Question about renter's rights - paying for neighbor's utilities?

I know a couple people are going to jump in and suggest I seek professional legal advice, but I figured it wouldn't hurt asking here. I hereby seek the help of the Almighty Beeb. If you have any ideas about CA renter's rights that may apply, I'd love to know.

6 months ago I moved into a new four bedroom house and am very happy with it, with a couple exceptions of course. The main issue is that there is a woman who rents her own section of the house; she has her own entrance and just shares a couple walls and the laundry room with us. Written into the rental agreement, and verbally explained to us at the time of signing, is that we (my housemates and myself) pay for the entire gas and electric bill for the house including the older woman's portion. There are no separate meters for her unit so all the gas and electricity used just shows up on our bill.

The woman, we'll call her Betty, is a 60-something disabled woman (only has 90% of her vision) with diabetes, kidney problems, the works. She has limited income and we were told (by the Landlord's wife) that she only pays $150/mo in rent for her unit as a favor from the Landlord.. Normally I would not mind paying an extra $30/mo (split between the housemates) for her utilities, but it's getting out of hand for a couple of reasons:

1) Her son was laid off from his job and is now living basically rent-free in her unit. I'm 99% sure the Landlord does not know this.

2) The electricity bill is enormous. It has been $340ish/mo for the last 3 months in a row. Betty has a TV running 24/7, 3 computers, constantly does laundry (for her son and his friends), etc. After mentioning the large bill to the Landlord and following his suggestion of "making sure we turn lights off", our bill dropped by $10 for that month.

3) Betty's unit is not a "bonified" separate apartment, which is why the Landlord cannot put a separate meter for her utilities. I've asked.

All this has left me stumped and my monthly utility budget just twacked. Now knowing that Betty's unit of the house is not a "bonified" separated rental, it makes me wonder about our liability and her share of the house. She has a separate address (1624 1/2; ours being 1624) and I'm beginning to question the legality of her rental.

The house is sweet, recently renovated, in a great location and I don't want to move. Do I have any way to have the landlord or Betty pay for her share of the electricity? Do I need to worry about being responsible for what happens in her unit?

I just wrote a novel. Any ideas? TIA

 

If Betty doesn't have a gas or electric meters, it's Illegal..period.

You cannot be responsible for her utilities..confront the landlord, tell him that turning your lights out only resulted in a 10.00 difference, and you will NOT pay 340.00 a month. And the she needs to kick in XXX amount of $$$ towards the bills. Or you will go to the city plannig comission.

 

Sorry I can't be of help, but that reminded me of a story. We once lived in a huge house that was split into four units. Each paid seperate electric. The 'lady' next door was a real bitch. When she moved out and had her electric turned off two of our rooms went out. I thanked her on her way out. Man was she pissed!

 

In which part of the house is the breaker panel located?

 

Regardless of where the panel is..what the landlord is doing is Illegal, there fore the aggrement is pretty much null & void..Ask any attorney.

 

I wasn't asking out of any concern for legal or not. He who has the panel has some control over their own destiny.

 

1) Check your landlord/tenant laws. These are for CA.
2) Locate that breaker box.
3) Call a lawyer.
4) Follow lawyer's advice.

 

I should have known...

 

That's what I've been thinking. Going to check the laws, possible consult a lawyer, and talk with the landlord. I've lived in 5 different house/apartments/studios in the same city and never have had an electric bill like this.

Looking for the breaker box as soon as I get home. And to boot, having ours and her electric meter combined means that our usage is kicked into the higher $/kwh tier. Thanks to all that responded

 

regardless of it being legal or not, it is done all the time. As others have pointed out, as it is not a legal multi unit you can not get another electric meter installed. And I assure you, if you force the lady out, your rent is going up as the landlord looses that income. So.. you need to decide if the rent you pay is a good deal or not. Is the extra $100 or so in electric your getting stuck with enough to make a stink over or not..

 

What I don't get is..how he got a new address number for the place, yet it really isn't a seperate address, cuz there's a common meter/panel for both addresses. Something is fishey..

 

When I was growing up, I had a neighbor who put the 1/2 behind their address for the treehouse in the backyard and RECEIVED MAIL THERE. I was told all they had to do was notify the post office about it and have a mailbox handy near the original one.

 

Well, I checked the laws, and as long as he disclosed it before we signed the lease, it's legal. But...her dwelling is not a legal residence, at least not as far as I can tell. I'm going to talk to him one more time before consulting an attorney.

Treehouses getting mail? Great stuff.

 

Does he know about the lady's son living there, getting free laundry on your dime? Tell him.

 

I heard that same line from several folks regarding a utility mess that I had. the City and the utility company both said "you signed the lease, so (the arrangement is) legal."

Whatever you sign is what is considered legal; realizing I was stupid after the signing was just my tough luck; I could not use my stupidity for wiggle room to get out of the lease.

Moral of story: if something feels funny, don't sign the lease no matter how sweet the rest of the deal or how cool the place.

P.S. Oh, one more thing I learned from experience: Free legal advice is worth much less than you paid for it (including mine)

 

she may well be in violation of her lease.

 

I don't think it still makes it legal.

 

Not having the benefit of actually seeing the lease, if I were your lawyer (which I am not..disclaimer), I would likely advise you that are stuck for the duration of the lease. You entered into the lease knowing you would be responsible and also assuming the risk that the bill could be high. It was your responsibility to ask about what the usage history of the other tenant was, and what would happen in the event her usage went way up.

But you should mention to the landlord that there is now another person living with her, and that is driving up usage and see if you can re-negotiate with him. I am sure, in this economy, your landlord may not want to risk alienating you and losing you as a renter as a result of the woman's bum of a son.

And yes, your landlord is correct that if your house was designed as a single family dwelling, in most instances, he is only going to get one meter per household per SCE's tariff rules (see SCE tariff Rule 16 on their website).

But on the issue of whether her home is an an appropriate separate legal dwelling that is a separate issue all together. That would be up to the City's zoning laws. That's where I would start looking. But if you really want to continue living there, be careful in your dig. If you have a bunch of roomies, you may find that there is an absolute limit on how many non-siblings can live in one home, depending on your city's zoning code. You may find yourself unwittingly researching yourself out of a lease. On the other hand, if you want to get out of a lease... that may one way to do it.

If you want to chat a little further, look me up at WSMC if you are out there in March. While not racing, my day job is as an in-house senior attorney for SCE. I handle real estate matters for the company. I may be able to give you a little free friendly advice (not as your lawyer... disclaimer... always check with your own lawyer... but rather as a club-mate who just happens to know a few things about the law)

WSMC #83

 

we are all armchair lawyering, but you can't enforce what is not legal to begin with.. ie: (gotta come to court with clean hands) it is not a legal residence, you can choose to stay or go and i highly doubt the landlord could enforce the lease. It's also likely they would not want to bring attention to the illegal rental. that being said, you can't just squat either. The law will hold in his favor to get you out if you don't pay. Paying good money to a lawyer seems kind of silly however. Talk it over with the landlord about the additional electric your paying, show them the bill..

 

Did you talk to Betty and tell her what's up? Maybe she doesn't know the bill is that high or who is paying for it.