chalk one up for the tenant.

[KatieJ]

He has with one phone call put his energy bills back in our name. And the utility company says that they will leave it at that until the tennant calls and personally oks putting the bill back in his name, even tho I sent them copies of the eviction paperwork we have filed with the county thru an attorney.

 

:confused:

[JennifersLost]

I feel your pain - we're dealing with tenant woes, too.

 

My conclusion - the world has decided that landlords are now the $ safety net for all of those who cannot or will not take care of themselves. I think landlords and daycare providers between them personally fund most of what should be covered by welfare.

 

And before people squawk - if you've always been a great tenant, this isn't addressed at you. Most "sane" people can't even imagine what the rest of renters get up to.

[MamaAkins]

Umm, if it's in your name, can't you just have it shut off until he moves out?

[KristinaBreece]

IDK the law about this... Can you just have them shut off then, until you get him out?

[KatieJ]

Yes, this is not addressed to those wonderful renters who treat their rental as if they owned it. They seem to be harder to harder to find these days.

 

And yes, we can turn off the power, but our attorney says that gives them leverage if and when we end up court, so his advice is leave it on.

 

And if we turn it off, we then will get charged large up front fees to turn it back on.

 

Seriously, we have never been in this situation before and we have been landlords for almost 30 years.

[curlylocks]

He has with one phone call put his energy bills back in our name. And the utility company says that they will leave it at that until the tennant calls and personally oks putting the bill back in his name, even tho I sent them copies of the eviction paperwork we have filed with the county thru an attorney.

 

:confused:

 

How in the world can a tenant set up a utility account in someone else's name? That just doesn't seem "right" to me...

 

Have you contacted your attorney about this?

[applethyme]

What is to keep your renter from leaving every electric appliance on all the time and running up a huge electric bill or leaving a sink or toilet running and creating a huge water bill? I'm paranoid that way :001_smile:

[KatieJ]

It reverts to the owner when the tenant calls him and says he has moved out. Years ago, we had a fire in one of our homes. In the confusion of rebuilding it and hiring a new PM and all that, the utility company claims they could not get hold of us and turned off the power. Our DD was doing a check on the house and found the water freezing in the toilet..the brand spanking new house was about to freeze solid.

Now we have this agreement, the bills reverts back to the owner when a tenant calls and says he is leaving. And there is nothing I can do about it apparently.

Our attorney is aware.

[KatieJ]

It is something I am fearing at this point too. Everyone that has checked on the house says the lights are on and there is music playing and furniture there. But the tenant won't come to the door.

I hope with every email and phone call that my attorney says he has been served and this nightmare is coming to an end. But my fear is that he has left us with his stuff and the heat is up and the water is running.

 

Seriously, I have to find something else to worry about!

[4everHis]

Call the police? again and again and again?

Edited April 26, 2012 by connib

[lailasmum]

Would it be possible to get the house changed to a pre pay electricity meter so he has to feed coins or recharge a card to keep his electricity on. Is that even an option? I have no idea how much doing that costs but would avoid him racking up costs in your name. Though I suppose it's irrelevant if he is out soon.

Edited April 26, 2012 by lailasmum

[QueenCat]

Wow! Can you not enter the home as the landlord? I know when we rented, the lease stipulated the landlord could enter during business hours. They had to knock first, if no one answered, they could enter as long as they had attempted to notify in advance.

[KatieJ]

Wow! Can you not enter the home as the landlord? I know when we rented, the lease stipulated the landlord could enter during business hours. They had to knock first, if no one answered, they could enter as long as they had attempted to notify in advance.

 

 

We live in another state. And we have been advised by the police department to not go there alone. Yes, it's way more complicated than I can post about.

[hrigg]

Start having the neighbors file noise complaints with the police? I mean if their playing music at all hours and it's loud enough for the neighbors to hear it then it's a legit complaint and not made by you. (Am writing this as I listen to the music through the walls and wonder if I should yell at my neigbhors that my kiddos are sleeping could they please turn it down. And I live in a single family home. sigh)

[JFSinIL]

Hire some big beefy guys to show up with a local locksmith to replace all the locks on the doors and windows. They can "recommend" anyone still in the house that, hey, they are trespassing and the police will be called. If the tenant complains to them - gee, whose name is on all the bills from teh gas/water/etc. companies? Not his....

