Landlord passed the water bill to me without my knowledge

[Xenaorbit]

I need a good advice on which action to best take.


I recently received a letter from a credit company telling me that i owe Thames Water a huge amount of money (one year's bill of £711.25). I've called to confirm and was told that the account was put under my name by my previous landlord. Is that even possible? Can someone just transfer another person's name on the bill without her knowledge? I did not even receive a single bill from Water Thames that was addressed to me. I was just surprised that the first letter i will be receiving about a water bill is from a credit company called Advantis informing me about the huge bill i owe to Water Thames. I feel cheated really and i don't know which step i need to take to defend my case. I've been told that i need to provide a tenancy agreement proving that i have nothing to do with the water bill but i can't provide any because we were not given one. I know it's silly not to have asked for this before but i just didn't think that the landlord will do this to me. I was a student and was also new in England that time so i was not really fully aware of the rules.

I was only renting the room for £250 per month, all bills included. I've lived in the property for more than 2 years without a problem until last year when i moved out. I've been trying to contact my previous landlord but can't get hold of him coz his number is already disconnected. I think he's into hiding already.

I am thinking that the landlord did this to me intentionally because i was new in this country and was just on a student visa. He must have thought of using my name to escape the payment thinking that i have already left the country.

I am also curious as to how the credit company found out my new address.

If anyone has a good advice, please help. I don't know what to do.

[leclerc]

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

I need a good advice on which action to best take.


I recently received a letter from a credit company telling me that i owe Thames Water a huge amount of money (one year's bill of £711.25). I've called to confirm and was told that the account was put under my name by my previous landlord. Is that even possible? Can someone just transfer another person's name on the bill without her knowledge? I did not even receive a single bill from Water Thames that was addressed to me. I was just surprised that the first letter i will be receiving about a water bill is from a credit company called Advantis informing me about the huge bill i owe to Water Thames. I feel cheated really and i don't know which step i need to take to defend my case. I've been told that i need to provide a tenancy agreement proving that i have nothing to do with the water bill but i can't provide any because we were not given one. I know it's silly not to have asked for this before but i just didn't think that the landlord will do this to me. I was a student and was also new in England that time so i was not really fully aware of the rules.

I was only renting the room for £250 per month, all bills included. I've lived in the property for more than 2 years without a problem until last year when i moved out. I've been trying to contact my previous landlord but can't get hold of him coz his number is already disconnected. I think he's into hiding already.

I am thinking that the landlord did this to me intentionally because i was new in this country and was just on a student visa. He must have thought of using my name to escape the payment thinking that i have already left the country.

I am also curious as to how the credit company found out my new address.

If anyone has a good advice, please help. I don't know what to do.

Have you kept a copy of your lease from the property? Have you asked the water company which address that the bill was sent to?

[bluebottle]

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

There are some landlords who, shall we say, are less than reputable. And you seemed to have had one such landlord. This sounds like it could be the landlord trying to avoid paying the bill. You need to speak to your local Law Centre or Community Legal Advice.

[PlanB]

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

I recently received a letter from a credit company telling me that i owe Thames Water a huge amount of money (one year's bill of £711.25). I've called to confirm and was told that the account was put under my name by my previous landlord. Is that even possible? Can someone just transfer another person's name on the bill without her knowledge? I did not even receive a single bill from Water Thames that was addressed to me. I was just surprised that the first letter i will be receiving about a water bill is from a credit company called Advantis informing me about the huge bill i owe to Water Thames. . . . .

. . . . . I am thinking that the landlord did this to me intentionally

I am also curious as to how the credit company found out my new address.
.

Advantis is a *Trace & Collect* company which is paid by utility suppliers to trace debtors of unpaid bills and get them to pay up. Advatis gets paid by the creditor on results so they are 'highly motivated' although some would say that they are bullies. It's possible that Advantis found you through the electoral roll (although not if you are foreign since you can't be on it) or another entry on a Credit Reference Agency such as Equifax or Experian, or even the DVLA database.

No one can enter into a contact on your behalf so ask Advantis to prove this debt. Ask it to provide you with full details of the account which it is chasing (copies of all bills sent to you from inception) and a copy of the contract which you entered into or any evidence that you opened this account (which obviously doesn't exist).

Tell Advantis that you do not acknowleged this debt until or unless you are provided with this information. Expect it to go quiet after that

[Xenaorbit]

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

Thanks for your reply.

Unfortunately, i don't have any copies of lease of the property. I didn't know anything about this legal papers before. If i had known, i would have been smarter enough to cover myself should there be any legal issues in the future. But like i said, i was new to England so was ignorant at that time.

All i had with the landlord was an oral agreement that i will be paying for my room (single room) which will be £250 per month including all the bills. By the way, the house has 1 double room and 2 single rooms all shared by asian students. The lounge which was supposed to be a relaxing place for us was converted to a double room by this landlord to profit more money.

i've never received a water bill under my name when i was still living in that property so I had no idea why all of a sudden i will be receiving a letter from a collections/credit company regarding an outstanding bill to my new address.

i have moved out of that property almost a year ago now.

