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Am I responsible for this bill? It was not covered in my mortgage contract.?
In 2015, I bought a house in Ottawa, ON. We of course took over the utilities but unknown to us, the water tank was a rental through Reliance. The previous owner paid them directly, not through any utility bill. This was not mentioned on any of the paperwork we signed at closing.
About 10 months later, I contacted Reliance for an unrelated air conditioner issue and the repairman mentioned the tank was probably a rental. I called Reliance to verify and take over any account but there was no current account to take over. I’m presuming they had closed the account at this point due to non-payment but they didn’t verify (privacy).
I advised the law office we used to close and they did not have a specific direction considering there was no current account.
Well, the previous owner is now aware of this and they are coming after us for $1400 in fees for not taking over the account.
We are trying to figure out if we are actually liable for this. Thoughts?
11 Answers
- ?Lv 74 years ago
it would appear that in your city the water service not being a municipal function is contracted out which means that anyone using water will automatically have the service and be billed for it unless they are able to provide their own water service
if you had lived in this area for any amount of time you would be aware of the system the municipality has for water service
- Anonymous4 years ago
Yes you are responsible. They cancelled their account when you took over the house and it became yours to renew in your name.
- realtor.sailorLv 74 years ago
Unless the rental was set up with annual payments, your story doesn't add up. Why would Reliance go 10 months without payment? Why is the seller coming after you for $1,400.00?
I just checked their web site; is your A/C rented too?
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- babyboomer1001Lv 74 years ago
You can't take over a prior owner's accounts. They need to close their accounts and you have to open your own accounts, in your own name. You owe bills from the date of closing onward, not prior - bills. Those are the prior owner's bills. However, if they failed to pay them, you may be responsible to pay them before they will turn on the service for you and since you purchased the home with the rental in it, you basically took over the account, even though you should have changed it into your own name. Your lawyer should be contacting their lawyer or them to pay their final bill. If they refuse, you can sue them for it. If you failed to have the account put into your name when you moved in, then Reliance can only estimate what the prior bill is and from what point on you owe but, whatever they determine is owing up to the closing date, is the amount you should win in a lawsuit, plus costs, etc. Talk to your lawyer.
Source(s): Certified Paralegal, with 25+ years' experience & with Real Estate law experience. - Anonymous4 years ago
I'll bet ten bucks your contract says that upon your taking possession that you are responsible for all utilities, service, maintenance and upkeep and that includes rental of any appliances that you retained that you do not own. And I'll bet their disclosure form indicates that they don't own the water heater. If it doesn't, you may have a case there.
You're lucky they didn't put a lien on the house or come remove THEIR water heater.
- ?Lv 74 years ago
Ask a lawyer. Under US law you can't be held liable for a contract you were not privy to (i.e. you didn't sign the rental contract, so they can't enforce it against you). I know the US and Canada share a common legal tradition, but somewhere along the 200+ years of our divergent history I wouldn't be surprised if something changed along the way. So you'll need to check with a local attorney and get their input.
But I'm honestly baffled by the entire notion of a "rented" water heater. It's a core system component of the house... it's gotta be installed by a professional and soldered into the plumbing system to be to code, so why the hell would anyone think renting one would be a good idea as a business model?
