Moved into HMO in January 2025. We pay our bills through our rent.
Following the advice online, I sent all mail to previous tenants back with a sticker reading "return to sender, addressee no longer here," or similar.
Saturday 27th September we get a visitor at the door who leaves us a letter saying the previous tenant owes almost £2k. Housemate 1 explained the previous tenant hasn't lived here since before January.
Monday 29th Housemate 2 calls to confirm what Housemate 1 said.
Saturday 4th October, another letter, which I open even though it's addressed to previous tenant. Letter says this is a final notice, and someone could show up and install a PAYG meter with the £2k already applied, so we would have to cough up that amount before even being able to use electricity.
I send OVO an email saying absolutely not, this is not our debt. Get an automatic email back saying, "your email address isn't linked to any account so we can't reply to your email." I forward the email to OVO's lettings email address.
5.30pm this evening I get an email, "because your email address isn't registered to any account we can't reply to your email, but you can call us between 9am and 5pm."
I am fed up.
We do not owe this money. The previous tenant does. We are not liable. We've been letting OVO know for MONTHS that the tenant isn't here any more. Housemate 1 was ignored. Housemate 2 was ignored. And now I am being ignored.
What are our rights if someone shows up at the door and tries to install a PAYG meter? Can we call the police for trespass?
As far as I'm concerned, if they try to get us to pay the debt by forcing us onto a PAYG meter then this is illegal. I am very close to contacting the authorities and the press already since this has been dealt with so atrociously by OVO.
Our letting agents are aware of this AND all the other debts from previous tenants we are now discovering since we started opening their post since using "return to sender" has gotten us bupkis.
Best answer by Nukecad
Updated on 15/10/25 by Ben_OVO
hi @Indignant983
As Chris_OVO has already pointed out -
If you are paying for the bills 'inclusive' in your rent then the energy account is currently in your Landlords (or their letting agents) name and nothing to do with the tenants.
PS. It may not have been 'All Inclusive' in the past which could be how a previous tenant could have run up a debt. Indeed your landlord may have changed to all inclusive to try and prevent that happening again. (You are sure it was a previous tenant and this isn't simply a case of the landlord not paying the bills? There are some pretty dodgy landlords out there).
Your landlord/letting agents should be dealing with this and not you tenants. That is (one reason, there may be others) why you are getting nowhere with contacting OVO - you are not the account holder for the property, your landlord (or their agent) is the account holder. OVO will only deal with the account holder.
The next question would be are these letters originating from OVO themselves or from a Debt Collection Agency. That makes a difference in how your landlord will need to deal with them. If they are coming from a Debt Collector then the LL will have to deal with the DC and not OVO.
Fair enough - IF (and it's a big IF) a PAYG meter was to be installed then that would be a bigger problem for you as HMO tenants.
However that is highly unlikely to happen, despite what any letter says "could" happen. They are pro-forma, standard, letters and by the stage they are up to they are deliberately worded to make them sound pretty threatening.
To be able to fit a PAYG meter against the customers will then the company has to take reasonable steps to recover by other methods first. Fitting a PAYG meter to recover a previous tenants debt from the current tenants is in no way reasonable. (Particularly if the current tenants are ‘All Inclusive’). The energy company also need to get a Court Warrant to access the property without permission in order to be able to change the meter. Before granting such a warrant the court should satisfy themselves that among other things the person who owes the debt is still living in the property and still liable to pay for the ongoing energy supply.
In the end though the energy supply account at the property is not yours; it is your landlords responsibility to deal with this problem.
The only thing that you can do as tenants is badger your landlord to get this sorted out with the supplier or Debt Collector, whichever one is sending the letters
Could you please clarify your earlier message? You mentioned, “We pay our bills through our rent,” which suggests that your landlord is responsible for paying the bills and charging each tenant the agreed-upon rent along with their share of the bills. However, you also mentioned that a former tenant has accumulated an outstanding energy bill. I’m not sure how that could happen if the landlord oversees the account.
