Utilities change over.............

[FreshAir]

Can a landlord tell a tenant that he needs to have the utility bills changed over from his name to theirs without giving them a notice first?

Our landlord had us change these bills over to our names on the day he informed us about it, did he follow correct procedures?

Depends. Were utilities included in your rent as per a lease clause? If so, he cannot force you to turn them over to your name at all during the duration of the lease. If the lease said they were your responsibility, you should have turned them over immediately upon signing the lease and taking occupancy.

If no lease clause, were they included in the rent by verbal understanding, or by the text of the advertisement? If by the ad, they should have been included in your lease. You could sue the LL and show the ad to the judge to prove that they were included. If a verbal agreement, you have a problem because that would be very hard to prove in court.

If you are a month to month or at will tenant, what state are you in? That determines how much notice he must give you to change the terms of the rental agreement, if the terms were changed. You don't say if you were responsible for these utilities or not. Your only question is how long of a notice he was to give you.

[FreshAir]

We're on a month-to-month verbal agreement, no lease since I've lived here, and that's been 15 years. We've seen 5 landlords take ownership of the building, this last one has owned the place about 5 years.

Never, in the 15 years that we've lived here, has this happened until a couple of years ago. The day the landlord came down to inform us of this, we told him that it would make paying rent in a timely fashion harder because the other people living here (my 2 adults sons), were only working part-time jobs, which payed minimum wage. He said, no problem, that we'd work through it.

Since that time, it's been brought to my attention that the utility bills are unusually high. The landlord, from time to time, goes into the basement to do repairs and remodeling, so it's suspected that he is using the gas and electricity down there. That area used to be an extension of our upstairs apartment, so the light and gas were all on one bill, for both places. This factor was brought to the attention of the landlord on prior talks with him, however, he always seemed to just brush it off in pursuit of the rent money.

The issues with the utilities bill, in part, has lead up to us facing an eviction in court. The other issues are lead paint (my grandson has lead poisoning as a result, documents to prove this, an inspector has been out, papers to show his results), and needed repairs.

All of this, while we continued to pay rent, the landlord slaps us with a 5 day notice for non-payment of rent, to which he had negotiated about previously because of the change over of the utility bills. I hope I haven't lost anyone here.

By the way, I'm in the state of Illinois.

Since you have no lease, the LL can put the utility bills on you by just giving you the required 30 day notice. Any term of your rental agreement can be changed with this much notice without a lease.

If the LL is only occasionally in the basement to do some work, it is doubtful that he is increasing your utility bills more than a couple of dollars a month. Even if he spends 8 hours a week down there, it would only increase your bill by about 5%. He's not living there or spending the majority of each day there. He's only there occasionally. I don't think this is why your bills are high. Three adults will use more utilities than one will. And your adult sons are home for most of the day so more utilities are being used. Utility prices have climbed in recent months. No doubt this is contributing to the utilities. Try to conserve utilities. It is your responsibility to pay them now.

If you knew of a lead hazard, why didn't you take action as soon as you had it confirmed? Why wasn't it reported to the building inspector, health department, or HUD? Now that you are facing eviction, it may appear to be a retaliatory complaint. How long have you known of it? What actions have you taken? You said an inspector was out and made a report. Was it a building inspector, or one from a lead abatement company? Remaining in the unit after you knew of a hazard and making no reports/complaints will look as if it was not important to you. Not a good idea.

Unless you had the agreed compromise on the rent in writing, you have no proof of any negotiation or meeting of the minds over the rent. He has served you a 5 day notice. At the end of those days, he will file to evict if the rent is not paid. Can you pay in that period? If not, it would be best if you moved. The place has hazards that are not healthy. The rent and utilities are now too high for you to afford. An eviction case against you and your sons will show up for any future LL checks. Better to move out now and avoid all of the above.

[FreshAir]

The landlord didn't give us a 30 day notice to change the utility bills over, on the day he informed us about it, those bills were changed over into my sons names, while he knew fully well that it would make things harder for us, this is what we talked about that day.

