Tenant did not pay utilities.

[tstall]

I had a tenant who left without paying the last month's rent and 3 month's utilities. The deposit does not cover the utilities. She did not leave a forwarding address and her cell phone is disconected. I am unable to locate her or get in contact with her. The utilities department has sent me the utilities bill and said I must pay. Is it my responsibility to pay the utilities bill even though it was in the tenant's name?

In some areas, the property owner is responsible for some utility bills. Here, we are responsible for water bills. You need to check with the individual utility company. If you are responsible, you have to pay or get a lien placed on the property. Then keep attempting to locate the old tenant so you can sue her for the extra money she owes. Try locating her by phone numbers on the application, try zabasearch dot com, or run another credit check later.

My husband had to sign something with the gas company stating that he is not responsible for tenants not paying and that he is not responsible if they move out ,, call the utility companies and see if they have something like that ,,, he then faxed it to them and since then we have not had any trouble

Some utilities will not allow you to opt out of this obligation. Some force the property owner to be the guarantor of the tenant. If the tenant does not pay, the company pursues the property owner for the money. If the owner does not pay, the company places a lien on the property. Usually these are municipal utility comapnies like water comapnies, but some areas do this with combined utility bills. Here, LLs have gotten stuck with $600-700 bills because of this. You need to contact the utility comapny and inquire about their policy. See if opting out is an option for you. If not, pay the bill, track down the tenant, and sue him. Also, make sure the utility marks the payment as being from you and not the tenant. He shouldn't be able to get service at any other place until he pays the utility company (and they refund your money).