Hello all,
I joined yesterday and this is my first post. 😊
I am a first-time landlord. I bought my flat as my home, and had to rent it out when my work situation suddenly changes.
Unfortunately, my first tenant is a rogue tenant (who passed all the checks by the letting agent… Advice needed for proofing it’s the agent's mistake!). He used my property as Airbnb (I only knew this at eviction) and did not pay any rent from the second month. I went through court possession to evict him.
I suffered a few months to emotionally let go of the 10k rent arrears. What is worse, after I got my property back, I found bills in my name. It turned out the tenant did not register with any utility companies.
The largest bill (2k pounds) is from a company called Welcome Energy. It supplies heat and hot water for the whole building.
What is worse, it is not regulated by Ofgem.
I rented the flat out in the second month after I bought it. I wasn’t aware that there is a hot water provider in my flat apart from water bill and electricity bill. I never heard of the company, and I did not even have an account with the company.
As soon as I realized the tenant tried escape the bill, I contacted the company and emailed my rental agreement, which specified that it’s the tenant’s duty to pay for utility bills. The firm told me that I am responsible for the bill because the tenant did not open an account with them.
What argument shall I use to negotiate with the company?
For the rogue tenant, I used HCE Group to evict and collect the debt. I provided the tenant’s passport, NI number, bank statement to HCE Group but it failed to track him. Does anyone know any good tracing company? I hate to think that this person can escape having a CCJ on his file.
Many thanks for your time reading my post!
