Tenants Threatened with warrant, managing agent owes the money!

[scaredandworried]

Hi all, I hope you can help.

I am a tenant in a building of around 20 studio flats which was a former commercial premises.

A property management company bought the building with the intention of applying for planning permission to convert it into a hotel in 2/3 years. In the meantime, they have converted the interior into studios and tenants such as me are living there and paying rent.

Our tenancy agreements explicitly state that the management company pays for electricity charges.

The company used to actually have an office in this building but have since moved out. Since then, post has piled up. They know it, because they are often round to do viewings for potential new tenants.

Around a week ago we got a letter addressed to "The Occupier" marked "ELECTRICITY DISCONNECTION NOTICE" from Haven Power:

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Haven Power
The Havens
Ransomes Europark
Ipswich IP3 9SJ

Dear Sirs

Electricity Supply to: <REDACTED>
Supply Number: <REDACTED>
Account Reference: <REDACTED>

Haven Power is the electricity supplier to the above premises.

If you are the current occupier please complete the slip below and return to us at the above address.

Please note that if we do not receive a response in connection with this meter within the next 7 days we will be requesting disconnection, with no further correspondence being entered into.

Yours sincerely

<REDACTED>
Credit Management Advisor
--------------------------------------------------------


I immediately told the property agent and they said they would look into it. I heard nothing and today a collection agency has visited the building while I was at work, and were unable to get in. They left this letter:

---------------------------
<COLLECTION AGENCY NAME AND ADDRESS REDACTED-HEREAFTER REFERRED TO AS "C">

<SOME COMPANY NAME I DON'T RECOGNISE REDACTED/THE OCCUPIER (circled)>
<OUR ADDRESS REDACTED>
Date: 16/4/13

The Occupier,

Customer Reference: <REDACTED>
Outstanding Balance: £33,943.37

We act as authorised officers of Haven Power Limi8ted on behalf of <ANOTHER COLLECTION AGENCY NAME REDACTED-I'VE NAMED "B" HEREAFTER> and your account has been passed to us for collection. We called today to discuss your unpaid account, the details are shown above.

As we were unable to resolve the outstanding amount and/or gain access we now serve notice of our intention to make applications for a Warrant of Entry (Gas and Electricty Boards) Act 1954, Section 2, from the Magistrates Court, to enter the premises and disconnect the supply. The warrant gives us authority to enter your premises without your consent and if necessary, we may be assisted by the police.

If the warrant is actioned then costs will be charged to you. This will need to be paid, along with your electricity charges up to the date your supply is connected, before reconnection is arranged.

Reconnection will be arranged once the outstanding balance and the warrant costs have been paid. You may also be required to pay a security deposit.

Haven Power Limited, <"B"> and <"C"> will not be held responsible for any loss of earnings or other expenses incurred during the period you are disconnected.

If it is your gas supply that we disconnect you may be responsible for arranging and paying a Gas Safe registered engineer to make safe your supply prior to reconnection. This can cost you around £60 depending on the engineer.

Please contact "B" on 01707 252900 between 9am and 5pm Monday to Friday to arrange payment or to discuss matters which are preventing payment.

Yours,

Recoveries Agent


Registered Office: <ADDRESS OF "C" REDACTED">
---------------------------


I am obviously quite worried. My first instinct is to call the agency above and Haven Power but I'm actually worried that as soon as I say I am a tenant, they will change "THE OCCUPIER" to my own name! And yet my property agent appear to be doing nothing! They always promise something and fail to do it. I feel like they are giving me the runaround.

Do you have any suggestion for my rights, can we stop this disconnection? Should I just cancel my tenancy? Refuse to pay next month's rent? Leave as soon as possible? Should I attempt to call either of the two agencies or Haven Power? I am even thinking of going to all the other tenants and suggesting we all stop paying rent until this is resolved.

Any advice you can give us is greatly appreciated.

[bluebottle]

Re: Tenants Threatened with warrant, managing agent owes the money!

Is the arrangement that your energy costs are incorporated into your rent or is each studio/apartment on separate meters?

[scaredandworried]

Re: Tenants Threatened with warrant, managing agent owes the money!

Hi, thanks for replying.

There are no separate meters in each studio.

Basically, the interior of this commercial building was totally redone. Internal walls (they are thin!) were put in to create the units. There are no individual meters, I presume there is just one for the entire building.

Each unit does have its own fuse box (or whatever the modern alternative is called) but no individual meters.

As they have applied for planning permission to convert into a hotel, the council know well that they are renting these studios out to students and young professionals and such-like. So as much as I start to think they are pulling the wool over their eyes, it doesn't add up when you see their commercial intentions. It just makes it look like they are incompetent.

[bluebottle]

Re: Tenants Threatened with warrant, managing agent owes the money!