[Xenaorbit]

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

Thank you very much. That is quite a relief. I have been feeling very stressed since i received this letter. It's been affecting me physically, emotionally and mentally and i should not be feeling that this time especially now that i am in my last few weeks of pregnancy. I've been out of job for a year now so no source of income and no money to pay for this huge bill. I'm just relying on my partner's small salary to get by.

i am an honest person and i've always tried to settle my bills on time as i don't want my name and credit score to be ruined. This landlord is so bad.

[FlamingParrot]

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

There is a template letter you can send Advantis asking them to prove the debt, it's fairly generic, so you'll have to modify the letter, adding the bits Plan B pointed out above. http://www.legalbeagles.info/forums/...9479#post59479

You should also check your credit files to see if a default has been recorded against you for this alleged debt. If you intend to stay in the UK, you may need to apply for credit in the future and a default could affect your ability to obtain credit for up to 6 years. Noodle lets you check your credit files for free: https://www.noddle.co.uk

From what you say above, sounds like the landlord is a cheeky so and so, :rant: taking advantage of foreign students who are not familiar with UK law. Sadly, there are many of them around. :mad2: :mad2:

[PlanB]

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

I've been told that i need to provide a tenancy agreement proving that i have nothing to do with the water bill but i can't provide any because we were not given one.

Did Advantis tell you that? The onus is on the creditor to prove you owe the debt - not on you to prove you don't :nono: Get them to come up with the evidence first.

£711 seems a lot for one person's share of a water bill for a house occupied by (at least) four people. Was this water rates or a metered property?
You shouldn't have to worry about this when your baby is due soon reggers: Enjoy your pregnancy and make Advantis do all the work.

[Xenaorbit]

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

There is a template letter you can send Advantis asking them to prove the debt, it's fairly generic, so you'll have to modify the letter, adding the bits Plan B pointed out above. http://www.legalbeagles.info/forums/...9479#post59479

You should also check your credit files to see if a default has been recorded against you for this alleged debt. If you intend to stay in the UK, you may need to apply for credit in the future and a default could affect your ability to obtain credit for up to 6 years. Noodle lets you check your credit files for free: https://www.noddle.co.uk

From what you say above, sounds like the landlord is a cheeky so and so, :rant: taking advantage of foreign students who are not familiar with UK law. Sadly, there are many of them around. :mad2: :mad2:

--- Thank you very much. I will have a look on the looks you posted.

[Xenaorbit]

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

Did Advantis tell you that? The onus is on the creditor to prove you owe the debt - not on you to prove you don't :nono: Get them to come up with the evidence first.

£711 seems a lot for one person's share of a water bill for a house occupied by (at least) four people. Was this water rates or a metered property?
You shouldn't have to worry about this when your baby is due soon reggers: Enjoy your pregnancy and make Advantis do all the work.

--- Thank you for your reply.

I called Advantis and Thames Water when i received this letter because i was so surprised and i panicked. I've been told by both that in order to settle this issue, I need to provide them a copy of the tenancy agreement which i told them i don't have. they said there's nothing they can do until i can provide one and was telling me that i can pay in installments if i can't manage to pay for the whole bill in one go.

The house is not shared by only 4 people. We were 6 people sharing that time and the water bill was only named after me.

[FlamingParrot]

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

One thing you shouldn't do is call them, or answer their calls if they ring you, let's get everything down in writing. Telephone operators working for such outfits are trained to say certain things and certain things only. They are not decision makers, nor can they deviate from their script when handling calls, because all calls are recorded and they would be disciplined (and probably even sacked ), if they told you something they are not supposed to say as per the 'script' they've been given. You'll never get anywhere with them for that reason. If they ring you, refuse to go through security and hang up.

It's up to Advantis to prove the debt, not up to you to disprove it. They are the ones asking for money, let them show you proof of the debt. Anyone can write to you asking for money for something or other, I could do that too if I had your address! :grin:

[bluebottle]

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

Does the landlord have planning permission from the local authority to have this property in multi-occupancy? If he doesn't, he could be in trouble. Not only could your local authority have something to say, but your local Fire & Rescue Service could have a lot to say, especially as certain requirements must be met in the case of such properties.

[PlanB]

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

Does the landlord have planning permission from the local authority to have this property in multi-occupancy? If he doesn't, he could be in trouble.

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:

[Xenaorbit]

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

Does the landlord have planning permission from the local authority to have this property in multi-occupancy? If he doesn't, he could be in trouble. Not only could your local authority have something to say, but your local Fire & Rescue Service could have a lot to say, especially as certain requirements must be met in the case of such properties.

--- 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?

[Xenaorbit]

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

There is a template letter you can send Advantis asking them to prove the debt, it's fairly generic, so you'll have to modify the letter, adding the bits Plan B pointed out above. http://www.legalbeagles.info/forums/...9479#post59479

You should also check your credit files to see if a default has been recorded against you for this alleged debt. If you intend to stay in the UK, you may need to apply for credit in the future and a default could affect your ability to obtain credit for up to 6 years. Noodle lets you check your credit files for free: https://www.noddle.co.uk

From what you say above, sounds like the landlord is a cheeky so and so, :rant: taking advantage of foreign students who are not familiar with UK law. Sadly, there are many of them around. :mad2: :mad2:

--- 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.