nobodysweasel
Junior Member
I'm located in Utah.
I and several friends moved into a house last September with a contract lasting through this past April. Upon ariving at the house (contracts had been signed earlier), we found it to be in very poor condition, including broken windows that would cause high utilities bills. The representative of our management company promised us that many things would be repaired and that we would not be paying utilities until these repairs were made.
In march, the person who made this promise to us was fired and the person hired in his place is asking us to pay for all of our utilities.
I realize that our contracts do indeed say that we will pay utilities, but I've been trying to find the law in regard to verbal agreements. The management company created a course of conduct that indicates that they were in agreement with the conditions laid out verbally. Payment of utilities was not solicited until the month of April. Several conversations by several roommates with the management company confirmed that we would not be paying utilities. At one point $60 of utilities were removed from my account after one of these conversations, of which I have written evidence (however, when the new people started working they reassigned those $60 to my account).
I'm currently working on setting up an arbitration hearing, which, according to our contracts, is binding to the management company. I'd like to be able to cite any portion of the Utah Code that would support our case. Anyone have any idea if such a course of conduct would override a written contract? Anyone know how I could find this in the Utah law?
This is just the bare bones of our case. I have something like 4 pages single spaced explaining things more in detail, so if you'd need more information, I have plenty.
Oh, and utilities might not seem like a big deal, but we're starving students, and utilities over 8 months, including a very cold winter, total up to be quite a bit.
Thanks so much for your help.
-Shawn
I and several friends moved into a house last September with a contract lasting through this past April. Upon ariving at the house (contracts had been signed earlier), we found it to be in very poor condition, including broken windows that would cause high utilities bills. The representative of our management company promised us that many things would be repaired and that we would not be paying utilities until these repairs were made.
In march, the person who made this promise to us was fired and the person hired in his place is asking us to pay for all of our utilities.
I realize that our contracts do indeed say that we will pay utilities, but I've been trying to find the law in regard to verbal agreements. The management company created a course of conduct that indicates that they were in agreement with the conditions laid out verbally. Payment of utilities was not solicited until the month of April. Several conversations by several roommates with the management company confirmed that we would not be paying utilities. At one point $60 of utilities were removed from my account after one of these conversations, of which I have written evidence (however, when the new people started working they reassigned those $60 to my account).
I'm currently working on setting up an arbitration hearing, which, according to our contracts, is binding to the management company. I'd like to be able to cite any portion of the Utah Code that would support our case. Anyone have any idea if such a course of conduct would override a written contract? Anyone know how I could find this in the Utah law?
This is just the bare bones of our case. I have something like 4 pages single spaced explaining things more in detail, so if you'd need more information, I have plenty.
Oh, and utilities might not seem like a big deal, but we're starving students, and utilities over 8 months, including a very cold winter, total up to be quite a bit.
Thanks so much for your help.
-Shawn