<p>I would call the gas company and find out what day the gas was put in your name. The gas company will have a record of that transfer. If it corresponds to the day when you moved in I would not refund the previous owner and I would tell them to deal directly with the gas company that the gas has been in your name since the day you moved in. If the previous owners did pay $80 on the house while you were there and if the gas was NOT in your names, I’d probably pay them as a good will gesture. Seems to me if they paid $80 on your house you would have seen that show up on your first gas bill however. Call the gas company.</p>
<p>I would do what momofthreeboys said but I think I would ask for a copy of the gas bill they paid (to verify the number and have a record of the transaction). I would also write on the check that it was for natural gas at X address for X dates. I wonder if the gas company kept the account under their name until it could verify your bf’s social security number?</p>
<p>If you find out that the gas remained in their name after the house was yours, the nice thing to do is to pay that portion of the bill. It maybe their fault, but you’re a better person than to try to take advantage of their poor planning. Having said that, DO NOT pay the previous owners any money. Confirm the bill by asking that they send you a copy of it. If you determine that indeed a portion of the bill is for when you lived there, pay it directly to the gas company. You may need to find out how to do that so that the proper account receives the credit, but again, do not send them any money. </p>
<p>Experience in people wanting money from me for things like rent or utilities taught me that I should never give them the money. It goes directly to the landlord or utility company.</p>
<p>I just want to add on to the subject of bill paying and household accounts. You have referred to it as “our” house - so are you both on the deed and the mortgage? Assuming that to be the case, you should both have awareness of the mortgage payment and all utility accounts, gas, electric, cable, etc. You should ideally have all bills in both names, so that the provider will speak to either one of you. If one person has the responsibility of paying the bils on line, both people should know the passwords.</p>
<p>There are too many instances where one person becomes sick or injured, or worse, and the other person has no idea of what to do in terms of paying the bills. Have this conversation now, before you have a more serious situation than a $80 gas bill.</p>
<p>OP post #3:</p>
<h2>"… I am guessing the original owners got charged from oct 20-oct 31 and then realized their mistake and canceled their auto pay …"</h2>
<p>Doesn’t $80 seem high for 11 days of gas consumption in Oct?</p>
<p>Ignore the request for the $80. Only pay bills you receive for your present acct. with gas company. If gas company shuts off your gas, then deal with $80 demand.</p>
<p>You’re lucky your house doesn’t have a $25,000+ lien on your house from a previous marijuana grow house owner who stole electric from power company at the house…the power company won’t ever turn on electric at house until somebody pays them first, which can make a house next to worthless if it can’t have electric service.</p>
<p>Lizard, how can a house have a lien from a previous owner? Shouldn’t the debt have been settled out of the proceeds of the sale when the previous owner sold the house?</p>
<p>yeah, I guess I meant occupant and not owner…I’m not a real estate attorney…I’m not an attorney! I remember a few years ago in Florida some house owners were having huge problems when tenants were operating pot grow houses with stolen electric and owner would get lien on house for stolen elec from power company which could be tens of thousands of dollars. The owner couldn’t get power turned back on until bill was paid. No electric at house made house almost worthless. I’m not sure if laws were changed or not in Florida by legislature to give these property owners relief with the surprise enormous electric bill liens.</p>
<p>I guess people need to have public records search done and get a title insurance policy so they don’t burned discovering a nasty lien or ownership claim on a house they just bought. Stuff happens!</p>
<p>Actually pay the 80 and move on. Otherwise you will have at least another two go arounds with the people</p>
<p>And if you car gets randomly keyed you have peace of mind.</p>
<p>People have to contact any utility company to cancel service. The final bill is rendered from the date the service is cancelled. People must call to start service and have a credit check and put the utility in their name. If someone does not call to cancel service, it is their responsibility to pay the bills while the bills were in their name. In most cases, a utility company cannot transfer service into another party’s name until both parties agree. This is between the utility company and the previous owner. They can “bill begin” your service on a certain date if you agree, but unless your gas meter was an actual reading versus estimated reading, it may be hard to determine exactly how much gas you are responsible for. Gas companies actually come out and read the meter to determine actual usage. Deal with the utility and if you want a clear conscious ask them if they will start your service on the day you closed on your house. The previous owners will get a final bill and you will have a clear conscious. This is not worth small claims or attorney fees. I am sure if the situation were reversed, you would appreciate someone paying you for what they used.</p>
<p>I’m pretty surprised that this wasn’t caught at closing. It is the sellers responsibility to cancel the utilities as of the date of closing. It is up to them to settle with the gas company. Since it seems that you confirmed with the gas company that your date of service was incorrect, have the utility change the date and they should give you an estimated bill for the number of days from closing to the end of the billing cycle. DO NOT SEND A CHECK TO THE SELLERS. If they contact you, tell them that you corrected the date with the gas company and paid the company. It is up to them to request a refund from the utility, this is not unusual, do not get too upset. Congrats on the house!</p>
