I live in Ohio.
On October 9, 2003, I filed Bankrupcy. It was discharged on February 10, 2004. I owned rental properties. I had the house meters in my name and I also had a Landlord Contract in place. The Landlord contract automaticlly put any empty apartment service in my name. In the bankrupcy filling, I filed against the local utility company (Gas and Electric). After the discharge, I started receiving bills for the properties. The bills showed that billing for services had stopped in my name under the account number for the property on October 9, 2004, which is the date that I filed the bankrupcy. It also showed a new account number under my name for the property which billing started again on October 9, 2004. I talked to the lawyer for the utility company and he said that they had to continue to bill me because people where in the buildings.
Before I filed the Bankrupcy, I had asked my lawyer a few times, if I needed to send the utility company a letter telling them to stop billing me. He said no because once they received the paperwork from the court they would stop. When I started getting letters from collection agencies about the bills, I asked my lawyer again did I need to send the utility company a letter? He still said no. I sent the Utility company a letter anyway on October 30, 2004 telling them to stop billing me and to cancel the Landlord contract. My lawyer called the lawyer for the utility company about the bills. The lawyer for the utility company said they where in their rights to change the account number and keep billing me because there where people still in the buildings. Then the lawyer stopped returning calls to my lawyer. My lawyer has now told me for him to fight this in court it will cost me about $500.00. He also told me that I should not do anything concerning sueing the utility company concerning the collection of debt under the Bankrupcy laws. He told me to wait until they sued me and then respone to the suit. When I last talked to a collection rep at the utility company about these bills, she told me that their lawyer told them to bill me for service from the date my bankrupcy was filed up to the date that they received the letter from me telling them to stop billing me. The rep from the utility company asked me to fax her a list of the account numbers and she would send me a bill for them. My lawyer told me to get the bill so we can see how much the billing are for the 21 days. I faxed to the utility rep the list of account numbers on October 3, 2004 but I still have not received a bill. I did receive today a bill from a collection agency for one of the bills. I called the rep from the utility company and received her voicemail asking again for a bill for the 21 day from the date of my filing to the date of my letter.
My question is: What can I do to get this cleared up? I filed the bankrupcy, and after filing, I never sent the utility company a letter asking for service to continue in my name nor did I send them any deposits for service to continue in my name. When the service in the building was going to be turned off, the utility company sent each tenant a letter telling them the service was going to be turned off and they could call and have the service continue since they still where living there.
Please help! This is a nightmare.
This is also being reported to my credit report. My lawyer has advised me not to pay anything because I don't owe it because everything was dischaged and the utility company is just playing hardball with me. My lawyer told me the utility company could not turn off service to the building as long as someone was living there but they did not have to bill me for the service. Especially, since I did not request in any form that service continue in my name.
On October 9, 2003, I filed Bankrupcy. It was discharged on February 10, 2004. I owned rental properties. I had the house meters in my name and I also had a Landlord Contract in place. The Landlord contract automaticlly put any empty apartment service in my name. In the bankrupcy filling, I filed against the local utility company (Gas and Electric). After the discharge, I started receiving bills for the properties. The bills showed that billing for services had stopped in my name under the account number for the property on October 9, 2004, which is the date that I filed the bankrupcy. It also showed a new account number under my name for the property which billing started again on October 9, 2004. I talked to the lawyer for the utility company and he said that they had to continue to bill me because people where in the buildings.
Before I filed the Bankrupcy, I had asked my lawyer a few times, if I needed to send the utility company a letter telling them to stop billing me. He said no because once they received the paperwork from the court they would stop. When I started getting letters from collection agencies about the bills, I asked my lawyer again did I need to send the utility company a letter? He still said no. I sent the Utility company a letter anyway on October 30, 2004 telling them to stop billing me and to cancel the Landlord contract. My lawyer called the lawyer for the utility company about the bills. The lawyer for the utility company said they where in their rights to change the account number and keep billing me because there where people still in the buildings. Then the lawyer stopped returning calls to my lawyer. My lawyer has now told me for him to fight this in court it will cost me about $500.00. He also told me that I should not do anything concerning sueing the utility company concerning the collection of debt under the Bankrupcy laws. He told me to wait until they sued me and then respone to the suit. When I last talked to a collection rep at the utility company about these bills, she told me that their lawyer told them to bill me for service from the date my bankrupcy was filed up to the date that they received the letter from me telling them to stop billing me. The rep from the utility company asked me to fax her a list of the account numbers and she would send me a bill for them. My lawyer told me to get the bill so we can see how much the billing are for the 21 days. I faxed to the utility rep the list of account numbers on October 3, 2004 but I still have not received a bill. I did receive today a bill from a collection agency for one of the bills. I called the rep from the utility company and received her voicemail asking again for a bill for the 21 day from the date of my filing to the date of my letter.
My question is: What can I do to get this cleared up? I filed the bankrupcy, and after filing, I never sent the utility company a letter asking for service to continue in my name nor did I send them any deposits for service to continue in my name. When the service in the building was going to be turned off, the utility company sent each tenant a letter telling them the service was going to be turned off and they could call and have the service continue since they still where living there.
Please help! This is a nightmare.
This is also being reported to my credit report. My lawyer has advised me not to pay anything because I don't owe it because everything was dischaged and the utility company is just playing hardball with me. My lawyer told me the utility company could not turn off service to the building as long as someone was living there but they did not have to bill me for the service. Especially, since I did not request in any form that service continue in my name.