Rogue Gas Bill? .. who is responsible??

[Pikeyp]

Hello all!

I have a question about a rogue gas bill my nephew has received!

Basically he was a tenant at an upstairs flat (one of two) above an empty shop for six months. Everything went well at the end of the agreement , there were some repairs and cleaning that was done by my sister and brother-in-law , but this was all done to everyone's satisfaction.
The flat was electric only fed by a coin-type meter.

Since then however, he has been receiving Gas bills, even though there was no Gas meter in this flat , and although my sister has been in contact with the letting agent several times , nothing seems to have been resolved.

This unpaid bill has now risen to over £800 and has been passed to one of the usual debt collection agencies!!

My question is what can he do about this rogue bill? I believe it should be the letting agent who should be doing more here!

Any thoughts folks? .. many thanks for any replies!

[mind the gap]

Hello all!

I have a question about a rogue gas bill my nephew has received!

Basically he was a tenant at an upstairs flat (one of two) above an empty shop for six months. Everything went well at the end of the agreement , there were some repairs and cleaning that was done by my sister and brother-in-law , but this was all done to everyone's satisfaction.
The flat was electric only fed by a coin-type meter.

Since then however, he has been receiving Gas bills, even though there was no Gas meter in this flat , and although my sister has been in contact with the letting agent several times , nothing seems to have been resolved.

This unpaid bill has now risen to over £800 and has been passed to one of the usual debt collection agencies!!

My question is what can he do about this rogue bill? I believe it should be the letting agent who should be doing more here!

Any thoughts folks? .. many thanks for any replies!

Does the bill relate to an account in your nephew's name?

If so, although it's a pain, he needs to be proactive or it could damage his credit rating. He needs to contact the energy provider directly and tell them

(i) there is no gas in the flat
(ii) he never signed anything to agree to be supplied with gas by them or anyone else
(iii) please could they cancel the account and send him a letter confirming he owes them nothing
(iv) or they will be hearing from his solicitors.

There is no point involving the letting agent - they will neither know nor care what is going on with the energy bills.

[MrJohnnyB]

You say there was no Gas meter, but were there any apparatus that used gas? ie a gas fired boiler? What did his tenancy agreement say about gas?

[Pikeyp]

Does the bill relate to an account in your nephew's name?

There is no point involving the letting agent - they will neither know nor care what is going on with the energy bills.

No, he's never had a gas bill before in his life! This was the first time he'd actually left the family home!

As for the letting agent , I've always thought it was their responsibility to notify all service providers of any changes re. tenancy. I may well be wrong about that though.

You say there was no Gas meter, but were there any apparatus that used gas? ie a gas fired boiler? What did his tenancy agreement say about gas?

No gas fired boiler and no radiators , it was all electric including heating.

I don't know about the actual tenancy agreement , but I shall check with my sister as soon as I can!

Thanks for the replies guys! Much appreciated!