In a shared house, who has to pay the bill?

There is no simple answer to this.

If you share your home with one or more other people, depending on the contract, any of you could individually be asked to pay the whole bill. If one or more of you moves out you could still be asked to pay the whole bill. This often happens with shared student homes. For example, if Terry, Ben and Tom share a flat at the start of January, but Tom leaves in March without leaving any money for the bill, Terry and Ben could be asked to pay for Tom's share of the bill.

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Energy

The law about bills in shared homes is complicated, whether the home is shared by friends, married or unmarried couples, or others. It will depend on what sort contract is in force (if there is one), who agreed it, and what arrangements were previously made between the people living at the home.

If you are sent a bill for gas or electricity, but don't think you are the person who should be paying it, you can contact us for advice.

Advice: Never assume that if somebody leaves a home that suppliers will not ask for full payment from the people who have stayed: they usually will. Agree on a way of paying bills when you first move into a shared household.

Advice: If you have difficulty paying a bill, contact your supplier as soon as possible.