Could you share a bit more context about this situation? If your landlord is currently managing the rent and has allowed a balance to build up, it’s possible that you won’t be able to stop the installation of a pay-as-you-go (PAYG) meter. However, if your tenancy agreement gives you control over the property and the energy accounts, you have the option to challenge that decision. You can even set up a new account in your name with a zero balance, which means the debt will stay with the previous tenant. By the way, we have a great article by Nukecad that dives deeper into the debt collection process, and I’ll link it below for you!
You mentioned, “We pay our bills through our rent,” which suggests that your landlord is responsible for paying the bills and charging each tenant the agreed-upon rent along with their share of the bills.
Sorry for not being clearer, this whole situation has me stressed out. Our bills are included as part of our rent, so the letting agent pays for utilities, which is why none of us have a utility bill as proof of residence.
However, you also mentioned that a former tenant has accumulated an outstanding energy bill. I’m not sure how that could happen if the landlord oversees the account.
I don't know if it's even the same letting agency or homeowner though. I don't know the homeowner's name, everything we do is through the agency. All I know is the letting agents say they don't recognise the name of any of the people that have run up previous debts, including this £2k for OVO.
If your landlord is currently managing the rent and has allowed a balance to build up, it’s possible that you won’t be able to stop the installation of a pay-as-you-go (PAYG) meter.
But we as new tenants still shouldn't be held responsible for the £2k debt, surely?
However, if your tenancy agreement gives you control over the property and the energy accounts, you have the option to challenge that decision.
Unfortunately, we don't, the letting agents pay our bills, all we send them is rent which includes money for bills, but I don't even know how much of the rent is 'rent' and how much of the rent is 'bills.'
By the way, we have a great article by Nukecad that dives deeper into the debt collection process, and I’ll link it below for you!
If you are paying for the bills 'inclusive' in your rent then the energy account is currently in your Landlords (or their letting agents) name and nothing to do with the tenants.
PS. It may not have been 'All Inclusive' in the past which could be how a previous tenant could have run up a debt. Indeed your landlord may have changed to all inclusive to try and prevent that happening again. (You are sure it was a previous tenant and this isn't simply a case of the landlord not paying the bills? There are some pretty dodgy landlords out there).
Your landlord/letting agents should be dealing with this and not you tenants. That is (one reason, there may be others) why you are getting nowhere with contacting OVO - you are not the account holder for the property, your landlord (or their agent) is the account holder. OVO will only deal with the account holder.
The next question would be are these letters originating from OVO themselves or from a Debt Collection Agency. That makes a difference in how your landlord will need to deal with them. If they are coming from a Debt Collector then the LL will have to deal with the DC and not OVO.
Fair enough - IF (and it's a big IF) a PAYG meter was to be installed then that would be a bigger problem for you as HMO tenants.
However that is highly unlikely to happen, despite what any letter says "could" happen. They are pro-forma, standard, letters and by the stage they are up to they are deliberately worded to make them sound pretty threatening.
To be able to fit a PAYG meter against the customers will then the company has to take reasonable steps to recover by other methods first. Fitting a PAYG meter to recover a previous tenants debt from the current tenants is in no way reasonable. (Particularly if the current tenants are ‘All Inclusive’). The energy company also need to get a Court Warrant to access the property without permission in order to be able to change the meter. Before granting such a warrant the court should satisfy themselves that among other things the person who owes the debt is still living in the property and still liable to pay for the ongoing energy supply.
In the end though the energy supply account at the property is not yours; it is your landlords responsibility to deal with this problem.
The only thing that you can do as tenants is badger your landlord to get this sorted out with the supplier or Debt Collector, whichever one is sending the letters
I tried calling OVO a few minutes ago, but because I'm not the account holder I got nowhere.
Also, there was so much noise of other conversations in the background I could barely hear what the representative was saying. I'm autistic so phone calls are challenging for me at the best of times, but when I can hear several other people talking in the background it's massively stressful. Hence why I was desperately hoping to get all of this sorted over email.