[creekland]

We're in a different state, but in our location our local water/sewer company was nice enough to inform us that if we don't pay their bill, they have to turn off the water and no one can legally live in the house until it's back on. The fee to turn it back on is only $20 (plus paying the original bill, of course).

 

It's a cheap way to evict... and many landlords make use of it (so we were told). You have to have it in the contract that the tenant is responsible for the bills AND the tenant can't have given you money to pay it.

 

Your case sounds like it might be a bit more complicated, but I thought I'd throw this out there in case anyone else might find it useful. We're small town and company employees are sometimes nice enough to share info that works.

[TranquilMind]

He has with one phone call put his energy bills back in our name. And the utility company says that they will leave it at that until the tennant calls and personally oks putting the bill back in his name, even tho I sent them copies of the eviction paperwork we have filed with the county thru an attorney.

 

:confused:

Keep careful records of what happened, when it happened and how much you have to pay.

 

Take every dime out of the Security Deposit and then send a bill for anything owed. When the bill is not paid, file in small claims court to get a judgment against the deadbeat.

 

That's a low blow to turn utilities to your name because you can't shut them off. A judge could consider that a constructive eviction and you have to wait for the Sheriff eviction, unfortunately.

 

Unless you are in Texas where I understand you can self-evict. Or plead "he needed killin'" as a defense. ;)

[TranquilMind]

Wow! Can you not enter the home as the landlord? I know when we rented, the lease stipulated the landlord could enter during business hours. They had to knock first, if no one answered, they could enter as long as they had attempted to notify in advance.

Oh, they can enter the home. Whether it is wise do to do with some enraged tenant who is being evicted is anther matter.

[LaxMom]

Uh, aren't they committing fraud, then, if they have called the utilities and claimed to have moved out to avoid being billed? And, since there is now a record of their having moved out (per their phone call to the utilities), doesn't that mean whoever is in the house are trespassing and, thus, subject to arrest for breaking and entering? You don't know who it is, you're out of state and no one answers the door. All you know is that YOUR tenants moved out on whatever date.

Edited April 26, 2012 by MyCrazyHouse

[Kathryn]

Uh, aren't they committing fraud, then, if they have called the utilities and claimed to have moved out to avoid being billed? And, since there is now a record of their having moved out (per their phone call to the utilities), doesn't that mean whoever is in the house are trespassing and, this, subject to arrest for breaking and entering? You don't know who it is, you're out of state and no one answers the door. All you know is that YOUR tenants moved out on whatever date.

 

:iagree:

[creekland]

Uh, aren't they committing fraud, then, if they have called the utilities and claimed to have moved out to avoid being billed? And, since there is now a record of their having moved out (per their phone call to the utilities), doesn't that mean whoever is in the house are trespassing and, thus, subject to arrest for breaking and entering? You don't know who it is, you're out of state and no one answers the door. All you know is that YOUR tenants moved out on whatever date.

 

I really like this idea... ;)

[LaxMom]

Well, really, it's not unheard of for squatters to just move in when they know the landlord is not local, and simply pretend they live there, even in rather upscale suburbs. One can't assume. ;)

[KatieJ]

I do appreciate all your advice and I will tuck some of them away for future consideration.

 

As I said, this is complicated and the police are aware of the tenant and the house. We are evicting them on non payment of rent.

The wheels are in motion to figure out what's going on and at this point, from my distance, my hands are pretty tied.

I got conflicting advice from the utility company and today they absolutely and not very nicely told me it's between my tenant and me. Nothing they could do, which is not what they told me on Monday.

 

It is just so frustrating! But again, thanks for the advice.

[4everHis]

Uh, aren't they committing fraud, then, if they have called the utilities and claimed to have moved out to avoid being billed? And, since there is now a record of their having moved out (per their phone call to the utilities), doesn't that mean whoever is in the house are trespassing and, thus, subject to arrest for breaking and entering? You don't know who it is, you're out of state and no one answers the door. All you know is that YOUR tenants moved out on whatever date.

