Opening a New Energy Account Without Previous Tenant’s Debt

Yes, you can. You are not responsible for the bills for the period before you move in (sign a rent contract). Just make sure you create your account on the first day.

Thanks! Just one more piece of information: I’ve already signed the contract as I’ve moved into the tenancy, but the previous tenant is still in the process of moving out. The contract is shared among multiple occupants in the house, so their name will remain on the contract for the first couple of months until someone else moves in to replace them. It’s a shared house contract.

Oh, I guess it’s a different story. My suggestion was related to the case when you are the only person responsible for the bill. As ​@BPLightlog said, it’s when they move out and you move in, so there is their final reading and your start point. I’m not sure how to do in your case. And how are planning to create your account when their is still active for a couple of months?

Can I ask them to close their account so I can open a new one in my name? as I need this sorted before they move out.

So this is a shared house /  HMO where one of the tenants is responsible for paying the bills for all the sharers.

And the other sharers who will be staying want you, someone new who they don’t even know, to take on responsibility for the bills.

I know that housing is difficult to find but I would not be considering doing that at all.

Ask yourself a few simple questions -
Why is the current utility account in debt - is it because the other housemates haven’t been contributing their fair share?
Have they been contributing anything at all?
Why is the current bill payer leaving? Oh. wait a minute:
Are they leaving? They are still there and you only have their word that they are leaving.

I need this sorted before they move out.

Even if they are leaving then one thing that I would strongly stress is that the account is currently in that persons name, they are responsible for paying the bills and for any debit that has built up on the account.
Any need to sort this out is their need, it is not your need.

Have you even moved in yet?
You say that you have signed a contract but from your description it doesn’t sound like anything that could possibly be a legal Tenancy Agreement.

Sorry but to me it sounds as if you are being set up as a mug to pay their bills for them so that they don’t have to pay anything and then you will be the one left with a debt.

Hi ​@alisa imam 

I’ve been working for OVO for some time and have seen some weird and wonderful home-moves situations. I’ll try and shed some further light on this for you. ​@costeek has correctly advised:

You are not responsible for the bills for the period before you move in (sign a rent contract). Just make sure you create your account on the first day.

One thing to remember is this - debt is tied to people, not properties. If you’ve just moved in, you won’t be responsible for any of the previous debt. My personal advice would be to set up a new account in your name, which will start from a zero balance. We can then add any other tenants’ names to that account. The previous account will then be finalled, and the debt will will remain on that account, under the named account holder(s), and we will organise payment of the debt with them.

You’ll of course need to have some discussions around this with the current tenants and maybe even the Landlord. When you’re ready, contact us on 0330 303 5063. Make sure all the other tenants are there with you, and we can speak to everyone to come to the best conclusion as to how to set the new account up.

I hope this helps, and please don’t worry about any debt. If we set a new account up in your name you’ll only pay us for energy used going forward. The tenants liable for the previous debt can continue to pay the debt off through a seperate Direct Debit, for example.