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    • shared utilities
  • 79759
Question from fourbaggermtNov-3
I have been living in a apartment for 19 months and just found out that another apartment utilities are on my meters.The owner of the complex had another apartment built below the duplex which sits on a hill. At one point she was living in the apartment below and her daughter was in the apartment I live in now. When I rented this apartment in March oh 2008 the property manager said nothing about shared utilities. The only thing that was stated verbally was water was included, after a month of waiting for a bill. I went to the town and filled out my application for water and the application sat there waiting for the owner to transfer rights. The property manager collected the rent monthly. He passed away in June of 2008. At that time the owner who lives out of state appointed I to collect rent from the other two tenants and deposit all three rent monies into her account. I did as instructed. Apt. C which is the Apt . down below has sense been rerented by another couple , which was occupied by a single woman from the time I moved in March 2008 until  July 2009. At the time of the single woman moving out the owner appointed another Property Manager to re-rent and take over collecting rent from all three apts. My electric bill spiked an extra 100.00 for the month of August. that is when I was notified by APS that there is only 2 meters( 1 for apt. A and 1 for apt. B) . The same is for the gas and water. So all this time i have been paying for the gas and electricity for Apt. C. What recourse do i have with the owner? Can I with hold rent until the utilities problem gets resolved?
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Fallen Nov-3 79759.2

"The only thing that was stated verbally was water was included, after a month of waiting for a bill."

Sorry, but this is a bit out of context/garbled.  Do you mean that water/sewer was supposed to be included in the rent?  Even if that's not so, not clear why you'd have to submit an application to a town to have water/whatever account be put in your name ("transfer rights").  If landlord wasn't sending you a water bill, you could ask the town how much it would normally run on your unit and set aside the money until landlord came asking for it.

"At that time the owner who lives out of state appointed I to collect rent from the other two tenants and deposit all three rent monies into her account. I did as instructed."

Er, uhm, you didn't have to do any such thing.  :)  I'd have told the landlord, politely, to pound sand (unless taking care of this for him-her meant I'd get money off my rent). 

I'd ask the town if there are separate meters required for separate living units.

"What recourse do i have with the owner?"

To sue the landlord for the extra money.

"Can I with hold rent until the utilities problem gets resolved?"

That would be a bad idea; I imagine all that would get you is an eviction notice.  Even in the few states where their law allows for withholding rent, that's only as it relates to health-safety-habitability issues. 

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