<p>are you fighting for the matter of principle?<br>
i do think you owe them the money.<br>
even if i was wrong, i would still suggest you send the money to them, it is just not worth fighting for $80. why stressed over this??</p>
<p>Just want to add to what Rockvillemom said about both of your names being on the bill and/or making sure, if the bill is in your BF name that he calls all your providers and gives permission for them to deal with you. </p>
<p>I’ve been in my home 20+ years and married even longer and just last week had a problem on my electric bill and customer service wouldn’t talk to me because the service is in my husband’s name.</p>
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<p>Exactly! You BF should never have sent them the first check, much less the second. It is their responsibility to deal with the utility company about their account and their bill. Anyone who has sold a house will tell you this. </p>
<p>At the same time, it is YOUR responsibility to deal with YOUR bill. So make sure the gas company started billing you as of the closing date, and make sure that bill is paid…to the gas company, not to the idiots you bought the house from. If they contact you again tell them that you have paid the bill starting at the closing date, and it is their problem to get a refund from the gas company if double payment was made. If they give you any attitude, tell them not to contact you again.</p>
<p>To reiterate, pay the gas company what you owe, DO NOT send money to the former owners. The gas company can come after you and turn off your gas if you send $80 to the former owners and they do not in turn pay the bill! The former owners have to deal with their own issues.</p>
<p>I really think that the realtor was remiss in giving them your contact info, and in not mentioning to you that you needed to make arrangements regarding utilities. S/he knew you were youthful first time buyers.</p>
<p>In the mean time, don’t worry. And if at all possible get your name on the account so that you can talk to the utility. It sounds like you are better equipped to deal with this stuff than your BF.</p>
<p>If you put the utilities in your/your boyfriends name and you have paid your utility bill, this is NOT your problem. Refer the previous owner to the utility company and let them work it out. Their ignorance is not your problem. They left you with lots of shabbily constructed stuff that you are having to deal with that will cost more than $80 (which is besides the point, but still…). If they continue to bug you, tell your realtor to pay them out of his/her commission and to stop bothering you.</p>
<p>If you/your bf set up the gas account in your/his name when you moved in, the rest is NOT your issue. Ignore them. There is nothing they can/will do over $80.</p>
<p>Whatever happened happened. So moving forward, and it’s is not scary at all regardless of mean emails.</p>
<p>One. Contact gas company, in writing. Say there seems to be a problem with when account was switched to new home owner. Ask what needs to be done to make sure your account is up to date</p>
<p>Two. Send letter in writing to old owners asking to see a copy of the bill in question.</p>
<p>Three. Wait and see. If old owners continue to harass you, say this is not you fault, and you are working with gas company to rectify situation. If they persist with being mean, keep sending back the same letter or email. </p>
<p>Four. Tell real estate broker you are not happy with how they are putting this on you and that they should have told previous owner to contact gas company for refund. </p>
<p>Five. You owe the gas company money, not the previous tenants. I would pay gas company and tell old owner to get the money from gas company. </p>
<p>PeriOd.</p>
<p>Why are you scared? They can’t do anything. Legally you owe the gas company and gas company owes them. You could be nice and old owners directly, but at this point I wouldn’t. They are being jerks for their mistake.</p>
<p>^ That’s too much stuff to do. Instead, I’d just send him a simple message. I’d go over to the harassing old owner’s house about 3:00 a.m. one morning with a gallon jug of Roundup super concentrated herbicide and write on the guy’s front lawn with the herbicide in 6’ size letters: ‘Kiss my gas!’</p>
<p>I agree, seahorsesrock, except that (1) I wouldn’t pay anyone anything at this point. Let the gas company do its own accounting and pay the sellers their refund if the sellers can prove that the refund is owed. If the gas company does further research and can demonstrate to your satisfaction that you were not charged for gas that you used, let them bill you directly. But that’s not your issue and you have no obligation to do any affirmative research.</p>
<p>(2) I’d tell your realtor that he should take care of this from this time forward. He was wrong in the first place to allow the sellers to contact you directly and now it’s his obligation to make this go away. Let him talk to the sellers or the seller’s realtor and put them in touch with the gas company. Or better yet, have the two of them give up a fraction of their commissions and pay the sellers $40 each.</p>
<p>As an aside, your realtor may have committed an ethical violation by giving the seller your email information without your consent. You should be able to find a copy of the state licensing law on the web. After telling the seller that you will await clarification of the service dates from the gas co, tell them that they are not to contact you directly, and advise them to deal with the gas company and their realtor. Then cc your realtor and let them know that you will send the information from the gas company to them when you receive it, but also that you are willing to consider filing an ethics complaint with the real estate board for their disclosing your email contact information without permission. I’ll bet the agent will take care of the $80 PDQ.</p>