Gas bill never transferred to our name

Davie_m

Hi All,
Hopefully someone can help or shed some light on what our options are..

The situation is:
Three of us moved into an apartment at the start of July last year.

The then letting agent transferred the ESB bill into our names.
This was the only utility bill that was mentioned to us when we moved in and as expected we received ESB bills to our address.
There was a gas boiler in the house but we assumed since the only bill we received was from the ESB, that this was included in the bill.

The letting agency changed hands in January/February.

This week however our gas was switched off.
We taught there was a problem with the boiler and had plumber in and he let us know it had been locked

From speaking to bord Gas the account was never transferred over to our names and any correspondence was re-directed to the Letting agent office.
I dont know how is owed but that the bill has not been paid since before we moved in.

We are planning on moving out at the end of June when our lease is up.
One of the guys in house is determined not to pay for it since the bill is not in our name it isnt our responsibility.
Personally, I think since we used the gas we are responsible and even though the contract utitiles section is very generic it does mention 'Gas' (amongst other things that our not in the apartment telephone etc).

Are we going to be stuck with a 10 month gas bill to pay before we are switched back on?

Has any one been in this situation before or does anyone have any advice?

Thanks again,

D3PO

Davie_m wrote: »

One of the guys in house is determined not to pay for it since the bill is not in our name it isnt our responsibility.
Personally, I think since we used the gas we are responsible and even though the contract utitiles section is very generic it does mention 'Gas' (amongst other things that our not in the apartment telephone etc).

Are we going to be stuck with a 10 month gas bill to pay before we are switched back on?

,

its your bill of course your responsible for it. Unless its stated elsewhere that its included. Ignorance isnt an excuse. If you dont have Oil central heating or storage heaters how in the world did you think the water and heaters were warmed ??

by all means your friend can argue that hes not paying as its not in your name fact is deposit will be kept in lieu of whats owed simple as that.

tenchi-fan

Your friend is an idiot.

Here's how things will work out.

The gas company will want payment. If they don't get it, they probably won't do anything sinister. They just won't reconnect the gas!

Your landlord won't be happy so he'll use your deposit to pay the gas company... and you will all lose your deposit.

And your idiot friend will huff and puff, using his or her (zero) knowledge of the law to argue that it's not your bill. Even though the contract clearly states you are responsible for the gas bill!!

satchman

Just wanted to add to the initial post as I have a similar situation. Myself and my partner moved in to an apartment (renting) in March and signed all the documentation for Gas & Electricity ownership. We have received several ESB bills but have never received a single Gas bill to date.

Now, don't get me wrong i'm not looking to avoid paying; I took down the initial reading when we signed the documents upon moving in and also what the meter reads now, and have every intention of paying for what we have used but just wanted to know is this the norm with Bord Gais?? I thought the bill was to be issued every 2 months??

We haven't been cut off or anything but just wondering is it that the ownership was never transferred or are Bord Gais just that bad at chasing people up for money??

pinkypinky

BG are not good at this, in my experience.
After I bought my apartment, I rang and got the bill set up in my name, they had my account details for payment and everything. No bills came. This was late October. I was a little panicked that they might cut me off. In January, curiosity got the better of me and I rang Bord Gais. They weren't the slightest bit concerned that my account wasn't being billed and the rep candidly admitted if I hadn't phoned about it, they probably would have just kept giving me free gas indefinitely.

satchman

You'd think in these times they'd be all over you for the money!! Thanks for the info pinky, think i'll just give them a shout this week and see what the story is.

Xiney

Davie_m wrote: »

I dont know how is owed but that the bill has not been paid since before we moved in.

Well, I certainly wouldn't pay what was used before you moved in.

To be perfectly honest though, I'd suspect that since the bill isn't in your name... Bord Gas have to chase the people whose name is on the bill. This is why I always make sure to cancel all my utilities when I move out of an apartment - I know that I'd be responsible for any costs incurred while they are still in my name.

Victor

Davie_m wrote: »

One of the guys in house is determined not to pay for it since the bill is not in our name it isnt our responsibility.

Fair enough, but does he want to be warm for the winter.

When you do pay, make sure you are only paying since you moved in - make sure you get the past bills readings since then.

kmick

They will just take it out of your deposit anyway when you leave.

Darksaga87

Something similar has happend to me, the agent never changed over the accounts, even though i rang board gas to set it up, something got messed up and this never happend, I never recived any notification of this.

So basically, ive been living here for about 3 months, never got a bill in the door, or a warning letter to pay the gas bill.

Seeing as I never got a bill, i rang board gas to ask why this was, they then told me that I did not have an account with them for gas, only electicity. I was very surprised by this as I thought I had.

The only explanation the woman from BG could offer, is that my LL is still paying the gas bill with a differant company.

Now tomorrow, I have to ring BG and set up an account I thought I had.