I'm still worried in case someone shows up at the door, but I'll trust what you say, that the 'threat' is probably just because of the template letter. I've dealt with debt collectors before and it is such a stressful experience, especially when it feels like no one is listening to you while you try to sort it out.
I'll get back in touch with my letting agents to put some pressure on, and I'll try not to worry. How is it not even lunchtime and I'm ready for a nap?
Yes dealing with debt collectors can be stressfull.
It gets less so once you realise that it’s nothing personal and that although the laguage used in the letters is deliberately tough and semi-agressive it’s mostly bluff and bluster.
The big change comes when you get to realise just who it is that you need to deal with. Many people make the mistake of trying to deal with the creditor when they need to be dealing with the Debt collector.
It’s still stressfull, but because you know what steps you need to target, and most improtantly who to target them at. then it’s less stress.
Have a read of that advice thread i did, Chris posted a link above.
In your case you need to target your Landlord/Agent as the responsible account holder. The supplier or any debt collector will not engage with you in any meaningful or useful way.
Personally I would bypass the agent and go straight for the Landlord, they are more likely to act if you mither them directly. It’s even possible that your landlord knows nothing about this situation if the Agent has not been passing things on to them
Thank you so much for clearing that up for us! It’s really helpful, and I’m sorry to hear how stressful this situation has been for you. I understand what you’re going through since I’ve lived in a similar HMO setup before, with a private landlord who wasn't the easiest to deal with, so I empathise with your challenges.
I want to reassure you that the debt isn’t yours to worry about; you and the other tenants shouldn’t be held responsible for it. Your landlord or agent should be taking care of that. We have dedicated teams that manage “partnership accounts,” which means they engage with landlords and estate agents as if they were your personal customers. I think OVO might not be able to discuss this with you directly unless you’re able to take control over the billing and energy for the property. It could be helpful if you pass along any letters you receive to your agent and share your concerns about the enforcement letters.
As Nukecad pointed out, we would only reach a more serious stage after trying less intrusive options first. We really want to avoid any drastic measures!
Keep communicating with your agent, as I believe they signed a lease or rental agreement with you, giving you some legal ground. If you have a copy, it might be a good idea to review the sections related to billing to see what they say.
Do keep us posted, and we’re here to help you with any advice or support you need!
Thank you @Chris_OVO , I am mostly reassured that it will be ok. It's very difficult when you're receiving sinister letters that you can't seem to get support with, so this forum has been the lifeline I needed. I wish I could get all three of you a cookie or something to say thanks.
Hopefully I won't have to update, other than to celebrate the situation being sorted out!
We sadly don’t have much of a tip jar, but we appreciate the thought. As someone who’s Autistic myself, I can understand how you’re feeling.
With that being said… If you do take control of the supply, OVO can add flags to your account via the Priority Services Register regarding the Autism that’ll make things easier. One of the things it can do is re-route most of your calls to a different team. I find it cuts down wait times by around 99% and the team who deals with me have gotten to know me pretty well. There’s no extra charge for this - simply request it via Priority Services Register and it gets enabled fairly quickly.
Definitely worth exploring if you ever get your own account.
But yeah, we’ll always be around if ya ever need us! :D
@Indignant983 I’m sorry to hear what’s happened here, and I hope your landlord can sort this out soon for you. Just so you know, I’ve moved this post out of the ‘Pay As You Go’ section and into the ‘My Account’ section of the Forum. it’s a really useful post so I wanted to make sure its targeted to the right area.
We’ve seen this sort of thing happen multiple times with shared occupancy rentals. It might be worth suggesting to the landlord that the energy bills are handled by yourselves. To confirm, if you were to set up an account in your name, then all of the previous debt would be final billed to the current account holder (presumably the landlord, who’d have to sort it out between themself and the previous tenant). You’d then have a new account set up in your name (we could put all tenants’ names on the account) and the account would not include any debt from the previous tenants.
As @Nukecad has rightly said though, the debt won’t actually apply to you anyway if you’re not the account holder - it will apply to the name of whoever is the account holder.
I hope this helps, and please do let us know if you’ve got any further questions.
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