Behemoth
08-02-2010, 04:14 PM
The apartment complex I moved into last november is rent + utilities. My roomate is the one whose name is on the lease. The electric and cable we had to call to have turned on and put in our name and authorize that we indeed want this utility.
The water and sewage works differently. The apartments are linked together in buildings of 4 and since there are not individual meters on each apartment each rented apartment (regardless of tenants occupying) pays 1/4th of the total. So one guy could leave his water running all day and it would cost us. To me this seems ass-backwards and not right but since my name isn't on the lease I obviously never read it. I'm sure this has got to be stipulated in it.
Here's what I don't think is legal..
The water and sewage comes from "energy billing service" I believe. This is not lumped into the rent we pay monthly but the apartment complex somehow has the authority to authorize this bill in our name? I guess this could be stipulated in the lease with a clause saying something like "leasee agrees to authorize EBS service in his/her name". Here's the kicker, a month after we moved in the bill came and it was in my name. I'm not on the lease. Grant it I write them a check each month and it has my name on it. But what if I was short on cash and my buddy wrote the check for my first months rent... they gonna just automatically put a bill in some persons name because they got a check from him? I don't see how this can be legal.
I never said anything about it or anything and really wasn't worried about it. But I'm moving next month and I need to make sure that this bill is canceled and out of my name. Since I had zero say in initiating this service I'm wondering how do I go about being sure I cancel this service. Additionally the people who run this place are idiots and do a terrible job and I'd really like to be able to chew them out and tell them what they did was illegal when I remind them of all the other complaints we had too as we go.
The water and sewage works differently. The apartments are linked together in buildings of 4 and since there are not individual meters on each apartment each rented apartment (regardless of tenants occupying) pays 1/4th of the total. So one guy could leave his water running all day and it would cost us. To me this seems ass-backwards and not right but since my name isn't on the lease I obviously never read it. I'm sure this has got to be stipulated in it.
Here's what I don't think is legal..
The water and sewage comes from "energy billing service" I believe. This is not lumped into the rent we pay monthly but the apartment complex somehow has the authority to authorize this bill in our name? I guess this could be stipulated in the lease with a clause saying something like "leasee agrees to authorize EBS service in his/her name". Here's the kicker, a month after we moved in the bill came and it was in my name. I'm not on the lease. Grant it I write them a check each month and it has my name on it. But what if I was short on cash and my buddy wrote the check for my first months rent... they gonna just automatically put a bill in some persons name because they got a check from him? I don't see how this can be legal.
I never said anything about it or anything and really wasn't worried about it. But I'm moving next month and I need to make sure that this bill is canceled and out of my name. Since I had zero say in initiating this service I'm wondering how do I go about being sure I cancel this service. Additionally the people who run this place are idiots and do a terrible job and I'd really like to be able to chew them out and tell them what they did was illegal when I remind them of all the other complaints we had too as we go.