Found out I've been paying the utilities for my neighbor for almost 5 years

[Paladin3]

I live in a crappy little apartment in the sticks of North Idaho. The building isn't even zoned for residential, but is actually commercial space turned into three little apartments. Mine is a small two bedroom and I have a single neighbor who lives in an little studio next door. The other studio on the far side of the building has always been vacant.

Rent is reasonable, mostly because it's a shithole. Water and sewer are a set amount added on to my rent, but I pay my own metered gas and electricity which are in my name. I had a lease the first year I live here, but have been month to month since. The rent has been increased a small amount twice since then.

Through a comedy of events I learned today that the entire time I've lived here there has only been one set of gas/electrical meters that serve both my two bedroom apartment, and the other two smaller units. Only one of those has been occupied, by a single tenant, for roughly 3 of the 5 years I've lived here. So, that entire time I've been paying all the electrical and gas for the entire building. Mostly just the one neighbor, though.

This is North Idaho and it gets cold here at least 6 months a year. It also gets hot for a few months each summer. I've always chalked the high utilities up to my kid (who is now 20 and just moved out to finish college) living with me, keeping the heat turned up, the lack of good insulation and expensive utility prices. But now I realize I'm paying for the entire farking building!

I just texted my landlord very nicely telling her what I had discovered, and telling her we needed to talk about the situation. So far she hasn't contacted me, but it's only been a few hours.

Any advise, thoughts, comments or even jokes you guys might have would be appreciated. I mostly just wanted the opportunity to share this absurd situation I seem to have gotten myself into.

 

[HomerJS]

Unless they are willing to eat the cost of electricity from this point forward you may need a lawyer. Since you are month to month it's still complicated because he could raise your rent to cover the cost of electric which he now covers.

You may need a new multi-year lease that allows you to opt out at your discretion.

 

[[DHT]Osiris]

Keep in mind, that third 'empty apartment' is still climate controlled, no landlord would let it sit through idaho winters without the thermostat set to a token 55 or something. Same for summers for dehumidification. You're gettin' juiced, kid.

 

[ch33zw1z]

Damn that sucks, maybe start finding a lawyer just in case LL gets defensive about it

 

[deadlyapp]

I'd be super super careful depending on what your situation here is. If it isn't zoned residential, that's probably why there is only one meter - you can't get a second meter hooked up without some significant re-work of the electrical, including permits, having a fire inspection performed, etc. Very possible that your landlord just says "NO" and makes you deal with the other tenant (which I don't know if I would accept unless you're on particularly good terms), which then puts you in the tight position of either A) reporting the landlord, and very likely losing your apartment or B) trying to find a middle ground (eg make the landlord put in a dedicated sub-panel with a current meter).

Everything about this screams "find a new place" to me.

 

[Midwayman]

Yikes. That should explicitly be spelled out in your lease if you're paying for it. Do you have access to the breakers? You might just turn off power to the other parts of the building.

 

[Kaido]

Ahhhhhhh that stinks! I've hit a few situations like that in my life, where you don't realize you're over-doing something for years & years & then you discover a whole new reality. Kind of makes your brain do a mental shift into new & weird territory lol.

 

[BudAshes]

I'd be super super careful depending on what your situation here is. If it isn't zoned residential, that's probably why there is only one meter - you can't get a second meter hooked up without some significant re-work of the electrical, including permits, having a fire inspection performed, etc. Very possible that your landlord just says "NO" and makes you deal with the other tenant (which I don't know if I would accept unless you're on particularly good terms), which then puts you in the tight position of either A) reporting the landlord, and very likely losing your apartment or B) trying to find a middle ground (eg make the landlord put in a dedicated sub-panel with a current meter).

Everything about this screams "find a new place" to me.

Knowing northern Idaho, it's likely the same person that owns this building also hands out the permits.

 

[zinfamous]

Yikes. That should explicitly be spelled out in your lease if you're paying for it. Do you have access to the breakers? You might just turn off power to the other parts of the building.

that's a good take. Just inform the other tenant of the situation and what it will now cost them to keep their power on. Probably best option really is to find a new place if possible.

I lived in one place several years back where the neighbor across the hall learned that he was paying for the nighttime hall light (open air 4-flat). It pissed him off to being a deal-breaker....and probably cost him like $20 per year, maybe less? I think it was an LED, hah.

 

[Gardener]

Look at your overall costs, if its still a good deal, don't rock the boat. If it isn't, ask your landlord for an adjustment, or move. Aim low, its Idaho.

 

[pete6032]

dlt

 

[Paladin3]

First off, I want to apologize for posting this and then running off. I've been out of town for a bit and then it slipped my mind.

The issue is resolved, as least mostly to my satisfaction. My landlord finally texted me back saying the water heater does indeed serve both units, but that it and the utilities for the other units are on separate meters and they pay for those. They assure me I've only been paying my unit's utilities.

I don't know if I completely believe them, so tomorrow I am going to call my local utility companies and confirm all of this. If I find out they are lying I probably won't go the route of finding a lawyer, instead I will let them know I'm no longer paying rent going forward until I move at the end of the year.

I'm a widower and my youngest child just moved away to finish college. I like the quiet and outdoor sports of North Idaho, but there's nothing holding me here any longer. I've got another daughter just across the boarder in Northeast Washington who I'd like very much to live near. The hunting and fishing are almost as good there.

 

[highland145]

Just look for the meter(s). Only 1 and you know what that means.

