VERASTAR/CLEAR BUSINESS WATER/Ascent Legal SPC Claim - Water Supply

[miapia]

hi there

 

can anyone help with some problems regarding water charges on my commercial property.

i am based in glasgow and have been summoned under small claims for an amount of £1000.

 

Clear business water claims that i owe them water rates from july 2018 to present day.

 

I am the landlord and had no previous knowledge that a water meter had been fitted in the property.

The previous tenant left on july 2018 and the building was empty until october 2019.

 

They are stating that it is a deemed contract and that i am liable for the full amount.

i have stated previous times that i did not agree for this meter to be fitted therefore i am not liable for payment.

 

My new tenant moved in october 2019 and has tried to change suppliers but they will not allow them to until the bill is paid.

 

Can anyone give me advice on how best to proceed and if i have a case at all?

 

many thanks

maria

[honeybee13]

Hi.

 

I've moved your thread to the Utilities forum as you posted in the local authorities one. People should be along to advise later or over the weekend.

 

HB

[dx100uk]

you mean you've received a simple procedure Claim?

 

 

[miapia]

hi dx100uk.

 

yes a simple procedure notice of claim

[dx100uk]

thankyou

please complete this:

 

 

[miapia]

hi again

 

do you want me to fill in the form and post it to forum? sorry not used to this

 

Would you know if i am liable for this or is there someway i can find out if im not. thanks 

[dx100uk]

Read the instructions there please..

We need the Q&A's here

[miapia]

ok thank you. will post in reply tomorrow. thanks again for your help

[dx100uk]

what is the date you must respond by please?

[miapia]

last date for service is 31/01/2020

last date for a response is 21/02/2020

[dx100uk]

Good .

 

no immediate rush then

[miapia]

thank you will post the other information tomorrow

[miapia]

name the issuing court:   SHERIFF COURT GLASGOW

 

Who Is The Claimant:   VERASTAR LIMITED T/A CLEAR BUSINESS WATER, LONGLEY HOUSE, LONGLEY LANE ,MANCHESTER M22 4SY

 

Who Are the Solicitors:  ASCENT LEGAL SCOTLAND ASVE01.000211

 

What type of action? (Simple/Ordinary):  SIMPLE

 

What is the claim for –

 

1.THE CLAIMANT CLAIMS FROM THE RESPONDENT THE SUM OF £1053.07 IN RESPECT OF A WATER SUPPLY TO (ADDRESS SUPPLIED) WHICH STARTED ON 30 JULY 2018 AND IS CURRENTLY LIVE AND CONTINUES TO ACCRUE CHARGES.

 

2.THE CLAIMANT ALSO CLAIMS INTEREST UNDER THE LATE PAYMENT OF COMMERCIAL DEBTS (INTEREST) ACT 1998 OF 8% ABOVE THE BANK OF ENGLAND BASE RATE UNTIL 25 SEPTMEBER 2019 IN THE SUM OF £4.60 AND COMPENSATION ARISING FROM LATE PAYMENT UNDER SECTION 5A OF THE LATE PAYMENT OF COMMERCIAL DEBTS (INTEREST) ACT 1998 IN THE SUM OF £40.00

 

3.DESPITE REPEATED REQUESTS FOR PAYMENT THE RESPONDENT HAS FAILED TO MAKE PAYMENT AND THIS ACTION IS ACCORDINGLY NECESSARY.

 

date of raised claim [or court stamp date from writ] :-SHERIFF CLERK, GLASGOW LODGED 17 DECEMBER 2019

 

Last Date Of Service [or from form 07]:- 31/01/2020

 

Last Date For Response [or from form 07]:- 21/02/2020

 

What Documents are listed in Box E2:[or in your form requesting the same?]  LETTER, INVOICE(S)

 

Is the claim for ......an Overdraft, credit card, loan account, HP Agreement, Catalogue or mobile phone debt? :- Water Utils

 

 

BOX D5 what has the claimant stated: IN FULL or [Pleas in law from the writ]

 

I WANT THE COURT TO ORDER THE RESPONDENT TO PAY ME THE SUM OF:-

1. £1053.07 WITH INTEREST THEREON AT THE RATE OF 8% ABOVE THE BANK OF SCOTLAND BASE RATE FROM THE DATE OF SERVICE UNTIL FULL PAYMENT

2. £4.60

3. £40.00

4. EXPENSES OF THE ACTION

…..