The ones who owe the money are the property management company, who should have paid this to the energy company. It might be advisable, if you know the address of the property management company, to direct the energy company to them. As for disconnection, yes, the energy company would, in all probability, be entitled to disconnect the energy supplies if the bill remains unpaid. From what you say, it would be advisable for you and the other tenants to seek legal advice from your local Law Centre or Community Legal Advice.

[scaredandworried]

Re: Tenants Threatened with warrant, managing agent owes the money!

thankyou bluebottle,

Yes, I actually have a name for the person in the Credit department at Haven. I gave my property company the opportunity to sort it out on their own and they have obviously failed.

The only thing I am worried about if I call Haven is if I give my name, will it suddenly appear on their demands as will be admitting having used their electricity? It seems to me that they must be itching to change "The Occupier" to a real name.

What do you think? I could give a fake name but I don't know if that is a bad idea or not. I doubt they would talk to me without at least giving them my name.

[bluebottle]

Re: Tenants Threatened with warrant, managing agent owes the money!

Haven would have to prove you were liable for the total energy costs. Please speak to your local Law Centre or Community Legal Advice tomorrow. This needs input from a legal professional.

[Celestine]

Re: Tenants Threatened with warrant, managing agent owes the money!

I'd also recommend the rapid formation of a 'residents committee'. It will affect everyone, so best to act as a group.

[wales01man]

Re: Tenants Threatened with warrant, managing agent owes the money!

Might be worth finding out about council tax?

[alham]

Re: Tenants Threatened with warrant, managing agent owes the money!

Did the council consent to the property conversion/ private tenants? The management agents would have to obtain a number of certificates (gas safety, etc...) before allowed to rent out your units. your problems might be much bigger so I'd start looking for alternative accommodation...

[scaredandworried]

Re: Tenants Threatened with warrant, managing agent owes the money!

Hi all, thanks again for your replies.

The AST also says the landlord is to pay the council tax for the property. Now I know that in amongst that pile of letters that they know they receive and never open are also letters from the council.

Here's the thing though, the applications for planning permission are available online. I have seen that the council is fully aware of their using the premises in the interim for residential lettings.

I guess I should just leave a.s.a.p. I understand that two week's notice from the warrant issue must be given. Luckily, I have a storage unit so I can put most of my belongings in there. This has come at a bad time financially for me though. I'm also a contractor, I hope that other landlords are happy enough with that and not having a permanent contract. I guess I can always live in a B&B if the worst comes to the worst. My rent works out to around 28/day (I'm in London) anyway.

[scaredandworried]

Re: Tenants Threatened with warrant, managing agent owes the money!

Also, I've told two other people I know in this building. Being London, most people don't give a toss about anyone but themselves, sad to say. But I'm sure when it comes to their electric they will suddenly open their eyes.

I pay my rent at the end of the month. As I'm now on rolling, does that mean if I give notice then I will have to stay/pay till end of next month (May)? Or can it be one month from tomorrow? I seem to recall reading somewhere that it has to match the day of the month per your rent payment?

[scaredandworried]

Re: Tenants Threatened with warrant, managing agent owes the money!

In fact we had a fire here once and all I heard was a very quiet alarm. Luckily I woke when I smelled the smoke, could barely breathe, and managed to evacuate the smoke out of the area. I asked them to look into the alarm system, of course they did nothing!

[scaredandworried]

Re: Tenants Threatened with warrant, managing agent owes the money!

Hi everyone,

Thanks again for your help so far.

So today I called the property management company. I was quite annoyed and assertive but without having a pop. They said that the person who does billing was off sick and would be in tomorrow.

I was quite annoyed by their lack of action. The manager explained to me that she had a colleague phone them. When I asked "who?", whether Haven or one of the collection companies, she didn't even know! Quite typical, really! Who knows, could have been an outright lie. This manager loves to delegate but never takes charge.

So I underlined to her how serious this was due to the stage of the creditor's action and the number of people impacted. I said that I would hope that her manager or the directors of the company were aware of this and she said that they were. Whether that is true or not, I don't know.

Then when I pushed further, she said that one of the debt collecting companies had called the office. Perhaps they had read the obvious signs outside advertising this company and had only decided to follow up the next day. Or perhaps another outright lie, who knows!

At this point, I decided to email Haven from an anonymous email account. I got a prompt reply from the worker in charge of the case who said simply:

"Thank you for your email. I have sent this on to <name redacted> (debt collection agency) to contact <property management company name redacted>."

Hopefully this means that we won't get hassled anymore. I will be phoning the mgmt company again tomorrow to see where we are at.

If the warrant is actually served then obviously I will give up on the management company, serve notice and move out. From what I understand, it takes two weeks for them to use the warrant, is that right?