 

So call the police. If this is the case they are definitely trespassing. If you don't live in the town I can't imagine that the police would not go and enter the house for you. They would do that here if I was on vacation and asked for a police watch while we were gone. Maybe you could do that. Call the Sherriff in that town, tell them your house is vacant and ask for a 'watch'.

Because your house is supposedly vacant I would answer the following questions accordingly. I wouldn't even mention the person that is there. Ask for the watch and let it play out.

They'll ask questions like a)do you have lights on a timer b)vehicles in drive c)anyone with access to the house? When they see any of these things different from what you state they take care of it.

 

EDITED to ADD: It took me quite a while to type this response (dang those kids) I now see replies where the police are already aware of tennant. Obviously my idea won't work. I am so sorry that you are experiencing this. The newest landlord story I heard was from a dear friend whose father had a renter he couldn't get out of his house. The renter was an attorney. Not paying rent and when they finally got in the home there was garbage and dog poo all over the house. I hate that good landlords are going to quit renting because of riff raff like this

Tell them a)we do not have lights on in the house b)no vehicle should be in the drive c)we have not given anyone permission to be in our house.

Edited April 26, 2012 by connib

[KatieJ]

We did not recieve notice that they had called the utility company for almost a month and we had already contacted an attorney to evict them.

[AmyontheFarm]

If they won't answer the door when you knock. Really loudly, to the neighbors hollar, did you hear that call for HELP?

 

Call 911, give them the address and tell them that you think someone might be hurt inside the house. The police or FD will have to go in to determine that no one is hurt. Of course, if you have to replace the door they knocked down to get into the house, then you would have to inspect to see if the police did any other damage, also. If any water was left running to damage the place, then it would have to be shut off, etc.

 

Not that I would ever do anything like this myself. :)

[thescrappyhomeschooler]

Umm, if it's in your name, can't you just have it shut off until he moves out?

 

:iagree:

[sparrow]

I feel your pain - we're dealing with tenant woes, too.

 

My conclusion - the world has decided that landlords are now the $ safety net for all of those who cannot or will not take care of themselves. I think landlords and daycare providers between them personally fund most of what should be covered by welfare.

 

And before people squawk - if you've always been a great tenant, this isn't addressed at you. Most "sane" people can't even imagine what the rest of renters get up to.

 

So, so true.

 

In our area, a tenant poured concrete down the plumbing during the eviction process :glare:.

[prairiebird]

Argh. It's people like this that make it hard for normal, polite renters to find a nice property to rent. I hope you get this sorted out.

 

I am going to have to start looking for a rental for a large family on our cruddy credit soon when my husband finds a new job, and I fear how long it's going to take to find a landlord that hasn't been burned by jerks like this.

[KatieJ]

thanks for all the support, but we don't live in the same state as the house. The attorney ( who is very familiar with landlord tenant cases) advised us against shutting off the power. He said it may reap reap negative results further on down the road and woudl give the tenant a sword to use against us. So we are letting it go to court and get a judgement against him. After that a sheriff will evict whomever is living in the house. Again, thanks for the support!

Edited April 28, 2012 by KatieinMich

[Jean in Newcastle]

thanks for all the support, but we don't live in the same state as the house. The attorney ( who is very familiar with landlord tenant cases) advised us against shutting off the power. He said it may reap reap negative results further on down the road and woudl give the tenant a sword to use against us. So we are letting it go to court and get a judgement against him. After that a sheriff will evict whomever is living in the house. Again, thanks for the support!

 

You have to go to court? Here, we can just call the Sheriff to evict after x days of non-payment. (And I think a warning letter. I can't remember all the details.)

[KatieJ]

Yes, the the crummy tenant is given a time he can appear in court and appeal our decison to kick him out for non payment of rent.

Edited April 29, 2012 by KatieinMich

[4everHis]

Yes, the the crummy tenant is given a time he can appear in court and appeal our decison to kick him out for non payment of rent.

 

That is wrong on so many levels. . . :banghead: