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Anyone have a tenant steal utilities before?
I’ve already started the eviction process, but now the tenante is stealing utilities (water).
Everyday i drive by i noticed the water meter lid is off, and the water is turned back on.
Also the power is off. But at night the power is magically back on.
What else can one do?
Is it illegal for them to be in a house with no water or power?
(and if you reported the house for having no water/power, Would it cost yourself more in fees, to later if you report them? or having your own house condemn?)
The theft of utilities is against the utility company not you. The company doesn’t come after the landlord for their theft. Water, however, may be different depending on where you are. If the water is the city they may attach the water bill to the owner no matter who is in the house.
But in general I don’t think you have a dog in that fight.
In my area they go after the tenant, not the owner. We had this happen when I was mayor of my town.
To the OP - this is probably a good thing. They can be arrested for this and the city has more rights than you do as landlord. Hopefully they find it convenient to expediantly disappear into the night.
I didn’t know we had a big shot politician on the site !!! I have to watch my language.
Naw…not me. I challenged the “good old boy” system and lost. They chased me out of town with pitchforks.
I could never be elected to office because of my background. There are too many skeletons in my closet.
You’re not missing anything. It’s a nightmare.
I still recall the single most frustrating experience in my time in office. I got a flurry of articles to the paper about the tires I put on the police car. The local shop bid a price for tires and then changed it when the car went in to have them put on. I didn’t approve the new price and took tohem to the next town over, who used Cooper tires instead of the Michelin tires that the first shop quoted. All were the speed range Z tires made for police cars. These were $10 cheaper per tire. All sorts of people had opinions about this decision.
Then I got accused of having the city put new sidewalks in front of my house when it’s the homeowners responsibility. Of course nobody said it to my face where I could show the check I wrote to have it all done.
Tenants are nightmares - get used to it.
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The thing I like most abour rentals is that each time you get a tenant out you get a new opportunity to get a new one and foster a new relationship with that person. You improve the process each time. At work I deal with repeat customers. I know nearly everyone in my industry. I make a reputation once and fight like hell to improve it, but I don’t always get to change it - for better or for worse.
Im not sure where you are doing business but I know that in my market a landlord can file an “emergency eviction” if the tenant is a threat to the property. Im not sure if this could win that kind of case but if you could and did you would gain possession in 5 days rather than 30 - 60 like a normal eviction would take… Ive done two emergency evictions and they were both excellent.
No emergency evictions here. I have a tenant I filed eviction on March 7 and the court date is set for Apr 17. He promised to pay the full rent and late fees by the 22nd of March, but if I filed eviction he said he would stay as long as possible and destroy the house. :banghead
If he does eviction is the least of his problems. I would file a criminal charge of vandalism on him. That would entail the police taking him to jail.
I actually called and the police said it’s a civil matter. If he does it I will press charges, and I am going to get a judgement against him too, follow it all the way to the end.