Landlord stealing electricity

[blueyz]

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.

 

[Cvillecpm]

So keep unplugging or turning off the items on your bill until your lease is up then MOVE

 

[BL]

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?

No it's not wrong .

Explain you have been more than patient and understand there may be a need for them to run fans and a dehumidifier in the basement , but you are not going to continue to pay for their electricity .

Explain if something can't be worked out to compensate you ,or let you out of your lease and compensate you, you'll have no choice but to call the authorities to obtain a report .

If you need to get an inspection and a copy of the report once entered into records . Make sure you're still living there if you call them .

Keep all your Elect. bills , or obtain copies .

 

[MIRAKALES]

It sounds like tenant likes the apartments but wants to immediately remedy the electrical violation. A professional estimate from a licensed electrician is the first order of business. This may require an additional electrical meter for the premises if only two meters preexist. Advise LL of the cost to remedy the electrical violation and when the remedy is repaired then note the difference in the electrical bill for reimbursement. Otherwise, tenant will need to contact the buildings department regarding the violation which will not stand well with the LL/tenant relationship. LL will not likely pay prior electric bills without tenant being able to document a cost difference.

 

[FarmerJ]

Fair odds are your LL has known about this problem for years and years. Send your LL a simple letter , Dear LL , After speaking to you about all the electric stuff in common areas that is wired into the meter that I pay the bill for and no action being taken by you ,
this is your notice to correct this problem by having what ever changes made to the wiring done so that all common areas have 2 sets of lights /outlets that can be shut off from inside my unit and you have your own set so my electric use drops since the unit I live in would have control over its electric use OR in 10 days I will contact building inspections and voice my complaint there, Of course you know they have a right to inspect as they see fit and IF they find other violations likely they will write citations for those as well.

 

[acmb05]

So keep unplugging or turning off the items on your bill until your lease is up then MOVE

40 years experience and that's the best you can do. You advise them to basically ignore it and pay whatever they need to pay.

Best advice, call codes and have them inspect so they can't do this to the next tenant also.

 

[blueyz]

Fair odds are your LL has known about this problem for years and years.

I believe they do know about it. They were living in the apartment I am in before moving upstairs.

 

[Dirk Gently]

40 years experience and that's the best you can do. You advise them to basically ignore it and pay whatever they need to pay.

Best advice, call codes and have them inspect so they can't do this to the next tenant also.

This is a GREAT response -- really constructive.

Great job. No need to pay a licensed electrician to look at the problem like Mirakales suggests.

 

[caramelina]

blueyz,

Your tradeoff of letting you out of the lease or footing the electric bill seems fair. But I would imagine some landlords wouldn't want to blindly foot your electric bill, especially when summer comes and brings with it an a/c. If it's worth it to you to stay there, would you be willing to pay slightly higher rent if your landlord took over the electric bill? Say you thought maybe $40/month increase on your rent was about fair for your electric usage, as long as they modified the lease to state in writing that the landlord provides electricity. That option might look more attractive to the landlord than the prospect of you calling the inspector or wanting out of the lease.

good luck.

caramelina

 

[FarmerJ]

Blu Over the years I have encountered many multi units that had wiring that was not 100
% split. once in a while I really think it was ignorance & careless work done during a era of few electric appliances, I have seen a few times where it appears it was on purpose. But only units that have wall switches in each unit to control outlets and lights in common areas is the best way to go. The last multi unit I had I lived in one unit too, each unit had its own laundry outlets tied to lights in the basement. If one wanted to wash turn on the light, when all done turn it off. ( that place was a 4 plex , it had 4 sets of lights in the basement x 3 , pain in the butt when tenants stole bulbs till I marked bulbs with apt numbers) mostly it comes down to how anal local inspections will get with the LL about separation. if your not gonna call inspections then Use this problem as a tool and threaten to do it just to get the LL to either reduce your rent or stop the problem. Or let you out of your lease, its up to you.