Water and electric want me to chase last owners for outstanding bills

Hi Francesco,

Wecome to the forum.

Are you just talking about the water bill or also electricity and did you have the former owner read and sign both meters when buying the property?

It sounds as if you are being held ransom for someone elses debts.Did you talk to the pre-owner about the bill ?

We actually have the same situation but the bills in the name of the former owner who is dead keep on arriving here. ARMs threaten to turn off everything. I just pass the letters on to our landlord who , so far, has not resolved the issue ( ie he has not paid either). We still have electricity and water -))).He bought the place amd the utilities are in his name.

So I would talk to the former owner and if he does not agree to pay his usage I would take it to a lawyer immediatly.

Regards
Ricky

You should speak to your lawyer you used when purchasing your property. If you didn't use a lawyer, speak to your notary.

I wouldn't panic. Yes you need to resolve it (and if you can't get any satisfaction with the previous owner, time to speak to your lawyer who was involved in the purchase) , but enemalta was recently in the news for letting someone accrue 7 years worth of unpaid bills and they were STILL getting power and water.

I know it's not a useful comment but all I am thinking is that this could happen only in Malta 

I believe that the form requires 2 signatures by the old owner. One for the transfer and one to confirm that the bills to-date will be paid by him. Similarly you also sign both times.

It might be better to review the forms that you signed in detail.

There seems to be some confusion in terminology. Francesco is saying he is the owner of his place ( therefore he bought it) Ricky is talking about his situation being the same but he has a landlord? The two situations are very different, because Ricky can pass the problem on to the landlord but Francesco is his own landlord and therefor can't really duck the issue. This raises another question though - when one rents a property in Malta is there a formal 'closure' of the previous bill from the utilites supplier or is everything just taken on trust that you will only be charged from the time you moved in - even if it's not a calender month end? We haven't moved to Malta yet so we need to know (it sounds similar the 'barking dogs' proviso that is suggested in a newly signed lease)

Hi,

I was meaning that the situation is similar for our landlord and Francesco in both being confronted with unpaid bills from the past owners.

Of course I myself can just pass the bills and reminders on to our landlord and hope that he eventually pays or gets the heirs to pay and we (not him) don't get our power cut off -))). Our landlord says it is all a big mistake and it has been resolved but the bills still keep coming.

If , as in our and many other cases ,the utility supply stays in the name of the landlord and he passes the bill on to you ,you should of course make sure that the meter readings at the beginning of the lease term are part of the rental agreement.

I don't know how it works if you change the utility bill to your name which only really makes sense if you are in for a longer period.

Regards
Ricky

Goodmorning all

Thank you for all your posts, it looks like i need to speak with him one more time then legal action need to be taken.

But i still find it strange that they want me to chase a bill that is owed to them.
In the UK the surplier starts a new contract with the new owner and they will proced with chasing the old owner for the money owed, its not a fair system i was even told that i could change the meters and start afresh but would cost nearly as much as the outstanding bill.

Its a shame as the old owner had the money to pay the bill when we went but the lady in the office would not take the money off him till the final bill was issued.

I hope i can resolve it without legal action.

Thanks Francesco

francesco camilleri wrote:

In the UK ....

Forget the UK...abroad does things differently, sometimes better, sometines worse. Too many people assume things are done the same as their previous country and get caught out.