Bailiffs at our empty rental property

Bailiffs at our empty rental property

17:54 PM, 10th June 2015, About 10 years ago 19

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We have a rental property which at present is empty. The previous tenants were issued with a section 21 and owe us 4 months rent. They left on 4th May and we have new tenants moving in this weekend. Bailiffs at our empty rental property

However, my husband went down to check the property today to make sure everything is in order and found firstly that he could not get in the front door (locks changed), and secondly that both the electric and gas meters have been removed. After a lot of investigation we have found out that the energy supplier went in there with a bailiff because the old tenant owed so much money and did this.

Are they legally allowed to do this without informing the owners, we are now left with more cash outlay as to get new meters put in they want a deposit of £375 for the gas and £400 for the electric, plus they can not guarantee that they will be able to do this by Saturday when the new tenants move in.

Any advice on this would be gratefully received.

Thanks

Michele


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Michele Brown

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16:10 PM, 11th June 2015, About 10 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "wayne carson" at "11/06/2015 - 11:13":

Thank you for your comments, I will be requesting the court warrant paperwork and I will take it from there.

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16:14 PM, 11th June 2015, About 10 years ago

Hi - also you could at any unnecessary damage when they forced entry.

Jay James

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17:16 PM, 11th June 2015, About 10 years ago

Are the gas and electric back on?

Is the property now secure and in a rentable condition?

Will the intended tenants still be moving in?

Colin Dartnell

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18:24 PM, 11th June 2015, About 10 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "Michele Brown" at "11/06/2015 - 13:38":

They take the meters away so the debt won't increase, it has nothing to do with the state of the property.

David Marshall

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18:56 PM, 11th June 2015, About 10 years ago

If I were you I would be concentrating on getting the supply re-instated and worrying about the rights and wrongs of the forced entry at a later date.

Depending on your moral compass you may wish to get back in touch with the utility provider and demand that they re-instate the supply (pay the deposit if necessary) on the basis that you have a vulnerable tenant with a 6 month old baby moving in tomorrow. Explain that she has already given notice to leave her previous hostel and will need to move in immediately. They will still take several days to replace the meters but at least your request will be prioritised. Don't worry about no-one being there when the meter fitters turn up. They are sub-contractors who will not know the full details other than that the job has been escalated.

And in all your dealings with the utility provider do not accept at any time that the debt is yours. When they removed the meters your tenants were still responsible for the supply costs at that address.

Michele Brown

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19:22 PM, 11th June 2015, About 10 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "Jay James" at "11/06/2015 - 17:16":

No the gas and electric are not back on and they are telling me the earliest they can do it is Tuesday and that is just the electric, apparently the gas takes longer. They had no need to take the meters or break in as looking through the front window it is obviously not being lived in no furniture etc. The locksmith told us that when they were in they did a walk round the house, so they would know it was totally empty. They are now giving the excuse that they took the meters because they belonged to them, which leaves me wondering, as when you change supplier they don't take meters away and your new supplier put new ones in. We last night opened all the mail that had piled up at the property and the last bill was 1st May, according to details from the Citizen Advice Bureau they then have to give you 28 days after the bill before issuing a disconnection notice, and then another 7 days in writing before disconnection. Considering that they disconnected on 26th May they have not followed this procedure.

Neil Robb

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22:35 PM, 13th June 2015, About 10 years ago

Hi Michelle

Are you aware you have just told the world that you broke the law and could face criminal prosecution.

It is illegal to open the mail unless it is address to the occupier. If there is a name of the tenant then you can not open the mail. It should be returned to sender or sent back not known at this address.

Now the good news I would put a compliant into the energy ombudsman for the actions of the supplier. I had this happen to me several years back the tenant owed £2500 in electric alone.

It was clear the house was vacant yet the still effected entry which then became illegal. As they stated the saw it was an empty house. I did not know what I was doing at the time put in compliant to the company and let it rest there as I prefer my properties to have prepayments meters anyway. Knowing what I know now I would not let it go until I was fully compensated. The used pins into the pvc door frame which caused damage. I would now say this was criminal damage.

Do not pay any deposit fee to get meters back they were wrong to carry on when they saw the house was vacated.

They probably did it so they could collect the fee for changing locks.

Michele Brown

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14:31 PM, 14th June 2015, About 10 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "Neil Robb" at "13/06/2015 - 22:35":

Oh dear no I was not aware that it was illegal, thanks for the advice, we have never done this before, but after the meter removal we felt that we needed to open the mail to see what we were dealing with.

Neil Robb

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19:49 PM, 14th June 2015, About 10 years ago

Hi Michelle

You are among friends hear but you need to be careful.

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