Being chased for debt, but it's a house-share and the Landlord is liable?

I am looking for advice regarding a very stressful situation with OVO Energy.

I recently received an email from OVO Energy stating that an account has been created in my name and that I am responsible for paying £3,099. I have never agreed to open this account, and OVO has not provided any evidence that I was the account holder or that I was responsible for the energy supply.

We moved out of the property in December 2024, and we have already submitted a confirmation letter from our landlord confirming that we vacated the property and moved to a new address from that date. Despite this, OVO says this evidence is “not enough” and continues to hold me responsible for the debt.

As far as I know, my name was never on the OVO Energy account. The only reason they have given is that a letter with my name was found at the property, which does not prove that I opened or was

responsible for the energy account.

To make matters worse, we keep being passed between different departments. OVO tells us to contact the credit recovery team, the credit recovery team tells us to contact the enforcement team, and the enforcement team sends us back to OVO. No one is taking responsibility or providing clear evidence to support their claim.

This has caused us a great deal of stress and anxiety over a debt that we genuinely believe we do not owe.

Has anyone experienced a similar situation? What should our next step be? Should we make a formal complaint, contact the Energy Ombudsman (if eligible), or seek advice from a solicitor? Any guidance would be greatly appreciated.

Were you ever an OVO customer at your previous address? (Incidentally, how do they have your email address if you have not had an account with them?)

If you were not with OVO, then I assume that you have received a final bill closing the account from whatever energy supplier you did have a contract with at that address. This should, normally, be received by 6 weeks after you closed the account.

Have you received an itemised account from OVO showing why they think that you owe this money?

Has this debt been passed to a recovery company or is it still being dealt with by OVO?

We never created an account with OVO Energy. We were living in a shared tenancy where all utility bills were included in the rent, and we moved out on 8 December 2024.

The charges OVO is claiming are for the period January 2025 to May 2025, after we had already left the property.

When we first received an email from OVO saying we owed money, we replied explaining that we had never opened an account with them and believed the email was a scam.

Later, we found out that OVO had obtained our details through a letter left at the property and a credit reference agency. They then created an account in our names without our knowledge and made us responsible for the debt.

A few days later, we received a letter from a debt collection agency stating that they have a court order and may take enforcement action, including collecting our belongings. This has been extremely stressful.

We have provided a tenancy confirmation letter from our new landlord showing that we moved into a different property on 8 December 2024, as well as bank statements from December to support this. However, OVO says this evidence is not sufficient.

We feel like they are simply trying to make someone responsible for a debt that is not ours. We are new to the UK and cannot afford to pay for someone else’s mistake.

Has anyone experienced something similar or can anyone advise what we should do next? Any guidance would be greatly appreciated.

 That sounds extremely unlikely, (but unlikely things do happen).

For a debt collection agency to get a court order against you they would need to have strong proof to put before a judge.

However debt collection agency letters do threaten that they will get a court order, usually in strong terms, but it is generally just a threat because without proof no competent judge would issue such a court order.

You may want to have a read of this article which covers what to do if you are getting collection agency letters about an alleged debt at a previous property that you have left:

Hey ​@Litty1234567 

Sorry to hear about this, though I’m glad to see a couple of our community members have already stopped by with some helpful advice here.

I would recommend, if you’ve not done so already, to open a complaint about this. 

We’d need something that shows both a tenancy start and end date, along side the confirmation which I imagine mentions that the utility bills were included in the rent. Something like a Council Tax bill would also be helpful here. 

If utilities were included, we’d have expected the landlord to have had an account to pay for the energy. Have you spoken with the landlord from then about this at all? They might be able to help provide further documentation in support.

It does sound like this was picked up via trace and search via that letter, you can find out more about that in the topic below:

Do let us know how you get on with this.

Hey ​@Indignant983,

I'm really sorry to hear about the stress this situation has caused you. I can relate as I went through something similar when my flatmates moved on and I wasn’t quite ready to rent a place by myself. So, I decided to rent a room in a HMO with all the bills included. One of the other tenants "handled rent and bills" with the landlord, and thankfully, I only had to stick it out for six months. While my experience wasn’t as tough as what you’ve described, I truly admire you for sharing your story; there are definitely others who can relate.

I’m wishing you all the best with your future living arrangements and your therapy. I really hope it helps you find what you need to move forward. If you ever have questions or just want to chat, our forum is always here for you!