We had NO forewarning, notice, information pamphlets, that there could be a potential lead hazard in the building, this wasn't found out until my son's girlfriend took her son to the doctor for a regular checkup, this is when it was found out that he had a lead level that was 24, very high. As a result of this, I believe that the doctor who gave my son the checkup, then had my son's girlfriend to have building/lead inspectors come out. They determined that MOST of the lead was in the in-closed back porch, where they had previously made their sleeping arrangements before, during, and after the birth of their son. The inspectors themselves said that we didn't have to move because the problem could be contained as we lived there, but, to be sure to keep my grandson away from those problem areas.


Sometimes, people just can't afford to move elsewhere, afterall, look at the times we are living in, especially lately with the way the economy is going. The problems in our apartment are NOT uncommon problems that occur. Landlords, master investors in real-estate, often neglect the BASIC needs of the tenants in pursuit of financial gain. I never, in my 15 years of living here, nor, in the years that I've lived elsewhere, sought to use any problem, or, situation as an excuse, or, form of retaliation, and I have never been evicted before. What I do understand however, is that tenants DO have rights, and, the landlord does have responsibilities to take care of the apartment. People who don't understand their rights, and don't exercise them, get taken advantage of. I could easily say that the landlord is retaliating by not making repairs, etc., because he wants us to move, right? I'm just looking at these things as they have unfolded. When you pay rent somewhere, what are you paying for?, just to have a roof over your head, or, are other things supposed to come along with that?


We've been served a 5 day notice already, in fact, I have sought legal aid assistance since our summons to appear in court. However, it appears that these free legal services are all tied up, as I have been getting referred to other sources. I went to court on the advice of one source to ask for a continuance, whereby I was granted one week by the judge. I called this particular service back to inform them of this and they said one week was not enough time, and that I needed a month, well, how was I to know that if they hadn't informed me to ask for that amount of time in the first place, I am NOT the attorney here, I am the one seeking help. Their only other suggestion was to go back to court and ask for another continuance. The continuance date is set for next week.

I wouldn't expect the judge to give you another continuance. You are lucky he has given you one. Judges tend to view non-payment evictions as cut and dried. (You didn't pay, you don't stay.) The judge will likely not listen to any other arguments (lead or utility bills). If he did, he will ask why you didn't move when you were informed of the lead in the unit. Your grandchild had already gotten sick, you knew of the hazard. He will disregard any discussion of this because you failed to act when informed of the problem.

As for needed repairs, did you put them in writing? Send them by certified mail so you can prove the LL knew about them? You can't prove he is retaliating against you for needed repairs, if you can't prove you made the requests. Always put all repair requests in writing and keep a copy of them. Always take the next legal step available to you if he fails to act. This could be rent withholding with the clerk of court if it is a habitability issue, or repair and deduct if it is a normal repair. But see your state laws to see what legal steps you are allowed to take. These remedies are not legal in all states.

If the judge does grant another continuance based on the lack of notice for the utilities, it will be a small reprieve. The LL will give you the notice immediately. You would be responsible for them 30 days later. There is just no way out of the utility bills. The most you could get was the 30 day extention on paying them. Rent would still be unpaid. An attorney could not get you dismissed from paying for them. Start packing and contacting HUD, S8, charities, and others to get assistance. Some cities have emergency assistance funds available to tenants too. You likely will have only 72 hours to leave after the next hearing. If you don't, a set out of your belongings will be scheduled. I'm sorry, but there are very few defenses for not paying rent.

[FreshAir]

I never said the rent, nor, the utilities weren't being paid, because they were. I said the change over of the utilities made it harder for the rent to get paid in a timely fashion. The rent was still getting paid, however, when late payments of rent came about (and this wasn't each and every month during the landlord's 5 years of ownership), the landlord was always informed of this before the actual rent due date. In those instances, the late payments were being negotiated. There was no month that went by when the landlord didn't get any rent, if payments were going to be late, he was ALWAYS informed about it ahead of time, which he then agreed to.

