Hi Good Morning
I am in the process of buying a property in Albi France. In fact due to complete on the 21st November.
Issue is my vendor owes electricity company money. Agent been dealing with them but wont put in my name vecause of vendors outstanding debt. I asked notaire thats dealing with me the buyer, and also the vendor if I pay bill, if they will( the notaires) subtract monies at completion, seller happy for this to hapoen too. But notaires saying they will not deal with this.
Any ideas what I can do on this issue?? Got a builder ready to go in on 22nd but he will need electric.
Please help!!
I would not complete the Purchase until all is sorted… tell that to the Agent and the Notaire !!!
How can a house be sold which cannot have electricity supplied…??
Step back… is my best advice… the previous person’s debts are nothing to do with you.
Incidentally, similar happened for a rental property (council owned) bad tenant unpaid utlities… but the new tenant still managed to have the utilities put in the new name… so something in your case makes me wonder… huh… are you being taken for a ride??
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I guess you’ve checked water, any gas, taxe foncier and any taxe d’habitation (if due) are all up tp date?
Yes Notaire on case with this.
How much is it and does it matter in the grand scheme of things? If it’s not a lot I’d just pay it and not loose sleep over it 
Maybe the vendor will pay you back.
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Walk away keep life simple
Thank you all for your valued advice xx
We bought our house in September a few years ago.
Gas and electricity all working when we moved in.
That day, we sent letters to the gas (ENI) and electricity supplier (EDF) informing them that we had moved in and wanted them to start a contract to supply us (meter readings were sent).
In mid-November our gas was cut off and debt letters started to arrive.
It was then obvious that the sellers has simply done a runner.
I phoned EDF and immediately started a new gas contract with them.
All debt letters were returned with copies of previous correspondence, full UK contact details of the sellers, their DOB, French bank account details etc etc.
Never heard anything since.
Glad to have had 10 weeks free gas!
My advice is to just move in, read the meters (and take photos), and take out new contracts.
Thank you so much. I love this house, but now got the agent working on it. This sale been going on since April. Nothing happens very quickly here, I think on reflection this is its charm.
X
When I sold, I took photos of everything including the meters and noted readings. Even took photos of every room in the house of the state it was left in (lovely and clean) because its too late after the event should anything happen. The new owners contacted me to thank me for leaving the house pristine for them.
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Obviously you know how to look after a property. I agree totally.
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