Former Owner - Electric Meter

[Landlordnh]

I bought a two family residence a year ago in NH. Inspection went fine, etc. The tenant (a nice old lady) complained about how her electric bill had became real high out of nowhere under the previous owner. I had someone come check it out (including the inspector) and they could find nothing wrong with the boxes in the basement. Fast forward a year later - the electric company came to my place to investigate. I am assuming my tenant had kept complaining on how her bill was so high. Overall, it did not make sense - since she is an older lady and barely runs anything.

Come to find out - the previous owner had someone come in without notifying the electric company and had someone switch the meters. For years she had been paying the upstairs apartments electricity and the upstairs apartment had been paying hers. The electric company has fixed the issue and has yet to "close the investigation." I am speculating they would credit her account and then proceed to charge me - the difference from the time it started to happen.

Guess my question is - if they do come after me for the money. Could I go after the previous owner for not disclosing that he did this - on top of that - it's illegal.

 

[quincy]

I bought a two family residence a year ago in NH. Inspection went fine, etc. The tenant (a nice old lady) complained about how her electric bill had became real high out of nowhere under the previous owner. I had someone come check it out (including the inspector) and they could find nothing wrong with the boxes in the basement. Fast forward a year later - the electric company came to my place to investigate. I am assuming my tenant had kept complaining on how her bill was so high. Overall, it did not make sense - since she is an older lady and barely runs anything.

Come to find out - the previous owner had someone come in without notifying the electric company and had someone switch the meters. For years she had been paying the upstairs apartments electricity and the upstairs apartment had been paying hers. The electric company has fixed the issue and has yet to "close the investigation." I am speculating they would credit her account and then proceed to charge me - the difference from the time it started to happen.

Guess my question is - if they do come after me for the money. Could I go after the previous owner for not disclosing that he did this - on top of that - it's illegal.

How do you know the previous owner was responsible for the switch in the meters?

 

[Landlordnh]

The tenant said he had some people working on the electricity and he had the meters replaced. Her bill after that nearly tripled. The electricity of one versus 4. After that she argued with him and he told her that she is finally paying what she is supposed to. Guess he was a real a@@hole all the time. So he had been living here and his electricity was one price per month, then all of a sudden it dropped significantly and hers went up

 

[adjusterjack]

If I'm reading this correctly the former owner lived in the upstairs unit. Correct?

Do you now live in the upstairs unit?

 

[LdiJ]

The tenant said he had some people working on the electricity and he had the meters replaced. Her bill after that nearly tripled. The electricity of one versus 4. After that she argued with him and he told her that she is finally paying what she is supposed to. Guess he was a real a@@hole all the time. So he had been living here and his electricity was one price per month, then all of a sudden it dropped significantly and hers went up

There is a slim chance that he did not do it on purpose...that a mistake was made when the new meters were hooked up. However, his comment that she was "finally paying what she was supposed to pay" is more than a bit telling.

You can certainly try to sue him for any additional amounts that you might have to pay as a result of his actions/nondisclosures. I would if I were in your shoes. However, it's almost guaranteed to be a small claims case.

 

[zddoodah]

I am speculating they would credit her account and then proceed to charge me - the difference from the time it started to happen.

From the time it started to happen? Why? From the time you bought the property would make more sense.

Could I go after the previous owner for not disclosing that he did this - on top of that - it's illegal.

Anyone can "go after" anyone for anything. If, for some reason, you were charged for what happened before you bought the property, you'd have a viable indemnity claim (you might even have one for the charges since you bought the property). But it wouldn't be a non-disclosure issue (although I'm not familiar with any statutorily required disclosure form for NH, so that could be wrong).

How long ago did you buy the property? And what is the approximate average difference in dollars?

 

[FarmerJ]

If you lived there after buying it ALL the electric company may be able to do is ask you to pay a corrected amount for your usage but they cant make you pay for the previous owners electric use . , Im kind of surprised the electric co didnt discover this sooner , before we had the new meters that do not need a human to read them the electric co used to come out once a year to read the meter and 11 months we wrote the reading on the card sent in when the bill was paid and those newer meters normally tell the electric utility when they lose power and are plugged back in which can trigger them sending someone out to look. SO learn what your states laws are if any that address utility bill corrections and take a wait and see view BUT stand your ground with them that you will not pay for corrections that inc a past owness bills