What hould I do?

[Harvey87]

What is the name of your state? Pennsylvania
I recently moved into an apartment with a friend after hi roommate moved out. The landlord was made aware of this. Ive mentioned a lease on numerous occasions but he said he hadn't gotten around to it. after about a month the electricity was cut off. We were told utilities were included in the rent. after giving hi 500 the power was restored. Again last week the power was cut and the bill was sent to our apartment. when we gave it to his wife she opened it in front of me where I discovered the bill wasn't in the owners name. that's also when I discovered we shared utilities with another apartment. He then told us we had to pay 350 to have the power restored, we did, but the next day he came with the mobey saying it wasn't enough to have it restored...and if we didn't produce 800 not only would the electric not be turned on but the other utilities would also be terminated. being that the utilities are shared, its illegal for them not to be included in the rent. so for the past week ive been staying in a htel, lost all our food in the fridge, and hes now saying we must vacate immediately. Also because we refuse to pay 800 (which he said the power alone is 19000 behind) he now all of a sudden is saying he never gave me permission to live there. I don't know what else to do because Im running out of money for these hotels..and I cant stay in a house with no water, electricity or gas.

 

[Gail in Georgia]

" (which he said the power alone is 19000 behind)"?????

While your posting is a big confusing it would seem that your best choice is to move out and find another place to rent. And that one should have a lease that clearly describes who is responsible for what utilities.

Gail

 

[FarmerJ]

Your next place , when you go to see it also walk around it and count electric meters , if its a 2 unit house 2 meters , If its a four unit that has heat inc and you don't see five meters look in the fuse box for the apartment you are looking at to see if it list a fuse/ breaker as heat/ furnace. If its a larger building ( newer building with a locked meter room because each apartments fuse box/ breaker box is in each apartment then its better odds this would not be a concern. As to the LL saying you didn't have permission to be there, Once you lived there more than a month then you would have all the rights of a tenant in your state has as a month to month tenant and if LL doesn't like it , too bad! As to the power bill being in someone else name other than the LL, it appears the LL has known about one apartment paying the bill for both apartments all along . ( BTW just so you know, it is not illegal for a utility meter to be shared , unless a local law says so, but what is more common with a so called shared meter is that a state will require a written disclosure to the tenant who is paying the bill on that shared meter that it is a shared meter / supplying something else outside of their control like a garage in a multi unit or say hall lights, or laundry room. Other wise some LLs just pay the bill them self and apportion a share to a tenant or just include it. Since the power is off has your city come out to condemn the building yet ?