Turning off utilities - Landlord Forum thread

Turning off utilities by Maryann Baker on March 12, 2002 @11:08

My tenant signed his lease at the end of October, in the lease agreement he is to have the gas and electricity changed over to his name. At this time he still has not done so claiming he owes previous bills and cannot change them at this time. He did however agree to reimburse me for the bills. At this time he has not payed the bills and they have accumulated to over $300. Can I have these utilities turned off since our lease does state that the tenant will be responsible for these? And how much notice do I legally need to give?

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Re: Turning off utilities by Lisa W on March 14, 2002 @11:14	[ Reply ]

Maryann Baker on 3/12/102 11:08 AM said: >>My tenant signed his lease at the end of October, in the lease agreement he is to have the gas and electricity changed over to his name. At this time he still has not done so claiming he owes previous bills and cannot change them at this time. He did however agree to reimburse me for the bills. At this time he has not payed the bills and they have accumulated to over $300. Can I have these utilities turned off since our lease does state that the tenant will be responsible for these? And how much notice do I legally need to give? >> Maryann, You'll probably have to eat a loss due to this jerk. You can, at least in FL..check your state's L/T statutes, send or post a 7 day notice claiming that he needs to comply with the clause in his lease to put the utilities in his name. He has breached his lease. If he doesn't he needs to vacate the property within the 7 days. In FL you CANNOT turn off the utilities. Check your state's laws. You can, however, evict due to breaching the lease as long as you've given proper notice. Some of our tenants get the utilities put in a friend's name if they owe. You might suggest that. Lisa