When a tenant moves into a property, landlords have an obligation to inform the utility companies (gas and electric) about their tenant’s identity, so if the tenant subsequently does a moonlight flit leaving unpaid bills behind, the utility company has a record of who they are and is in a good position to trace them. At the moment, however, this is not the case with water companies and there is currently estimated to be around £1.6 billion of water debt caused by absconding tenants. The water companies are becoming increasingly fed up with this state of affairs and the Government’s Environment Minister has now decided to look at ways to tackle the problem in a bid to reduce the water debt.
One suggestion put forward is to make landlords legally responsible for passing on information about tenants to the water company, with the alternative being to adopt a more voluntary approach and hope that landlords do the necessary.
This might seem like a pain if you are a landlord with a high turnover of tenants, but it is in everyone’s interests to try and reduce the water debt left behind by irresponsible tenants. A great deal of debt has been written off thus far, but the water companies have to recoup their losses somehow, and inevitably this leads to price hikes across the board — which affect all of us.
What can landlords do to help?
Always inform the utility companies (including the water company) about a change in tenants at any of your properties and include personal details and a forwarding address if possible.
