ESB owing from previous tenant?

eth0_

I moved into a flat last weekend, and last Monday rang the ESB to get the account put in my name, as there was a letter addressed to the occupier, stating that no account holder had been registered at my address for the past 6 weeks, and if a new account holder wasn't registered soon, the electricity would be cut off.

Obviously I ring them ASAP and give them the current meter reading.

The girl on the phone said "There's a difference of several hundred units since the last meter reading the previous tenant gave when they moved out. It's about €70 euro that will have to be paid before the name can be changed on the account".

I've tried ringing the agent who dealt with the lease (L**e & Associates!) and the *&£$ won't return my calls and is conveniently "out of the office" or "on a call" every time I call.

I know the apartment was vacant for several weeks before I took it, and I know just leaving the fridge on for a month wouldn't use up 70 euro of electricity! I'm worried someone was using my apartment while it was 'vacant'!

Can anyone offer any help?

Bluehair

You are not under any obligation to pay this whatsoever.

Phone back ESB and explain to them that you are the new tenent, give them your details and the meter reading as of when you moved in. Refer them to the landlord/letting agency for recovery of any monies owed before you moved in.

This business about "It's about €70 euro that will have to be paid before the name can be changed on the account" is utter rubbish and they cannot force you to pay this.

eth0_

Hey, I rang them again yesterday and spoke to a lady who told me what you have done, that I am not liable for the money and I won't be cut off.

She told me to get the letting agent to put the account in the landlords name for the last two months (amount of time the apartment was 'vacant' for), then I will be able to put it into my name.

Unfortunately I can't contact the snake of a letting agent. I rang yesterday AGAIN and asked to speak to a manager, I was told i'd get a call back that afternoon, of course, no phone call.

TBH i'm more concerned that 70 euro of electricity was used while the apartment was 'vacant', it's pretty clear someone was living there when they shouldn't have been, which is worrying.

eth0_

Hey, I rang them again yesterday and spoke to a lady who told me what you just said - that I am not liable for the money and I won't be cut off.

She told me to get the letting agent to put the account in the landlords name for the last two months (amount of time the apartment was 'vacant' for), then I will be able to put it into my name.

Unfortunately I can't contact the snake of a letting agent. I rang yesterday AGAIN and asked to speak to a manager, I was told i'd get a call back that afternoon, of course, no phone call.

TBH i'm more concerned that 70 euro of electricity was used while the apartment was 'vacant', it's pretty clear someone was living there when they shouldn't have been, which is worrying.

layke

Time to type your own solicitors letter and send it to them. Or something along the lines of "my solicitor told me to write this letter" sort of thing. They will call you back apon recipt.

shoegirl

Letting agencies are pretty notorious for this sort of this. You'll have to force their hand here.

Pay the bill yourself, and then deduct from the rent. If the agency or landlord says anything to you about it then tell them you are raising a complaint with the Private Tenancies Board. They'll back down pretty quickly.

I've known loads of people who were hit by this, also in relation to waste collection not being paid etc. It should be up to the landlord to place the account in your name anyway, not yours. Its up to them to settle things with the outgoing tenants, not you.

eth0_

shoegirl wrote:

Pay the bill yourself, and then deduct from the rent. If the agency or landlord says anything to you about it then tell them you are raising a complaint with the Private Tenancies Board. They'll back down pretty quickly.

I *can't* pay the bill even if I wanted to! The account isn't in my name!

I've known loads of people who were hit by this, also in relation to waste collection not being paid etc. It should be up to the landlord to place the account in your name anyway, not yours. Its up to them to settle things with the outgoing tenants, not you.

Well the landlord lives in the UK and I don't have their contact details yet - haven't received the lease contract back from them yet - so it's really the letting agency that's at fault.

Do not use Lowe & Associates if you don't want a massive headache!

niallb

eth0_ wrote:

TBH i'm more concerned that 70 euro of electricity was used while the apartment was 'vacant', it's pretty clear someone was living there when they shouldn't have been, which is worrying.

It's possible that some of that figure is the difference between a number
of estimated bills and an actual meter reading.
Check with the ESB to see what reading they have for the meter.
Just ask is the 70 owing on an estimate, meter reading, or customer reading.
If they're estimating, they don't know there'e no-one there for the last few months.
Worth checking anyway.

NiallB

eth0_

niallb wrote:

It's possible that some of that figure is the difference between a number
of estimated bills and an actual meter reading.

Maybe I wasn't clear enough by 'last meter reading', the ESB lady told me the previous tenant had actually rung up and given a last meter reading and paid it off. So there's a difference of nearly 70 quid since then.

TheMonster

sounds like the last tenant gave an incorrect reading (possibly delibrately)

eth0_

TheMonster wrote:

sounds like the last tenant gave an incorrect reading (possibly delibrately)

If you read what I said...the money has built up while the apartment has been vacant. The previous tenant moved out over a month before I moved in.
The only electricity usage should have been the fridge, and the odd light turned on when people were viewing it.

The fact the letting agency won't return my calls is extremely suspicious!

Thomas_S_Hunterson

eth0_ wrote:

If you read what I said...the money has built up while the apartment has been vacant. The previous tenant moved out over a month before I moved in.
The only electricity usage should have been the fridge, and the odd light turned on when people were viewing it.

The fact the letting agency won't return my calls is extremely suspicious!

How do you know that? The previous tennant could have given a value far below what was actually on the meter, and then on a subsequent check maybe two months later, ESB would just take the value on the meter, this would include the amount the previous tennant marked down the reading

Kimbot

Would the ESB not be able to tell you how active it was since the last reading at all??

