Advice needed : Bord gais, tenant never paid

K

kojak

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Hi,

I am looking for advise please, We had a bad tenant in our house, she signed a lease for one year and she stayed the full year almost to the day, however every month was a struggle with her getting rent etc so we were glad to see her leave.

When she moved in we signed her up with the Prtb, done a proper lease etc to which was in it that all utility bills she was responsible for and done things which we thought correctly, she was to have all bills put into her name gas, electric etc.. We never made her do this as the tenant who was there before her had taken her name off when she moved out, so naturally as you would think there would be no name on bills unless the new tenant rings up for connection.

She moved out in feb this year and only last week I have received a call from a debt collection agency saying I owe them €1200 euro for non payment of gas for the entire year ?? This was the first I had ever heard of it..why did they give her gas supply for a whole year with disconnecting her, Bord gais had sold on the debt to this place and now they are ringing me on my personal mobile number harassing me, when I never even knew there was a penny owed to them and I never took out a new contract with bord gais, Bord gais said that if she didn't sign up for connection that it defaults back to the landlord ? Surely this cannot be correct As my name has not been on a bill in over 3 years ago in that house, we had 3 other tenants since then all with the bill in their own name, how did they get my number ? Was it from Prtb ? Are Bord gais and the
Debt place chancing there arm...

Any advise greatly appreciated..

Thank you
 
Can you ask them for proof that you switched it into your name. Though its seems they have an exclusion in their terms and conditions. I'd also want to know why they didn't cut it off when it wasn't paid.

16. Your Right to End the Agreement
If You are moving Premises and/or no longer wish to keep Your Gas account open You must give Us seven (7) calendar days notice in advance of Your leaving the premises (or as otherwise agreed by Us) by telephone or by writing to Us (in accordance with Condition 22) and pay the amount due for all Gas used up to the date of such termination and for any other charges and obligations in Your Price Plan or services that We have agreed to provide to You under this Agreement.
You will remain liable for any Gas used in the Premises until this notice is given and has expired and You have informed Us of the Meter reading Or You have given access by Bord Gáis Networks to read the Meter.
In the event that You do not meet the requirements of Condition 16 (a) and/or (b) You may remain liable for any Gas used until supply is withdrawn or a new account is opened at the Premises.
The ending of the Agreement will not affect any rights or duties which have accrued to You before the Agreement ends.
Where the supply of Gas is withdrawn due to Your default, You will pay Us all expenses reasonably incurred and the cost of supply withdrawal and of subsequent reinstatement, if any, in line with regulated charges and Code of Practice.
Further information in relation to Bord Gáis Network’s policy and procedures for causing meters to be locked or the Gas supply to be withdrawn from the Gas Network is set out in Bord Gáis Networks Code of Practice.
In the event of Your death, either Your personal representative, or the occupiers for the time being of the Premises, or both of them together, will be liable for any continued supply of Gas to the Premises until a new Agreement is entered into for the supply of Gas to the Premises or until this Agreement is ended.
Click to expand...

That said we've had experience of the ESB switching the account back to the LL with no instructions to do so from the LL. In fact they billed a different account/property with the amount due. It was only discovered when the LL queried what the extra charge on their own bill was for.

I also found this in the Gais terms

If You have an account with Us at another residential premises, We may transfer any credit or debit between Your accounts in order to recover any money You owe Us.
Click to expand...
 
Did the previous tenant give your name to the Gas company when they took their name off (since they most likely didn't have the new tenant's name)?

Would that be where they got your phone number from?
 
Thanks ever so much for your reply, I very much appreciate it.
However, the last person who had a bill on the property was the tenant before her, and then 2 more before that again.
also I moved in with my wife to her house years ago and she has all bills in her name so I've never actually had an Esb or gas bill in my name since i lived there years ago, so they would have nowhere to send any unpaid amounts ? Not that I am liable because obviously I am not...

Indeed I did not sign up to any new contract with them or even know of my name being put on any new bill and indeed why did they keep supplying her gas ?
Is it legal for debt collection place to be calling me...

Really unsure what to do now as don't want my credit history to be affected either
Thsnks
 
Surely someone else could not put a bill in in my name ? Especially without my knowledge of it
 
Hi Kojak,

I had a similar (but different situation).

New tenant moved in & I advised them to move bills to their name (which they did - I called to check a couple of weeks after).

Roll on a couple of years & I started to have ongoing problems getting rent paid & then the tenants did a runner over night on me. I called Bord Gais to advise they have moved & get it back in my name temporarily. BUT, it turns out a number of months earlier, the tenants had moved it back into my name & BG were saying I owed them money. I had to pay the bill & then try to claim it back (or they wouldn't put it into the new tenants name).

It took me about 3-4 months of arguments before I got my money back. My refund hinged on the fact that anytime I had transferred it back to my name, I used my home address for the bills. The tenants had got "my bills" sent to them & then ignored them - so how could I be responsible for something I never signed up to & was never made aware of.

A small other point was that BG wanted to give credit to the rental house, which would have meant my new tenants would have received free gas, compliments of me! That was another argument but I got there in the end !!

Not sure if it will help your situation, but it might.
 
Is your mobile number the same as when it was on the bill years ago. Thats probably the only contact number the debt agency have for you. They probably don't have your current address so don't give it to them.

Its the debt agency pursuing this not Bord Gais.I don't know what difference this makes.
 
Sam h thanks for your reply.. Also everyone else.
I rang bord gais today and What I don't understand is why she was not cut off sooner, they told me they don't have a certain time it depends on each customer, I asked them would they have given her gas for a whole other year if that was the case and they said NO, but still could not give me a definate answer as to how long they leave it before cut off!!

I am fuming as I got no answers today.. They told me previous tenant before that had put it into my name when she left (to which I was unaware) but again I had no knowledge of this and I said that to them, they said not there problem if I didn't know about it ? To which I replied it was there problem as bill wasn't paid and they still kept her connected after the full year.

I called the new tenant today who has been there a few months and she had no problem setting up new gas into her name she told me, again why would they not disconnect at this stage before a new connection was made if it was in arrears and get in touch with me before connecting somebody new ? At least that way I would have been made aware of it and could have kept the deposit to pay them,
BG have totally effed up as far as I'm concerned,
They also gave on my personal details to a third party (debt collectors) to which I was not happy about...
STRESS but don't know what to do,

it's always the good people who end up in the sh*t with these things
 
I know this wont help with the current outstanding bill, but why don't you get a meter installed, do it for both the gas and elec ? if you are in a bad financial situation - they can install them for free. Use the fact that their is an outstanding 1200 euro on the bill as proof that you are in a bad financial situation and they are also at fault and should provide it for you due to the hiccups.
 
I imagine that the gas is the same as ESB. All you need is the PRN number and a name to transfer the account. I am moving soon and am doing this as I did last time and will also get a final reading and put the account here back to the ll here.

New ll got stung by tenants as although the account was in their name he paid their arrears. Not sure if that should have happened.
 
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