I am due to move into a new house in two days time. I have had money taken out of my bank account from Boost but i don’t have an account with them. I will be contacting my bank once the payment comes out of pending, to say this is unauthorised. I believe it may have been set up by the housing agent without my authority. Can they do this? Can Boost set up an account without my consent and without sending me any paperwork or account information? Unfortunately due to it being Saturday i can’t contact the housing agent or Boost as it’s now after 5pm.
Answer
Boost account set up without authorisation? Could it have been the housing agent?
Best answer by Firedog
This must be disconcerting for you. However, taking a pragmatic view of the situation, if the house has been fitted with a prepayment meter, it might have been awkward to move in and have to spend time trying to find out how to get the power switched on. If the meter has been topped up by this underhand procedure, you may find that it’s in fact been quite convenient.
You should check for any mention of this arrangement in the tenancy agreement - there certainly should be. And of course, you should take meter readings the moment you move in; you can’t be held accountable for any usage before then. If there has been any - e.g. if the housing agent had cleaners in for a final hoover before handing the property over - that would be for their account, not yours.
A new build will most probably have a modern smart meter which can easily be switched from prepayment to credit mode if you’d rather not have the hassle of topping-up. This will presumably all become clear once you’ve moved in.
You may find that a knee-jerk reaction to this unexpected development may not be the best approach.
- Plan Zero Hero
The housing agent may think that they are doing you a favour by ensuring that you have a supply set up when you move in.
That's wrong and they shouldn't do that, but there might be various reasons why they would. (Some nice reasons to help people who struggle with such stuff - but some concern as well. ie pretending to be you).
You can always change supplier once the supply is in your name.
As for the billing I have no Idea - but as I understand it Boost is pre-payment only so they should not be charging any bill to your bank because with pre-pay you buy energy in advance.
It may be that the last tenant had a debt to pay off and that has somehow been wrongly transferred to you as a ‘Final Bill’ for the previous tenant.
I'd cancel the payment with your bank ASAP and then work with Boost from there to find out just what is going on.
Thank you for your input.
It is concerning that this energy supplier is pay as you go. I have looked into everything i can to try and find out about them. It would suggest to me that something has been topped up.
The house i am moving into is a new build, built for private renters with a ‘professional corporate landlord’. I had to pay a holding deposit initially which is the only time they have had access to my bank details. It certainly doesn’t give them authority to pass my details on to set up an energy account i would have thought.
It doesn’t help that my bank don’t want me to contact them until the payment is fully cleared from the current status of pending. Even though the money has already been taken.
Needless to say, I’m worried sick and can’t do anything until Monday most likely.
- Plan Zero Hero
- Answer
This must be disconcerting for you. However, taking a pragmatic view of the situation, if the house has been fitted with a prepayment meter, it might have been awkward to move in and have to spend time trying to find out how to get the power switched on. If the meter has been topped up by this underhand procedure, you may find that it’s in fact been quite convenient.
You should check for any mention of this arrangement in the tenancy agreement - there certainly should be. And of course, you should take meter readings the moment you move in; you can’t be held accountable for any usage before then. If there has been any - e.g. if the housing agent had cleaners in for a final hoover before handing the property over - that would be for their account, not yours.
A new build will most probably have a modern smart meter which can easily be switched from prepayment to credit mode if you’d rather not have the hassle of topping-up. This will presumably all become clear once you’ve moved in.
You may find that a knee-jerk reaction to this unexpected development may not be the best approach.
- Plan Zero Hero
I agree that the agent may have put credit onto the meter as a ‘favour’ so that you have electricity when you move in.
It can be a PITA moving into a property and finding that the electricity (and gas) are off and it will be a few days before you can get them back on.*
However unless that arrangement is in your terms with them they they shouldn’t really have done that without asking you first.
As long as the money ha been/is being taken to pre-pay for energy that you will be using then you are not losing out.
But check your agreement terms, not just the Tenancy Agreement itself but also your terms with the agency - you may find that you have agreed to it happening.
ie. That you may have agreed to them acting as your agents to set up an energy supply for you.
Personally it seems odd to me to have pre-payment meters from the start in a new build, but that could be because they were built as rentals and so that the new tenants are in no doubt that they are responsible for paying for their own energy use.
Maybe your ‘professional corporate landlord’ has been stung in the past by other tenants elswehere defaulting on their bills?
*As an idea of what I mean - When I got my current flat (which doesn’t have pre-pay meters) I signed up with an energy supplier that day but it took 4 days to get fully on supply. Fortunately I had the tenancy and keys for 2 weeks before I actually moved in so there was time for me to do that.
I said, Hey - Watts going on.
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