help with old bill from son's flat.

[eileen58]

Hi, I wonder if anyone can help me with my sons problem. What happened is that my son and his girlfriend were sharing a flat for 6 months and when the 6 months expired they then signed a new lease for another 6 months.

Just as the 6 months expired my son and his girlfriend parted company. What the problem is that my son left the flat at the begining of September and she stayed on for a few more days. My son never got back his deposit because he left his girlfriend and her mother to deal with everything. What is now happening is that the electricty company are now looking for money for a bill. Originally my son started to pay £20.00 every week to this bill, but after being on this forum I told him to stop because we never received a proper bill from the d.c.a. The original amount was for £600. and he has paid £400. My son originally thought that the bill was for £300.

I have sent all the template letters to the d.c.a who incidentally are the inhouse d.c.a. for the electricity co. and have yet to see an original copy of the bill.

We are not disputing the bill only the amount.

One of the letters from the d.c.a's mentions October - December dates but my son was not in the flat at that time.

My son does not have a copy of his tenancy or anything to do with the flat, so we cannot dispute the dates on the letter.

Is there anything that we can do to the landlord to make him give us a copy of the tenancy aggrement and also a copy of where the deposit went to. We think that the mother dealt with all the paperwork.

His exgirlfriend now lives in South Africa so obviously we cannot get a hold of her.

Also the landlord is not returning any of our calls.

 

I realise that this isn't very clear but if anyone can help us I would appreciate it.

 

Eileen

[MrShed]

Not a straight forward situation. First of all, have you posted your queries on the Debt section of the site? They will be considerably more helpful than us on elements of the query.

 

With regards the tenancy agreement, very difficult to make them, but many reasonable landlords should be helpful. Do you have reason to believe he would not provide it on asking? Difficult landlord/tenant relationship?

 

If your son was listed on the TA, then he has a right to know what happened to the deposit. I would suggest speaking to the landlord again about this, and demand to know how much was refunded and to whom.

 

Which September are you talking about by the way, last year?

[eileen58]

Hi Mr Shed,

 

It was September of 2005, I have tried to phone the landlord and to also go to their offices but they are always closed and the phone is on answer machine. My son did not have a bad relationship with the landlord, but unfortunately my sons girlfriend was a friend of their daughters.

I personally think that somewhere someone has not paid for their electricity and they are trying it on with my son, hoping that he will pay up with no questions asked. What I was wondering do you think that I can S.A.R the landlord and go down that route to get the information that we need.

Eileen

[MrShed]

That is a very good question. One I dont honestly know the answer to - I am really unsure as to whether the DPA applies in this manner to landlords. However, I suspect you could be onto something, especially as you refer to them as a company - I assume it was through a letting agent?

 

I would be very interested to see a definitive answer to that question.

[eileen58]

Hi, the company I meant was their own company, I think that they only started to buy properties and let them out themselves. I will have to check this out myself. I really appreciate you having the time to answer me, so I will let you know how I get on.

 

Thanks Eileen

[MrShed]

No problem. If they are a company, and they let as part of a business, this should make it more clear as to whether they are obligated by DPA to release this info. Can I ask, why wait 2 years?

[callumsgran]

You should indeed be able to DPA them, but i doubt if they will have kept anything they dont sound very professional.

You can as far as i know DPA anyone you have had dealings with in the last 6 years, someone will correct me i'm sure if i am wrong.

Try it anyway, you've got nothing to lose

[Esio Trot]

What is now happening is that the electricty company are now looking for money for a bill. Originally my son started to pay £20.00 every week to this bill, but after being on this forum I told him to stop because we never received a proper bill from the d.c.a. The original amount was for £600. and he has paid £400. My son originally thought that the bill was for £300.

I have sent all the template letters to the d.c.a who incidentally are the inhouse d.c.a. for the electricity co. and have yet to see an original copy of the bill.

We are not disputing the bill only the amount.

 

You seem a bit unsure of the debt details here. What you need is facts. So, ignore all the chasing letters, what you need is specific bills that relates to this debt. Ask the electric company to provide them. If you can avoid contact with the DCA do this - while you are waiting for the paperwork, tell them that the amount is in dispute.

 

Work on this so you have definite figures to work to. You will likely find that that the DCA will have added all sort of fees - and most will be unenforceable.

[eileen58]

Hi everyone,

 

Thanks for all the reply's, sorry it took so long to answer everyone but the computer is in the bedroom and I can't get near it when my son is in.

To answer all the questions

1 The reason that we have waited 2 years is that the electricity company is chasing my son for this electric bill. Originally when the bill came to my address I just gave my son the bill and told him to deal with it. But after being on this site I realised that the dca's only gave him an amount and not an original bill, so I told him to stop paying the bill and that I would deal with it.

Because my son doesn't live with me any more, trying to get me and him in the same place at any one time to phone the company and get his authorisation for the company to speak to me took time.

