Half way through my tenants living in my flat I discovered that they had never got in touch with the utilities company and somehow the account had reverted to my name (presumable to cover the void period of a couple of weeks).
They had enjoyed free electrcitiy and just hidden letters addressed to me. After a huge amount of back and forth with the energy provider and their debt collection agency I got them to remove the debt from my name.
I also know that one of the tenants hasn’t been paying / is behind with his council tax.
My tenants have now moved out and I have asked them for proof of all accounts being settled before I release their deposit. He is now ignoring my emails.
What should I do in this scenario? None of the bills - bar the energy one mentioned, which I believe to be sorted - should be in my name but it seems like a messy end to the tenancy if they have left so much unpaid.
Both tenants had guarantors but I’m not sure that’s relevant at all.
Neither of these make sense if you had done what every LL should so and this is to inform all utility companies of change of responsibility and meter reads whenever tenants move in and out of the property. Same with council tax.
Your liability is only for the periods when no tenant is in the property. You should have written proof of when the last tenant left and when these tenants started and that’s what you should be providing to utilities/council in order to limit your liability.
You cannot withhold deposit for non payment of utility bills because they are nothing to do with you. You need to contact utility companies/council and asking them how you can sort out this mess. Make sure you tell them that you are now liable so they can bill you for the empty property.
Then get some landlord training via a reputable association.
1. Get other utilities (water, gas what else?) And council to understand you weren’t responsible during the tenancy period. You’ve managed that with electric so others will like accept same or similar proof (signed tenancy agreement for start and emails etc or notice of move out date for end)
if AST says they must pay the bills for the period they are responsible for and specifies which they are responsible for, and you have documentary evidence they didn’t they are in breach so you may be able to hold back something for the time and inconvenience you have suffered to sort it out. Just like if you had to pay a cleaner to remedy a mess left behind. But what you withhold has to be reasonable and could be challenged.. is it worth the hassle.
Don’t think you can withhold deposit just because someone is late with their council tax or any other bill tho - final bills might be received and paid after they have left quite normally following final day readings
If people don’t pay bills whether utilities or council tax or whatever their actual debts are financially absolutely nothing to do with you. You can tell the council utility companies etc the tenant has moved out and if you wish provide forward contact details or a tel if you wish, if you still hold the details and consider this part of your duties as a landlord (bit of a grey area legally I suspect if not specified in an ICO notice that you may pass on to debtor, but morally sound)
have bought places and former tenants get letters from Marston and other debt collectors. You can either bin these, write return to sender and put in a postbox, or if these persist, contact the debt collectors and tell them X no longer lives there (they may ask for an email and proof you are the owner)
6. What you must do is change all the locks. I had one former tenant creeping back into communal hallway to collect post months after they’d left
Don’t open post or bin it. It’s a criminal offence and the kind of people who end up being chased by debt collectors are the kind of people who’d come after you for opening an envelope. Just write “no longer at this address” on it and throw it in a post box.
I have had a tax letter every 3 months for 4 years to the deceased who lived where I now live .I put the first 2 back in the post box , now the waste bin