Moving property / taking over someone elses account?

[#1]

Hi, 

[MODS - please feel free to move this into whatever forum you think is right]

So, my sister in law is on the 'Unlimited Fibre Extra and line rental with unlimited calls package', the contract is coming to an end on 8th February 2024.

I (totally different property) am also on the same above package, my contract ends near the end of March.

I am possibly moving into her house (with my family) and renting the house off her and obviously paying all the bills in my name.

So, and lot's of different scenario's here, is it best if she renews for another 18 months for same package, then I pay her (probably illegal somehow), or is it best she renews all in her name until we move in, but then that leaves me with the decision of what to do with my Plusnet package in case we've not moved in before my package ends end of March.

We'll want to keep HER landline number (until they're switched off) so obviously don't mind losing my landline number, but I don't really want to sign up for a new 18 month contract with Plusnet at our current address here as then I'll have to pay some early exit fee.

Simplest option seems to be sister-in-law takes out new contract and keeps her landline number (which we'll want as it's a longstanding family one), then we pay her the monthly cost as soon as Plusnet take her direct debit out, but again this is probably illegal?!?!

I don't want to lose any service in between her moving out and us moving in. I work from home in this property so need a decent reliable package, but she's on the same package in her house so in theory it's identical and only a 6 minute walk away from here on same BT exchange.

Make any sense? Opinions / advice please.

Thanks.

[#2]

Just re-read the renewal option email she received, so is this new offer £25.99 a month for Unlimited Fibre Extra broadband and line rental excluding calls and unlimited UK & Mobile calls plan which is an EXTRA £11.76 on top = £37.75 a month (see below), no way

[#3]

@andyt1970 

As you say there are multiple scenarios here so you need to think about things.

First, where is your sister going? What internet is available there? Will she be taking her PN account with her?

There is nothing illegal about paying your landlord (sister) for services provided.

Note that you'll lose all add ons you may have with your account eg e-mail if you close it.

As for phone numbers think about VOIP. If your sister were to move to an Internet only connection then she'll have 30 days to port the number to an independant provider. A&A seem reasonable and have good FAQ pages.

https://www.aa.net.uk/voice-and-mobile/voip-information/

Brian

[#4]

Hi and thanks for the reply!

Okay, some background info I left out was: the house we are planning to move into was my mother-in-laws house who sadly passed away last year, the house was bought years earlier by her eldest daughter (my sister in law), who lives in a property of her own with her broadband (no landline required) as she uses her mobile. She was paying all the bills for her mum and now the house is empty, me and my family are hoping to move in with my s-i-l as "landlord" while she lives in her own property.

We don't mind losing our current landline we have with Plusnet in this rented flat, as we're happy to have a house and garden so would like to keep the phone number that belongs to the house (bills still paid for by my s-i-l until someone moves in). 

So, issue is does s-i-l renew on that above new email contract for 18 months at £37.75, then we move in and I pay the s-i-l each month while still in her name and I close our account here, but then we have to join someone new for a few months only until we move out but obviously lose our landline number. Does anyone even do broadband on a monthly basis?

S-i-l works from her home and also spends half the week working round at "the empty house" so still uses the current broadband and landline there.

Have i made this more complicated?

Not happy at the thought of paying £37.75 a month for her renewed 18 month Plusnet contract when we move in as money is already tight - but otherwise we lose the landline and phone number altogether.

[#5]

Not happy at the thought of paying £37.75 a month for her renewed 18 month Plusnet contract when we move in as money is already tight - but otherwise we lose the landline and phone number altogether.

@andyt1970 ok , so you ( or your s-i-l ) don't have to take the Anytime call plan, you can just take the Unlimited Fibre Extra deal with a PAYG landline at the £25.99 price, you'll still retain the landline number.

However as @bmc says, voip might be worth considering as you could in fact retain both numbers.

Your s-i-l recontracts on Fibre (without phoneline) and then ports the existing number to voip.

You continue with your existing Plusnet at your flat until you move , reverting to the out-of-contract price if you're still there when the contract finishes. Once you move, then you port your number to voip , that will cease your Plusnet service.

Now voip costs , A & A charge £1.44/month for each number and a one-off £15 to port ( + outgoing calls on a PAYG basis )

You then need some voip hardware that will support multiple voip accounts e.g the Gigaset N300. Can be picked up on ebay for around £50 with a handset, £20 without ( if you've already got DECCT GAp compatible handsets )

[#6]

@andyt1970 

I would suggest you get your sister to phone PlusNet Customer Options Team on 0800 013 2632 to see what her options are. Get a price for renewal of contract as is and a price for Internet only (SOGEA).

Then look very closely at VOIP. Moving the landline to VOIP will almost certainly save money and break the link between internet and phone for future. For example, if the house is sold then she retains the VOIP account.

A bit of work may be required to set up the VOIP service (is her phone compatible?). Note that house extensions probably won't work (without extra work) and that there would be some downtime on the phone.

If you go down this route do not port the number until after the PN account is set to SOGEA. With A&A I believe you can set the account up in advance with a tempory number  which would allow you check phones work and saves time when it's time to port.

Brian

[#7]

If @andyt1970 does pursue the option of his Sister-in-Law holding the contract with Plusnet, and re-imbursing her for the costs,is it worth, (and is it possible?), for the S-i-L to add @andyt1970 to the contract as a "Named Person" who Plusnet will liase with in case of faults etc? (To save the S-i-L being an extra link in the chain).

I can see that where the "landlord" and "tenant" were not known to each other this might not be desirable, (possibility of making contract changes that the landlord is not happy with), but I'm assuming that in this case there is a level of trust between the two parties?

[#8]

@Mr_Paul - Just clarify things, you can't change the name of the account holder unless for certain specific reasons where the actual person does change such as marriage.

You can add 2 authorised users, family or not that you trust for us to talk to about any aspect of the account as if it were the account holder, they just can't make any contractual changes or agree on something that will add charges to the account.

[#9]

@James30 

Adding an "authorised user" and your description  of what they can do is exactly what I meant in my previus post. I wasn't suggesting changing the name of the account holder.

Interesting that Plusnet doesn't allow the authorised person to make contractual changes. I have my wife as a named person / authorised user on our house insurance and some utilities, (not Plusnet). As far as I am aware, she has the same authority to make changes to those accounts and contracts that I have?

[#10]

I have my wife as a named person / authorised user on our house insurance and some utilities

The difference with house insurance and utilities is that both people are named on and are part of the contract, therefore have equal authority. ISP's (well I assume its not just PN) seem not to be able to have contracts in multiple names.

[#11]

Hi all, thanks for the replies / advice.

Seems for the moment we'd get the s-i-l to take just the "Unlimited Fibre Extra deal with a PAYG landline at the £25.99" price, so I'll retain the landline number (when me and my family move in!) but just not make any outgoing calls! I'll deal with the landline being switched off (Dec 2025?!) later on and losing the number.

This VOIP stuff is way too complicated for me, but thankyou for the help / advice.

Also, we get a discount each month on OUR package as we recommended the s-i-l to Plusnet so will onviously lose that when we cancel, but the main thing I totally forgot is myself and my girlfriend also have a mobile each with Plusnet, only something like £7.49 a month each but they are stopping mobile packages also and have offered to switch us to a similar package with EE, so another thing to have to sort / stress over.

Cheers again, and feel free to offer any other advice people!