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

Hi ​@Indignant983 ,

Sounds like you’re in a tough spot. Let me summon ​@Nukecad for this.

Bear with us!

Hey ​@Indignant983,

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!

I hope this helps! 

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!

Thank you!

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

Thank you, thank you, thank you ​@Nukecad !

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

Best of luck getting this resolved.

Hey ​@Indignant983,

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!

Glad we could help!

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.

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!