You might recall that after signing a promissory note to break his lease, my tenant immediately filed bankruptcy, thus, virtually voiding the note. He was to pay rent for two weeks of May until our lease agreement ended on the 15th. Well Thursday I get a disconnect notice for my electricity. This is very odd because I make equal payments that are auto drafted from my bank account. As I looked at my statement it dawned on me that my usage was much more than we usually use. I turned over the statement to discover that my tenant's unit was being included in my bill. In my mind I imagined that he had quietly changed the bill back to his name. To my horror, I discovered from the power company that he had NEVER changed it to his name! I had been unwittingly paying on his bill for 8 months! What unfortunate timing. Not only did he abscond from his lease via bankruptcy, he mooched off me to the tune of $400 in violation of our lease. Of course, he refuses to return my calls and it appears he has abandoned his unit as of yesterday.
Fortunately, he has already filed bankruptcy. This bill is new and outside of the bankruptcy. With collection fees, penalties, notices fees, interest and everything else that I can legally claim, justice will be served...eventually.
In the meantime, here is what I learned from this experience:
1. I will be changing my leasing policy to mandate that tenants have the utilities in their name PRIOR to receiving keys. Most landlords already do this. I learned the hard way that this is the way to do it.
2. I will no longer be renting to bad credit tenants without either a co-signor or a large deposit.
3. You always find out people's true character when money is involved.
Hopefully you can learn from my experience before you discover it the hard way like I did.
Is that turnip what the tenant really looks like?
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