Utiltiy Notice of Intent to lien my property for tenant's unpaid bill in another city

[ultrarunner]

^^^ It seems to mostly happen when the utility is municipal for what I can find out.

Absolutely no issues with the for profit gas and electric... the worst that can happen is the property owner has to document ownership to start service if the tenant left a balance.

 

[Coyote machine]

Not like that here.. For my duplex I give my my tenants 3 days to turn on power in their name, then have them sign a 'Notice to 3rd Party' paper that tells me when the service will be cut due to non-payment. If I get a notice, then I go and make sure the shared well will still work for the guy who IS paying and the power company shuts off the non-payors service. Once they are evicted, I have the power turned back on in my name and all is well. I do NOT pay for the non-payors and neither do I pay any 'reconnect fee'. If the tenant moves out and has the service disconnected, it automatically reverts to my name and I start paying from there. If I find that a tenant had it disconnected and is not moving out, trying to make me pay, I then evict and force a judgement on them. This can be in a little as 2 weeks to a month, so its not really like I'll have a huge bill by then. I can then garnish their wages. If its winter and there's a threat of pipes freezing, or if theres another immediate threat to the property or other tenants, I ask for an emergency injunction, eviction and removal of the tenants. This can be in as little as 3 days. The Sheriffs dept handles the removals and the landlord (me) can handle the storage of any property removed and charge a fee for said storage. If they do not pay that fee, I can auction off the property to helps offset costs and/or pay down the judgement.

Any State/Provence that punishes the actual land owner for the bills of the tenant is doing their economy a great disservice, IMO.

Ouch! You the man!:thumbsup: One has to protect oneself and their property against the scofflaw tenant, especially these days. The 3rd party notice is a great idea, and the whole judgement, eviction process sounds like the typical nightmare needed to force lowlife tenants to pay what they owe instead of trying to pass off their debts onto the landlord/landowner.

When I owned property in a Boro in CT there were taxes from the town AND the Boro. If I did not have my SIDEWALK in front of my houses shoveled within 12 hours of the cessation of a snowstorm, I would be fined by the town and charged for labor and materials to clean the sidewalk. If I did not pay the fine I would then have a lien put against my property.
I had a guy who would come by after his regular job to shovel and sand/salt my 100+' walkway in front of my property. One time, there was an ice/snow storm of the usual couple of inches, and he salted that night with intention to shovel the next morning when the ice had broken up. Well, the sidewalk viewer, an older woman in town hired to keep track of 12 hours after storms cessation, called out the town dogs. They cleared the sidewalk and billed me. By the time they came to do the job my guy had already cleared the walk, but they still billed me and fined me, etc. I documented the work and when it was done and spoke to the sidewalk viewer. She refused to listen and said the work must be paid for. I did not pay, and found out later she sent the bill to my mom, who owned 1/2 of the property with me. Mom paid, and I was furious, not at her, but at the viewer.
A few years after they put the lien on property provision in I found my neighbors not doing anything to their walks! Seems the town ended up with enough people not doing their walks and the town not having enough time/manpower to do all the walks they abandoned the whole fine, lien debacle!
I sold all my CT property in 2012. Good riddance!

 

[Midniteoyl]

Thats why my property here is outside town limits by 300 yds.. No BS 'town council' to worry about

 

[ultrarunner]

My experiences with cities is similar... a city tree damaged the city sidewalk and someone tripped and sued me!!!

City sent me an ordinance transferring liability to the adjacent property owner... said the city just didn't have the resources to deal with nuisance suits so it exempted itself by statute.

Called my insurance and said unfortunately it is true in my city... Insurance paid several thousand dollars to a woman scavenging recyclables from the trash can set out the eve of collection and tripped.

 

[ultrarunner]

I'm helping a friend with another water issue...

He rented his home when he was deployed... tenant ran into financial problems and broke the lease...

Tenant called water company for final bill and paid it.

Water company left service on as a "Courtesy" and put a note on the door of the vacant house to call within 72 hours to arrange for continuation of service.

He had me take a look two months later and I found water running, the toilet fllapper stuck, and turned off the water to the toilet... this was November 2012. Water has been off at the meter over one year.

He is back and water company says he has to pay $540 for time period water was left on as a courtesy otherwise water will stay off.

Nice neighbor, also a vet, is giving him water with an RV hose...

How water company can say they left the water on as a courtesy after processing the turn-off notice and expect payment is just another example of an out of control agency...

 

[Scooby074]

Unbelievable.

Ive spoken to (and shown this thread to) some members of family that are in the Legal field, none of them believe this is happening. How the government can attach your property for something tenants did at SOMEONE elses property is hard to fathom.

Even holding a landlord responsible for non-payment (ie: defaulting on water bill) while in their building and then holding the landlord responsible is crazy in their eyes.

How can you hold a landlord responsible for the actions of a tenant, be it selling drugs (assuming the landlord had no knowledge) or merely not paying the water?

Government run amuck!!

 

[Coyote machine]

Unbelievable.

Ive spoken to (and shown this thread to) some members of family that are in the Legal field, none of them believe this is happening. How the government can attach your property for something tenants did at SOMEONE elses property is hard to fathom.

Even holding a landlord responsible for non-payment (ie: defaulting on water bill) while in their building and then holding the landlord responsible is crazy in their eyes.

How can you hold a landlord responsible for the actions of a tenant, be it selling drugs (assuming the landlord had no knowledge) or merely not paying the water?

Government run amuck!!

Shotgun approach! Scatter the shot, (arm to reach for a responsible person as far as it can reach), hope to find someone standing who can be attached to by 'legal' means.
Don't even think about what can happen if they turn your house into a crack/meth lab, then the gov't will seize everything, and still hold the property owner responsible too!? Welcome to Amerika!:confused3::shocked: