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Breaker storry - part 2
by John (NY)
on October 6, 2015 @05:21
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As some of you already know, my T was without power for the past 10 days. Yesterday, the power company came to change the gas meter. The worker need to enter the apartment. T was absent. So I went to the front door, and I open the door for the worker.
The worker makes a tour in the apartment and we noticed that more than a dozen of electrical wires and extension cords were running on the floor (hardwood floor). We also noticed a big extension cord running from the apartment to the neighbor's house
T came and he started yelling and screaming at me because I entered his apartment. Power Company worker told him he asked to enter the apartment for security. He then told him to unplug the extensions cords. T continued to scream and yell to us.
Having an extension cord running from a house to the neighbor's house is a violation.
Who is responsible ?
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Re: Breaker storry - part 2
by Anonymous
on October 6, 2015 @11:42
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"Having an extension cord running from a house to the neighbor's house is a violation"
Violation of what?
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Re: Breaker storry - part 2
by anonymous (FL)
on October 6, 2015 @12:19
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Sorry, but I think you misstepped.
It does not sound like you gave notice to the tenant that you may need to enter the unit. You can enter without notice in case of an emergency (danger to the tenant or unit). Having a service guy on location and needing access does not constitute an emergency situation. I believe that most judges would say that you breached the lease.
If the tenant is feeding electricity to another unit and you are paying for it, then you can consider it a violation; but if he is paying for it, then maybe not.
It would be best for you to apologize to the tenant for entering the unit. Tell him that you misjudged the urgency of the power issue and this sort of thing is not the norm for you (and it better not be). Then you work WITH him to resolve the cord issue and NOT penalize him for his missteps.
Now, if you did give notice that you may need to enter the unit, then the T has no leg to stand on as far as his complaints and in a very professional manner in writing, you should tell him to clean up the electrical cords for the safety of the unit.
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Re: Breaker storry - part 2
by anon
on October 6, 2015 @14:26
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I would have telephoned the tenant. Sounds like you have poor communication with tenant. What is the problem NOW? Did the power get fixed? Did you have an electrician check the status of several extension cords? You do your job as a landlord and document everything. Did you take a photo of all the extension cords and the cord from a neighbor?
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Re: Breaker storry - part 2
by Anonymous
on October 6, 2015 @16:03
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If I understand correctly, your unit is without electric power and your tenant is obtaining electricity through an extension from the neighbor. The electric utility company considers this theft and it is an electrical hazard in your unit. The tenant will be sued by the electric utility company when/if they learn of it. You will be sued by the tenant or anyone else harmed when/if this situation causes a trip, slip or fall or a fire. I would tell the tenant I entered the unit because he has no electric service so I was checking for abandonment. Further, I would send him a cure/quit notice to get the electric utility turned back on in his name or get gone. Then I would evict.
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Re: Breaker storry - part 2
by Geoff (NY)
on October 7, 2015 @12:03
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If you already knew there was an issue with utilities, and you were there at normal working hours with a representative of the utility then most judges in NY would apply common sense to the situation and on the basis of safety would grant expedient access to the property. In fact most judges from the court sessions I have attended would be more upset with the landlord decided to postpone the necessary actions by the utility company if it would delay the tenant regaining his utilities. What really should have happened was that you should have decided on the basis of seeing the extension cord to the neighbor's house you had the right to immediately investigate the property for potential fire hazards (and code violations ) which you found. It is up to you to decide whether this is an aberration of an otherwise good tenant, or the beginning of a pattern of a bad one. A good tenant would have given you a heads up that he was just running a cord to keep the fridge running. and was diligently working towards fixing his screw-up. If he was trying to run his whole apartment from a single 120 volt 15 or 20 Amp outside extension cord then he was creating a fire hazard, if he was running a 240 volt higher amperage line he was creating a serious hazard of electrocution.
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