Hi. I just received a letter saying that I am defaulting on my bills. I am a tenant at this house and I dont know who put my name on the bills. I used to send my share to the other tenant but he has moved out and he said he didnt put my name on the bills.
I can not login to OVO to see the details of the bill because i dont know what username and password was used to set it up in my name, or who did it. If i try to setup a new account, it says “Oops, we’ve encountered a problem”
I live in a shared house and all the tenants have to pay their share of the bills, and since only my name is on the letters, i feel like my credit history is being ruined for no reason when I never even setup an account and now that the letters are in my name, I cant login to see the details and split the shares accordingly.
Hi
These ones can be complicated and since
In the meantime, I’d strongly recommend you try 0800 069 9831 to see what you can figure out with OVO.
Hi
The utility bills in shared houses and HMO’s can be tricky to deal with.
Someone has to pay the bills, and somehow everyone has to come to an arrangement of who pays what, which of course can then cause arguments.
(She takes more baths/showers than I do, he leaves his TV on all night, etc, etc).
Been there, done that, the bills were in my name with my agreement.
I shared with 2 others, when I got the bills each quarter I added them up and simply split by 3, we were all content with that despite knowing that we actually used different amounts each.
However your issue is a different one if you did not agree to have the accounts/bills in your name in the first place.
What you describe can and does happen,
Someone has to be responsible for paying the bills at a property, and if nobody has created a new account after the previous bill-payer has left and closed their account then the company can reasonably (legally) associate a known ‘new’ tenants/owners name to the account and bills in such circumstances.
It looks like what has happened here is that a ‘Trace & Collect’ search has found your name associated with the property - and so they have used it for an account/billing.
See this post by Tim_OVO, it’s 2-years old but things haven’t changed:
To quote the relevant bit from that post:
Is it legal? Yes for change of tenancy scenarios, utility companies like energy and water sometimes have to create accounts based on information provided by people other than those actually responsible for the address’s utilities. It should be the landlord/lettings agent, and then the new tenants or owners, that reach out and give dates and readings. Sometimes the old tenant may give details of the new tenant, or the lettings agent does, or ‘ track and trace’. Sometimes a company may just address the bills to ‘the occupier. It’s a bit of guesswork in the absence of concrete information.
I’d suggest that your course of action here is an official complaint to OVO that you have never agreed to be responsible for the bills for what is a shared/HMO property, and that it should be the Landlord, or their Letting Agent, who are responsible and who’s name should be on the account and billing.
You can find OVO’s complaints procedure here: Want to make a complaint?
Some general advice about making any complaint to anyone:
I suggest that you always use email (or letters) for a complaint so that you have a written record of everything that is said and agreed.
(When I’m complaining, etc. to anyone I ususally tell them that I will not discuss or agree anything over the phone it must be in writing, then if they do phone me I repeat that and refuse to talk to them).
You are understandably annoyed at whatever has happened, that’s why you are complaining, however:
Don’t rush things, type a draft but don’t send it, leave it at least a few hours before reading it again and correcting it and/or adding things you have thought of now you have calmed down a bit.
Don’t indulge in ‘getting it off your chest’, name calling, or even abusive language.
Just state the facts of what has happened, and what you now want them to do about it to put things right.
Don’t go rambling off at tangents that might confuse things, stick to the facts of your current complaint.
Keep things calm, polite, and to the point, and you will get further, faster, than having a rant does.
(Also remember that sometimes complaints can escalate to the Ombudsman, or even all the way to a court, and anything that you have said and/or written may become evidence).
Hey
Sorry to hear about this but I’m really glad a couple of our volunteers have already stopped by with some perfect advice here. Contacting our Support Team and raising a complaint will help in this case.
We have another topic similar to this which may also be helpful, but please do follow Nukecad’s advice here as they’re always spot on with these:
Keep us updated with how you get on.
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