What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Massachusetts
I moved into an apartment in a two-family home 4 months ago as a last resort. Aside from the apartment needing lots of repairs, I have come to find out that all the common areas, hallways and the basement, are on my electric meter. Since I have moved in my electric bill has doubled and continues to go up. I am the only one in the apartment and am hardly home. While in the basement one day I noticed a fan running. It had an extension cord running from the outlet my dryer was plugged into. I thought that was a little suspicious since the fan was right in front of their washing machine with an open outlet (no extension cord required). I left it alone for the time being. Two weeks later I went back to the basement and the fan was still running. This time I decided to investigate. The basement is pretty big so in order to get over to the electric boxes I had to turn on a lot of lights. When I flipped all the switches in my box not only did the fan turn off, but so did all the lights. It turns out there is one outlet in the entire basement the landlords are actually paying for. I've tried to be nice and just move the fan to their outlet. They have moved it back and added a dehumidifier and another fan on top of it. So the two fans, all the lights, the dehumidifier, all the sump pumps and everything else have been running 24/7 for 4 months and I have been paying for it. I also forgot to mention since it was minor, but their entrance (i wasn't even given a key) has a hall and porch light. These lights go on at 5pm when they get home from work and stay on until they turn them off in the morning. During the summer they go away for the weekend and turn them on before they leave and they remain on until they return. These lights are also on my meter.
I confronted them a month ago about my concerns about the rising cost of my electric bill. I caught her completely off guard and she didn't know what to say. She tried to tell me that I was mistaken and that it all evens out. She also said my hall light was on their meter etc (which is still a common area so she would still be responsible), but she would look into it. Of course, here we are a month later and nothing has been done and my bill has gone up even more. I notified the electric company and they said I should have the board of health come in and inspect. If it turns out that it is wired improperly they would be responsible for past bills and every one going forward until it is corrected. Since I don't want to cause problems and I hate confrontation I wanted to give them one more chance. I am looking for a way to put this in writing, but am having a hard time finding the words to say. If given the opportunity I would love to just get out of the lease. Is it wrong to give them the option to a) let me out of the lease or b) fix the problem or start paying for the electric?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Putting it in writing seems like the best way to go.
I moved into an apartment in a two-family home 4 months ago as a last resort. Aside from the apartment needing lots of repairs, I have come to find out that all the common areas, hallways and the basement, are on my electric meter. Since I have moved in my electric bill has doubled and continues to go up. I am the only one in the apartment and am hardly home. While in the basement one day I noticed a fan running. It had an extension cord running from the outlet my dryer was plugged into. I thought that was a little suspicious since the fan was right in front of their washing machine with an open outlet (no extension cord required). I left it alone for the time being. Two weeks later I went back to the basement and the fan was still running. This time I decided to investigate. The basement is pretty big so in order to get over to the electric boxes I had to turn on a lot of lights. When I flipped all the switches in my box not only did the fan turn off, but so did all the lights. It turns out there is one outlet in the entire basement the landlords are actually paying for. I've tried to be nice and just move the fan to their outlet. They have moved it back and added a dehumidifier and another fan on top of it. So the two fans, all the lights, the dehumidifier, all the sump pumps and everything else have been running 24/7 for 4 months and I have been paying for it. I also forgot to mention since it was minor, but their entrance (i wasn't even given a key) has a hall and porch light. These lights go on at 5pm when they get home from work and stay on until they turn them off in the morning. During the summer they go away for the weekend and turn them on before they leave and they remain on until they return. These lights are also on my meter.
I confronted them a month ago about my concerns about the rising cost of my electric bill. I caught her completely off guard and she didn't know what to say. She tried to tell me that I was mistaken and that it all evens out. She also said my hall light was on their meter etc (which is still a common area so she would still be responsible), but she would look into it. Of course, here we are a month later and nothing has been done and my bill has gone up even more. I notified the electric company and they said I should have the board of health come in and inspect. If it turns out that it is wired improperly they would be responsible for past bills and every one going forward until it is corrected. Since I don't want to cause problems and I hate confrontation I wanted to give them one more chance. I am looking for a way to put this in writing, but am having a hard time finding the words to say. If given the opportunity I would love to just get out of the lease. Is it wrong to give them the option to a) let me out of the lease or b) fix the problem or start paying for the electric?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Putting it in writing seems like the best way to go.