Eventually we done this and the guy at the dca said that the bill was for £600. but my son thought that it was originally only £300, but you know how they operate, I still could not get a copy of the bill.

What I then done was to cca them (recorded delivery), no reply. We then received 4 letters from them, each one more threatening than the last one, even to them saying that they where going to do a home visit (my house not the house of the bill), I think not!

I then sent them a cracking letter all about harrasement and specifically the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 section 40. Also I asked for a certificate of destruction concerning my son's data as he had never given them permission to process his data.

Guess what? it all fell on deaf ears as he has just this week received another letter telling him to start up his direct debit again. Doh. I don't think so.

I think that what you say Esio Trot, about going to the electricty company for a copy of the bill is a good one, but what really annoys me is that the dca is the in house dca. for the electricity co. What I think is that they do not have a signed copy of the credit agreement and that they are only chancing their arm.

I think now with all the letters going back and forth and we have not had a proper response from the dca I will now make a formal complaint to the Information Commissioner.

I have now since receiving the replies from all you good people that I will send a letter to the letting co. and ask what happened to my sons deposit. Considering that he never got anything back I want to know where it went to.

Hopefully it might help me in the fight with the electricity co. We certainly do not mind paying the bill, but not charges and certainly not for anytime that he was not living there.

 

Sorry that this is so long, but I totally, totally appreciate all your help.

 

Eileen

[Esio Trot]

I have now since receiving the replies from all you good people that I will send a letter to the letting co. and ask what happened to my sons deposit. Considering that he never got anything back I want to know where it went to.

Hopefully it might help me in the fight with the electricity co. We certainly do not mind paying the bill, but not charges and certainly not for anytime that he was not living there.

 

If you write to the LA, rather than your son, you may not get any joy. They do not have to account to you - only your son.

[demon_x_slash]

Eileen, you need to SAR the electricity company if they are not forthcoming with a breakdown. Utility companies to the best of my knowledge are not covered by the Consumer Credit Act, so it's no wonder that no credit agreement has been forthcoming.

 

Find out for sure if the DCA is in-house or not. If they are, then the SAR to the utility company will cover it - make it clear that you (your son) are not trying to get out of paying what you owe, but neither will you hand over anything without proof of the debt.

 

If the DCA is external, then you need to ask for proof of ownership. When selling on a debt, the DCA will have received a Deed of Assignment that proves that they have bought the debt from the original company and are legally entitled to chase it.

 

Start with the SAR to the utility company, accompanied by another harassment letter. If they ignore them, then carry out what you threatened to do in the letters - the Information Commissioner for Data Protection, the OFT for debt collection with no proof and harassment.

 

Let us know how you get on.

[eileen58]

Hi Esio Trot when I say that I am going to write to them I actually mean that I am going to write to them on behalf of my son. I do all the work and hopefully I might be able to help him. If you have any family, especially boys you will know how impossible it is to get them to sit down and do anything. It would be a different matter if it was something to do with their x-boxes of ps2.

 

Hi demon x slash, that is very good advise that you have given me so I will now write to the electricity company and ask for a s.a.r. request. Because this is slightly different to asking for statements for a bank account do you think that I have to send them £10.

 

Again I appreciate all the help that you all are giving me.

 

Eileen

[callumsgran]

Eileen, yes sorry you would need to include the £10 it's a statutory payment.

But if you go to court you will get it back

[eileen58]

Thanks Callumsgran I will do that. I just wasn't sure. Didn't want to mess it up.

 

Thanks again Eileen:)

[Guest simhar]

Sounds good advice callumsgran

 

Cheers

 

simhar

[eileen58]

Hi everybody,Sorry its taken so long for me to reply but I have sent a sar request to Scottish Power and guess what they done, they only sold on the debt to Buchan Clark and Wells. I wrote a lovely letter to them and at present they have sent the account back to scottish power. Scottish power have not replied to my sar request so I am at present writing letters to the ICO, OFT, and also energy watch.Can anyone think of anyone else that I can complain to.BCW also increased the amount that my son has to pay them.Do these companies have a legal amount that they can charge. The bill went up by £85.00Thanks for any replies.Eileen

[eileen58]

Hi anyone,Does anyone know if there is a statutory amount that the dca's can charge for chasing a debt, and if they send back the account to scottish gas does the amount go down to the original figure.Thanks Eileen

[eileen58]

Hi Everyone, Just thought that I would update this thread about my sons lecky bill. I eventually had enough of everyone messing me about and I phoned the electricity company and guess what? I got a great lady who was totally shocked at what was happening. Because of her help she got the data contoller to phone me and she apparently could not find any of my letters, but lo and behold they had cashed the p.o. for my sar and put the £10.00 as a payment onto my son's bill.Because they knew that they had messed up, they couldn't do enough for me and the outcome was that instead of my son owing nearly £300, the electricity company actually owed him £25.00So it pays to perservere and hang on in there. If it hadn't been for the help on this forum I would never have got this far. So thank you everyone who helped.Eileen

[poochball]

Excellent result. Well Done