Can I shut off the utilities to my tenants room?

Can I shut off the utilities to my tenants room? by Amber (California) on August 20, 2012 @19:15

ok so i rent a back room out with its own access. its similar to a studio except no kitchen sink. Anyway it has its own breaker box but they are attatched to the same meter as ours so we include the utilities with thier rent. They haven't paid their rent in 2 months. Can we leagally shut off their electricity for not paying us rent?

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Re: Can I shut off the utilities to my tenants room? by Anonymous on August 20, 2012 @19:45	[ Reply ]

Nope. You can be heavily fined and in some states arrested for shutting off utilities. If they haven't paid rent in 2 months, you should be filing eviction papers and having a court date soon. Have you posted or mailed a certified letter of a pay or quit notice?

Re: Can I shut off the utilities to my tenants room?

Re: Can I shut off the utilities to my tenants room? by Sammi (Ca) on August 21, 2012 @14:58	[ Reply ]

NO !!!!

Re: Can I shut off the utilities to my tenants room? by Anonymous on August 21, 2012 @15:07	[ Reply ]

YES! Shut it off ASAP. Your tenant can use the additional money that you would be sued for. Also you would be adding to the ecomonic income of the tenants attorney. They could all use some help, so do it now!