Q: Okay. One more question. About tenant laws
If they racked my utility bill to 400$... I have received a cut off notice & to pay immediatly... I told them over & over. She said she set up extension plan... The 8 days passed and nothing was payed like it had to be. I'm basically waiting for my utility company to shut it off & screw me over. What then? They have the month but what if they shut it off? I cannot & should not pay all of that plus 200$ connection fee. I won't. What do I do then? I feel I should have some legal rights as they are in my name only.
A:
Sorry, but there is no good answer here. However, it seems to me that the utilites getting cut off may, oddly, HELP get them out- its going to be hard to stay anywhere without air conditioning and electricity so maybe if they get cut off, your tenants will move. The bill is in your name, so they won't pay it, they are just using you, but this will get them out. The downside is, of course, you will have to pay the past due bill and the re-connection fee to get power restored. Don't blame the power company- they didn't "screw" anybody, they provided the service and the nobody paid the bill, so what else can you expect. Be sure and get a forwarding address for your tenants ( but be sneaky about it). You will need this to sue them once they move out. They will not want you to know it and I expect they won't even notify you or turn in their keys- they will just vanish and probably leave a huge clean up mess for you. Take pictures of the condition of the property as soon as they leave so you can prove the clean up and repair damages. Yes, you have rights, but the real problem is you made a bad deal: trusting some untrustworthy people. Hopefully, they will get out soon, and your landlord will never find out what you did. Again, you may be able to recover what you have had to pay but that means filing a lawsuit against them. next time- get a security deposit and at least one months rent paid in advance and NEVER agree to any arrangement where someone else can charge expense to you ( like the electric bill here).
Hope this helps.
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