 

from your knowledge: answer the following:

 

When did you enter into the original agreement before or after 2007? AFTER 2007. ALTHOUGH I DID NOT ENTER AN AGREEMENT

 

Has the claim been issued by the original creditor or was the account assigned and it is the Debt purchaser who has issued the claim.:- ORIGINAL CREDITOR

 

Were you aware the account had been assigned – did you receive a Notice of Assignment? NO

 

Did you receive a Default Notice from the original creditor? NO

 

Have you been receiving statutory notices headed “Notice of Default sums” – at least once a year ? NO

 

When was you last payment:- NEVER PAID ANYTHING TO ACCOUNT AS I DID NOT TAKE OUT THE CONTRACT

 

Why did you cease payments:-

 

Was there a dispute with the original creditor that remains unresolved? YES

 

Did you communicate any financial problems to the original creditor and make any attempt to enter into a debt management plan? NO

 

What you need to do now.

hi these are the details that have been sent

 

im just looking at section c1 ABOUT FORMAL SERVICE WHO FORMALLY SERVED THIS NOTICE OF CLAIM

DATE OF FORMAL SERVICE WAS 30/12/19

[dx100uk]

as the landlord, by default, out with a tenant in place, you will be liable for the usage (prob not much?) and the standing charge (the sum of the claim I expect).

 

unless anyone knows diff my immediate thoughts are go for a time to pay order.

 

 

[miapia]

thanks for that dx.

they say it was a deemed contract and the water meter is not metered meaning no readings have ever been taken.

 

[dx100uk]

well by deemed they mean by default ...it falls to you as you had no tenant for the period.

and yes any usage is tiny but there is the standing charge to deal with, and on going.

 

as I said I cant see a way out for you..make things easier and a bit cheaper by admitting 

there should be a time to pay section in the form.

 

see what other thing 1st

you've not got to respond for almost a month yet.

[miapia]

thanks dx. think your right might have to go for paying it up. ive had a new tenant in since september 2019 so they will have to pay from then. really annoying that they can get away with this. daylight robbery backed up by legislation

[dx100uk]

well you need to provide proof of tenant since xyz date , wont be much off the debt

but it will halt the running interest to that date alone.

[miapia]

thanks i will do that. so i just send off for time to pay to the courts? al have a look. thanks for your advice its been really helpful

[dx100uk]

well don't take my word for things

there plenty of time before the response date for others to help

 

and ofcourse time for you to investigate things like the deemed contract etc etc

 

I wrote a sticky thread sometime back here

there's a link to the Scottish law courts there.

you can drill around the info sheets as there is bound to be one that cover filling in the time to pay section

 

dx

[RMJ]

Hi

You might find some useful information about Clear Business / Verastar on these sites

 

Clear Business have been investigated by the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman many times in 2019 and some of the cases may be familiar to your own

https://www.spso.org.uk/search/node/%22Clear%20Business%20Water%22

 

The information on these web sites about Clear Business might be useful and they may be able to give you the relevant information

http://unaccountablescotland.org.uk/index.php/water-charges/83-clear-business-on-gaps

http://unaccountablescotland.org.uk/

 

Verastar were originally known as Unicom but they changed their name to Verastar a few weeks after Unicom was fined £200,000 by Ofcom for miss-selling.  Clear Business was acquired by Verastar shortly afterwards.  This web site was set up to try and provide information to Verastar customers who are having problems www.unicom-complaints.co.uk

Hope this helps

[dx100uk]

particularly with regard to these:

 

https://www.spso.org.uk/search/node/"Clear Business Water"

 

I think I revise my advice to go for a time to pay order...

 

dx

 

[miapia]

Hi thanks very much for all the information. Im going to go through it all see what can be done. 

Will let yous know if i find anything that i can use.

 

another aspect which ive picked up on is that Clear business water had sent correspondence which seemed to be from a debt collection agency. it was in fact from cbw in house debt collectors. this may have been to intimidate.

 

the report cited in its recommendations

 

What we said should change to put things right in future:

• Any correspondence from Universal Debt Collections must make it clear that they are not a licensed debt collector, they must make it clear that they are an internal department of CBW's parent organisation and they must provide accurate information about CBW's debt recovery process.

 

ive just read on the spso thread about a case whereby the landlord did not know about a meter being installed

 

. i did not know that clear business water had installed on the property and they did not notify me. it was a previous tenant that had got it installed.

i wonder if this would be relevant to my case?

 

We listened to a call between CBW and the representative of the landlord and were not of the view that consent was given to install a bulk meter, only that CBW could arrange for an initial survey into the matter.

 

We noted that they had not notified Mr C when the account was created and this was something they were required to do under The Market Code.

 

We also found that CBW failed to advise Mr C in initial correspondence that they were billing under The Deemed Contract Scheme where the scheme requires this to be clearly identified to customers.

 

Overall, we found that while the charges were technically correct and liable, the communication from CBW had been poor.

 

We found that the account did not have the authority of the landlord to be created as they did not approve the installation of the bulk meter. Therefore, we upheld this complaint.

[dx100uk]

Thats useful

 

Dx

[miapia]

yes it is quite useful.