 

[Paladin3]

Oh, and just for a bit of history, the female half of the couple who own this building has been shady since I first moved in here. I had to move on short notice and was stupid enough to sign the lease when she only had one copy. She said she would make a copy and send it to me and never has. That was five years ago. I suspect she lost it. She asked me to sign a new lease after the first year and I told her no. She told me to move out and I asked for an eviction notice in writing and she never mentioned it again. That was four years ago.

But she quickly proved how nutty she is that first year when I had guests visit for two weeks and she tried to "fine" me $300 for unauthorized house guests. I asked her where in the lease does it say I agreed to that. She couldn't so she just threatened me which turned into us yelling and cursing at each other for half an hour. She kept telling me to move out if I didn't like it, but when I asked for an eviction notice it writing she backed down.

Since then she and I have been in several nasty arguments where she tells me I need to move out, but won't give me an eviction notice in writing. I get along splendidly with her husband, but she thinks because this is North Idaho she can do anything she wants.

I was sick for several month and couldn't work or pay rent last year. It took me three months to get caught up, and I told her the entire time that if she couldn't wait for her rent to send me an eviction notice. I didn't get so much as a pay or quit notice from her.

Fact is, once I move out, I don't think she will have an easy time renting out this dump.

 

[Paladin3]

Just look for the meter(s). Only 1 and you know what that means.

There are four meters out there, but her husband is a contractor. If he knows enough to put the hot water heater in my apartment on a separate meter from the rest of my apartment, then he could have done anything. I'll have to call the utility company on my next day off to find out which have active accounts.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Turn off your main breaker - hopefully you have access to that. Then go look at the meter and take note of the number, then come back in an hour to see if it changed. Might need to go longer as I think the digital meters only count kwhs so if there is only a small load it might not register for an hour. If it's the old style with the wheel then even better since you'll know right away, technically the wheel should not be turning at all.

But yeah if your overall costs are low compared to if you moved to another place, it might not be worth to rock the boat, but at least make sure they realize you are on top of things like that so they don't try to pull off anything weird.

 

[deadlyapp]

Turn off your main breaker - hopefully you have access to that. Then go look at the meter and take note of the number, then come back in an hour to see if it changed. Might need to go longer as I think the digital meters only count kwhs so if there is only a small load it might not register for an hour. If it's the old style with the wheel then even better since you'll know right away, technically the wheel should not be turning at all.

But yeah if your overall costs are low compared to if you moved to another place, it might not be worth to rock the boat, but at least make sure they realize you are on top of things like that so they don't try to pull off anything weird.

Shit - I'd just turn off any valves I see and just sit back and wait to see if the neighbors come knock on the door. There is a primary lock out on the gas meter and you should be able to identify which one is yours, same for electric you should have a primary interrupt if it is a commercial building and the breaker isn't located immediately adjacent to the meter.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Shit - I'd just turn off any valves I see and just sit back and wait to see if the neighbors come knock on the door. There is a primary lock out on the gas meter and you should be able to identify which one is yours, same for electric you should have a primary interrupt if it is a commercial building and the breaker isn't located immediately adjacent to the meter.

Lock out tag out.... that could be fun actually. Do it before going on vacation for 2 weeks.

 

[ultimatebob]

I've seen landlords pull similar stunts like this, but mostly because they were illegally subdividing a private home into apartments. Of course, there are usually other hints to shenanigans like this, where the landlord only wants their rent in cash every month.

If that was the case (and it doesn't seem to be here), I would just ask the landlord to put the utilities in their name. They'll usually work a deal with you. Otherwise, they end up getting in possible legal trouble when you complain to the utility, and they start doing investigation. If that happens, people are gonna get evicted, and you'll probably get the short straw on that deal.

 

[Red Squirrel]

I always wondered, is it legal for a land lord to have one hydro service, but setup their own meters that they own, then bill that way? It would save the landlord and the tenants lot of money not needing a separate delivery fee for each service if they could do that. Usually around $100.

 

[deadlyapp]

I always wondered, is it legal for a land lord to have one hydro service, but setup their own meters that they own, then bill that way? It would save the landlord and the tenants lot of money not needing a separate delivery fee for each service if they could do that. Usually around $100.

There's nothing illegal about it as long as its written into the lease appropriately. Many complex's have only single use water and sewer and it's just baked into the rent - no reason why you can't do it with electric either. There are possibly some code needs for individual panel access, but no reason why you couldn't have sub-panels within the apartment.

You can also buy current meters that clamp onto the incoming main lines and you could just check them every month and bill tenants accordingly. This is actually how our business is set up - we have a subpanel to the unit next door since the landlord didn't want to get a new meter head installed. We have a current meter tied into the incoming line with a digital readout of the consumption and we just write it down every month and settle up with our neighbor.

 

[Tweak155]

The setup you describe is common for much older multi-family homes around here. It doesn't sound too fishy to me, but always best to verify.

If you haven't thought "man my utility bill is crazy" multiple times over the past 5 years, chances are you're in good shape.

 

[fralexandr]

I always wondered, is it legal for a land lord to have one hydro service, but setup their own meters that they own, then bill that way? It would save the landlord and the tenants lot of money not needing a separate delivery fee for each service if they could do that. Usually around $100.

Yep, but legally the local meters/weights & measures may have a registration fee, for example in california that amounts to ~$100/year + a few per device. If it's a small multiunit they probably won't notice/enforce it, but for large subdivisions they're going to have to pay the fee. Also, the meters should be tested for accuracy every several years.

California Code, BPC 12240