Thomas_S_Hunterson

AFAIK, they only way they can tell is by reading the metre

eth0_

sean_keevey wrote:

AFAIK, they only way they can tell is by reading the metre

No, they could tell that there has been active use of electricity for the past 6 weeks, that's what I was told by ESB customer service.

ibanezjem

Bluehair wrote:

"It's about €70 euro that will have to be paid before the name can be changed on the account"....

I moved into an apt on my own there in march. in order to change the bill over to my name i had two choices. Either pay by direct debit (certainly not as once they get the money from your account, its harder to retrieve it if you have an honest quiry about your bil)l or pay a whopping €150 deposit which they hold for 14 months before refunded (and after making interest off this too). I was absolutely appauled to say the least. Had to pay the €150 which i hated handing the money over. Eircom-no problem. NTL-no problem either. ESB are getting too bloody cocky for their own good. I wish someone would come in a break the monopoly they have on this place. But its never gonna happen and can basically charge and do whatever they like. They are wa•kers!!

niallb

eth0_ wrote:

No, they could tell that there has been active use of electricity for the past 6 weeks, that's what I was told by ESB customer service.

Meter readings take place 6 times a year ideally, and outside of
that bills are delivered "estimated". A customer reading is permitted
once or twice a year to help realign your bill.
How many times have the ESB read your meter over the last 6 weeks
to demonstrate ongoing usage?

They can tell theres "active use of electricity"
in your building or on your street,
but not at your specific address.

Why would they need to read your meter at all if they could tell
from the comfort of their accounts department how much
electricity you were using on an ongoing basis?

Hope you get this sorted.
Sounds very unfair.

NiallB

Buceph

You're best bet when it comes to these type of leasing problems is to go straight to the landlord. Letting agents are notorious for acting dodgily(personal opinion, obv.) With so many people buying one or two houses as a form of investment the traditional landlord is dieing out, to a degree. These are normal people who are just using the houses a a retirement fund, and can be far more willing to help than your traditional "greasy landlord."

BC

Keep trying the letting agents, if you don't get a hold of them:

- Wait until the next bill arrives
- Pay it. Once you have the physical bill its irrelevant whose name its in you can pay it.
- Phone the ESB and get the name changed now that the account is clear
- Work out how much electricity you used based on when you moved in and deduct the rest from your rent

eth0_

That's all very well, and I was planning on doing this, but they won't send a bill when there's no account holder you see.

And I can't pay it because I don't have the giro/bill.

:-/

Hotblack Desiato

eth0_ wrote:

I *can't* pay the bill even if I wanted to! The account isn't in my name!

Cash at the post office?
TBH if they're sending out a letter complaining of a problem (bill unpaid / account holder registration required) what you need to sort out the situation (giro / change of account holder form) should be included in the letter. That would be in their own interest but might make too much sense for them to do :rolleyes:

Presumably you have the account no. from the letter, with this you could probably make a one-off payment at an ATM or on online banking.

Once the ESB get paid they don't give a **** what name is on the account really.

TheMonster

eth0_ wrote:

If you read what I said...the money has built up while the apartment has been vacant. The previous tenant moved out over a month before I moved in.
The only electricity usage should have been the fridge, and the odd light turned on when people were viewing it.

The fact the letting agency won't return my calls is extremely suspicious!

but you are assuming a correct reading was submitted on the previous teneats leaving

eth0_

ninja900 wrote:

Cash at the post office?
TBH if they're sending out a letter complaining of a problem (bill unpaid / account holder registration required) what you need to sort out the situation (giro / change of account holder form) should be included in the letter. That would be in their own interest but might make too much sense for them to do :rolleyes:.

I can't pay the bill. I don't have a bill payment giro slip. All I have is a letter with a MPRN number which you need to re-open an account. They won't give me the account number because i'm not the account holder.

Get it? If it was that simple, i'd have paid it and taken the money out of next months rent, but alas.

GreeBo

Personally I wouldnt pay it and then try to take it out of the next months rent...two wrongs and all that

The ESB wont cut you off as electricity is considered vital for life so you can og months without paying and they wont cut you off.
Anyway, as you seemed to imply, they advised you that they can open an account in your name for that address and start from there.
Its then up to them to go after the "previous" account holder for the arrears.

eth0_

GreeBo wrote:

you seemed to imply, they advised you that they can open an account in your name for that address and start from there.
Its then up to them to go after the "previous" account holder for the arrears.

No..i've said a few times that the ESB said the account needs to be put into the landlords name for the last 2 months, and the landlord has to pay the arrears BEFORE the account can be put into my name.

BC

eth0_ wrote:

That's all very well, and I was planning on doing this, but they won't send a bill when there's no account holder you see.

And I can't pay it because I don't have the giro/bill.

:-/

That makes no sense!! Surely if they want the bill paid they should just send a bill to the address!! So are they refusing to send a bill anywhere? How can they expect anyone to pay it then?

jaggeh

i know from personal experience with working for one of these big companies that if someone runs up bad credit at an address the debt follows them but the bad debt stays at the address.

Our credit control department can ask for anywhere between 180 and 540 euro as a deposit AND a direct debit, thats if there has been particularly bad credit at the address.

However its standard procedure for rented properties to either offer a direct debit or deposit.

Meter reads are usually only done 3 times a year in an alternating cycle with estimates. all companies are obliged to accept corrected reads from customers. (we accept them up to 14 days after a bill is issued)

If a previous tennant has spoofed the final read then it falls on them, all the company can ask of you is a deposit because of bad debt, they CAN NOT levvie the old tennants bill against you at any time.

eth0_

Well after a letter to the manager of the letting agency, over a week after I originally tried to contact the agent who dealt with my letting, he rang me and said the ESB is now in my name and I don't owe anything.

Pretty typical of the standard of service in this country that you have to get someone into sh*t with their manager for them to get off their ass and do some work for you!