Utilities question urgent

[raj3001]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? NJ

I have a tenant not paying utilities. I am the LL and utilities are in my name. In the lease it specifically says tenant is responsible for them. I spoke to utility company and they told me if I

am not responsible for them, I should close the account. I need to know what I should do? I am not turning off the utilities but technically I cannot be liable for the utilities.

Can I close the account?

Does closing the account constitute shutting off utilities in NJ, since I am told by several people that LL cannot shut off utilities on the tenants. However in this case the tenant is responsible for

paying utilities and it's in the lease and he refuses to pay and the balance due is growing day by day, please help...thanks

 

[Zigner]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? NJ

I have a tenant not paying utilities. I am the LL and utilities are in my name. In the lease it specifically says tenant is responsible for them. I spoke to utility company and they told me if I

am not responsible for them, I should close the account. I need to know what I should do? I am not turning off the utilities but technically I cannot be liable for the utilities.

Can I close the account?

Does closing the account constitute shutting off utilities in NJ, since I am told by several people that LL cannot shut off utilities on the tenants. However in this case the tenant is responsible for

paying utilities and it's in the lease and he refuses to pay and the balance due is growing day by day, please help...thanks

You cannot shut off the utilities as a way to retaliate against your tenants for not paying what they should be paying.

ETA: Don't take legal advice from the utility company. Had you simply listened to them, you could easily have found yourself in court being sued by your tenants.

 

[FarmerJ]

Is it that this tenants lease said they are to pay the utils and they simply refuse to call the util to create a account of own ? Or does your lease spell out that you are to be reimbursed for them ?

 

[BL]

Keep in mind without heat you could end up making costly repairs also.

 

[raj3001]

re:

hi FarmerJ and all

thanks a lot for your responses

the lease clearly says they are to pay the utils but they refuse to create the account.

 

[FarmerJ]

I would say to consider filing for eviction based on the tenant violating the lease and then if you must sue separately for the utils then maybe thats what you will have to do
but at this point since your state is so tenant friendly I do not see how the tenant can win this unless they have a massive chunk of cash because in order for them to stay they are going to have to pay the court cost & the amount of the util bill that you paid because they chose not to and do not bend one bit on this no leeway.

 

[Proserpina]

I would say to consider filing for eviction based on the tenant violating the lease and then if you must sue separately for the utils then maybe thats what you will have to do
but at this point since your state is so tenant friendly I do not see how the tenant can win this unless they have a massive chunk of cash because in order for them to stay they are going to have to pay the court cost & the amount of the util bill that you paid because they chose not to and do not bend one bit on this no leeway.

That sentence makes no sense..

 

[FarmerJ]

NJ is so tenant friendly there may not be much more this LL can do but take the tenant to court for violating the lease and even in tenant friendly NJ tenant is going to have to have every nickel of the money the LL already paid to keep the utils on even though lease says other wise and LLs filing fees ( tenant cant win on this one ) when you file for the eviction write the complaint that you are being billed ( amount ) for utilities the tenants lease with you requires them to pay the utils so this refusal to create a utility account is a breach of the lease . Prosperina your welcome to come over and re load more wood all night on the nights i go to work so my house is nice n warm and i will sleep more & be more awake when i post ~~~ Raj honesty I dont know why you chose to leave it in your name all this time , if you had called the elect utility earlier I doubt there could have been any legal action taken against you since the lease said they were to pay it. SO now you know what a crud you have for a tenant, get rid of them! NO partials in court you want it all at once and if they dont have it that day in court too bad for them. AS for future tenants get util cards from the utils have them fill them out in front of you so you can turn them in , if tenant wont , or util co no longer has them then make sure its in the leases that you require written confirmation of creation of utility accounts before they can move in.