As far as repairs go, I never gave the landlord notices of what things needed to be done, I always talked to him about it, showed him those things, yet he would always say, "I'll take care of it tomorrow", or, "I'll have someone come to fix that". I often pointed out these problems after he collected his rent. Over a period of time, I even asked the landlord why is it that you never come to take care of these things after I have informed you about them. His reply once was, "I'd have to go up on your rent if I did those repairs". My reply to that was, "These are basic repairs I'm talking about, not major overhauls of the inside of the apartment, you're supposed take care of the basic plumbing, electrical, etc., as responsibility as a landlord". Again, his reply was, "I'll take care of it". The people who live in the house are the witnesses to these things, and I have evidence of the repairs needed, as well as evidence of other things.

I'm not trying to make this into some kind of "get back at the landlord" scenario, I'm looking at these issues as a matter of defense for my case. Innocent until proven guilty, a judge is there to listen to how each case unfolds, and he is the one who will have the final say.

When I was in court waiting to be called to ask for my continuance, there must have been, at least, 30 or 40 cases called before me. In neither of those cases, and they were quite varied, did I see the judge give someone 72 hours to leave. The most EXTREME amount I saw a person owing for back rent was $13,000.00, the landlord told that judge, "she's never paid rent", yet she was able to walk away with more time than 72 hours. In MOST of the other cases where the defendant talked over the judge, talked over the landlord, and yelled, these people were given 30 days, max, to leave, and they didn't even have attorneys to represent them.

As I said before, I've always paid my rent no matter where I lived, and have never been evicted, but this case coming up now is more complex because it involves other individuals in the house, as well as myself. The issues exiting within our place came about over a period of time, nothing happened overnight. It is my aim to get representation in court to bring these matters to light, not to go there and make a fool of myself. It's about getting justice in a court of law, no matter how BLEAK the situation may appear.

Sorry, Fresh, I didn't mean to imply that you weren't paying at all. But there are only a few states where a LL must accept late rent. In all the rest, he can refuse late rent and evict. There is no rule or law in most states that allows you to pay late. If your cable bill isn't paid on time, they shut off your cable. They don't have to accept it late, neither does the LL. He has chosen not to accept it late and has issued the 5 day. You now have a court date. If you have the money by then, ask the judge to alow you to pay and stay. He might allow it.

"The people who live in the house are the witnesses to these things, and I have evidence of the repairs needed, as well as evidence of other things." The others who live in this house also rent from the same LL. That gives them a conflict of interest so they may not be believed. (In other words, they would have something to gain if they lied.) Witnesses are only good if they are impartial and have no stake in whatever issue is being heard. Evidence of needed repairs is good, but without putting it in writing to the LL, you have no proof that HE knew of those problems. See what I mean? The states' laws give the LL a specific amount of time to make needed repairs after being informed of these. If you can't prove when he was informed, how would a court know if that time limit has elapsed yet? This is why all repair requests should always be made in writing. Then you have proof that he was informed, when he was informed, and a court can calculate if his time has expired to make the repairs. If it has expired, this allows you other legal options (such as rent withholding, repair & deduct, or terminating an agreement). Again, always put all repair requests in writing so you can avail yourslef of these other legal oprions.

[FreshAir]

Did I mention that none of those 30 or 40 cases that went before me had an attorney at their side for representation, NONE of them. I DO seek representation so that the likelihood of my case ending up like theirs is minimized.

You will only be able to get that free representation if you can get the eviction trial postponed for at least a month (as you have told us). 30-40 cases a day equals a busy court. One where the judge has no time to delay hearings for that long (not to mention that the LL has the right to a speedy hearing to minimize his losses). Doubful you will get it postponed that long. If you can't get free legal aide before then, your only other hope for representation is to hire an attorny.