed to me from them when i was still living in that property? If i had only received one before then i would have known sooner that my landlord has been lying to me all those times and i would have been able to contest this issue to Thames Water sooner.

See what Bluebottle has posted above, you should report your ex-landlord because he appears to be committing fraud:

Yes. It would be Fraud by False Misrepresentation, contrary to Section 2, Fraud Act 2006, as he would be exposing the OP to loss or the risk of loss and, quite possibly, Thames Water, too.

The OP would be wise to report this matter to the police and inform Thames Water and Advantis, in writing, of this, quoting the Crime Reference Number. If they still persist, the OP should seek advice from their local Law Centre or Community Legal Advice.

If all else fails, then you move on to Plan B, quite literally: :grin:

If they don't stop harassing you then let us know and we'll help you move on to Phase 2

[Xenaorbit]

Re: Landlord passed the water bill to me without my knowledge

I don't think Colt is a reliable source of information, see this: http://www.legalbeagles.info/forums/...276#post334276
See what Bluebottle has posted above, you should report your ex-landlord because he appears to be committing fraud:
If all else fails, then you move on to Plan B, quite literally: :grin:

--- i've been to my local police station yesterday to report my problem and get a crime reference number but the policeman said that it is not considered as a police matter so i was advised to go to the citizens advice bureau instead since it is considered as a civil matter.

Today - i've just been to my local citizens advice bureau to ask for further advice and i've been told that since i can't provide a tenancy agreement with my former landlord, i am liable to pay this bill. I've asked whether this can be considered as fraud since my landlord has used my name without my knowledge but he said that it can't be considered as fraud until i can provide evidence, which would be in the form of a tenancy agreement stating that the landlord pays for all the bills or that bills are already included in my monthly rent. He said that I can only file a case against my landlord if i knew his address which i don't.

i've also made a further inquiry to Thames Water and requested for a copy of the bills that should have been supposedly sent out to me while i was still living at that property. I also asked the guy from Thames Water how often do they send out bills to their customers and he said that it was annually. Hearing this, i questioned him how come i've never received a bill around April or May 2012 for the water consumed between April 2011 and April 2012. I've asked the guy if he could send me the copy of the previous bills addressed to me and to the old property but he said that there's only one bill on their records and that bill is the one which shows the total amount due for April 2011 to November 2012 (£711) which if i will count is a bill for 19 months. If they do send out a bill annually, how come they can't provide me a copy of a bill for April 2011-April 2012 and another for May 2012 to November 2012 addressed to me and to the old property?

[ostell]

Re: Landlord passed the water bill to me without my knowledge

It could just be that as the landlord hasn't paid Thames Water are sending the bill to anyone that was in the property. Unfortunately they found your name first. Just a guess. Request details of your request for water service.

[leclerc]

Re: Landlord passed the water bill to me without my knowledge

Have you asked for a copy of the contract that Thames Water has said that you have signed for the provision of Water at that property?

[Xenaorbit]

Re: Landlord passed the water bill to me without my knowledge

Have you asked for a copy of the contract that Thames Water has said that you have signed for the provision of Water at that property?

--- that's a good point but i forgot to ask about that. I think i will just write Thames Water and Advantis a letter disputing this bill as what FlamingParrot previously advised. Thames Water also said that they will put on their record that the bill is a dispute between me and the landlord so they will send out a copy of the bill with my name c/o landlord's name and wait for the landlord to contact Thames Water regarding this. Meanwhile, my account will be put on hold.

[PlanB]

Re: Landlord passed the water bill to me without my knowledge

--- Thames Water also said that they will put on their record that the bill is a dispute between me and the landlord so they will send out a copy of the bill with my name c/o landlord's name and wait for the landlord to contact Thames Water regarding this. Meanwhile, my account will be put on hold.

Yay! :cheer2: :cheer2::cheer2:


It would be nice to get the account closed and your ex-landlord imprisoned for his disgraceful behaviour too :ballchain:

[Xenaorbit]

Re: Landlord passed the water bill to me without my knowledge

Yay! :cheer2: :cheer2::cheer2:


It would be nice to get the account closed and your ex-landlord imprisoned for his disgraceful behaviour too :ballchain:

--- i called Thames Water pretending that i would like to register with them and asked what the requirements would be. The lady said that they just need the name and the address and voila, you are a new Thames Water customer! As easy as that. So i said they don't verify then if the person actually lives there and she said they just take the name and address and bank details if they prefer to pay by direct debit. I also asked if there's like a contract or agreement you need to sign and guess what, she said there's nothing. I think it's crazy!

[CleverClogs]

Re: Landlord passed the water bill to me without my knowledge

--- i've been to my local police station yesterday to report my problem and get a crime reference number but the policeman said that it is not considered as a police matter so i was advised to go to the citizens advice bureau instead since it is considered as a civil matter.

That's police dialect for "We're too lazy even to look into it".

I hope this helps.

[PlanB]

Re: Landlord passed the water bill to me without my knowledge

--- i would like to register with them and asked what the requirements would be. The lady said that they just need the name and the address and voila, you are a new Thames Water customer! As easy as that. So i said they don't verify then if the person actually lives there and she said they just take the name and address and bank details if they prefer to pay by direct debit. I also asked if there's like a contract or agreement you need to sign and guess what, she said there's nothing.

They don't verify the person calling to set up an account if they are the customer but they won't take the name of a third party without some form of authority to do it from the caller. I am a Landlord and they won't take details from me. If a letting agent calls them with a Tenant's name they log the name and contact details of the agent on their database. If push comes to shove you can ask to see the call log. If your Landlord was a man he could hardly have pretended to be you on the phone reggers: :washing:

So it's possible he did it online to avoid detection :ranger: but even those details would be recorded by Thames Water on their database and can be checked. Whichever method was used there will be a footprint left