[ISmellBacon]

My gf and I recently moved out of a house share.
We where sharing with 3 other guys.
When we moved in we where told that the room is £130 a week excluding bills. They said the bills should come to about £40 a month.
In the 3 months we where there, we payed for cleaning materials, tv license, sky, water and toiletries. In the end we where paying almost £200 a week! The final straw came when we stumbled across one of the guys websites in which he bragged how he was ripping us off so that they could travel. We gave 2 weeks notice and moved out. We where under no contract, paid no deposit and where sub letting the room.
The problem comes, he phoned and wants us to pay £160 for gas!
Is this allowed? Do we have to pay for both of us or just the room?
In the first place we kept complaining about the heat and asked them to turn the heating down. I know we could just refuse to pay... but is there another way around it?

[will_phill]

hi there, unfortunatly u cant do much but ignore his request!you couldnt owe him 160 anyways, since the gas bill couldnt be 640!hes obviously an asshole...theres no way u can claim ur money back as u have no proof, although u can try and report him to the landlord, who wd probably wish to kick him out.
the only thing u could hav done is stay a bit longer in the flat without paying rent!i know it sounds bad, but hes made money on ur back, so...do u actually know how much the full rent of the flat is?the amount should be divided by the number of rooms(depending on size obviously...), try and verify that and see if hes not making a massive profit!
good luck

[Bluey]

Contact the Shelter advice line or your local Citizens Advice Bureau to get an idea of your legal responsibilities about this bill since you are already aware that your ex-flat mate was exploiting your goodwill.

http://england.shelter.org.uk/advice/advice-1005.cfm/country/1/region/01MM12/nearby/0/pg/1/agency/5666

If there is no tenancy agreement and it's an illegal sublet, done without the Landlord's knowledge, and the utility bill is not in your name, it could be doubtful whether that the guy has any legal redress but these organisations will give you pointers about your responsibilities (and theirs).

If it transpires that you are not legally obliged to pay, then tell them they haven't got a legal leg to stand on and you are not going to pay "So sue me...".

If you are instructed by Shelter or CAB that you legally obliged to pay (because you had a verbal contract about paying towards bills), his legal case might be weakened by the evidence you have from the website that you were being deliberately ripped off.

If you feel morally obliged to pay, then offer what you think is a fair share of the bill and tell them its the only payment you will make for it.

[Bluey]

Good point, will_phill, about the size of the bill. It's hard to estimate, not knowing the tariff, size of the property and length of time this bill is supposed to cover.

But the highest Gas bill I ever ran up for both heating and water (not cooking) was £220 for a 3 month period and this was for 3 people in a big house during a cold winter.

Also, good point about letting the landlord know that one of his tenants is using his property to make money, illegally subletting and then driving away his fellow tenants.

Find the address of the landlord and let him know what has happened so you save the next soul from being ripped off. If you don't know it, find the name of the owner from the Land Registry and then find them using 192.com.

It's a shame you are wringing your hands about an outstanding 'share' of a utility bill when the guy is crowing to the public how he is funding his lifestyle through you.

[ISmellBacon]

Thanks very much for the help guys.
It is greatly appreciated.
I dont want to run away and refuse to pay, but I will ask to see the bills and maybe to speak to the land lord.
Thanks again