Turning off utilities on a tenant

[Dave Poirier]

Hello All,
If the utilities are seperate from the rent and the tenant has not switched it over as they stated they did(what, a tenant that didn't tell the truth?) - am I legally allowed to have it turned off?
I have a house in Texas and the utilities are current on under my name. Thanks.

[Kyle Meyers]

Probably not. If you turn off utilities it is usually considered a self help eviction and you don't want to be involved in that. If your tenant was supposed to have had the utilities in their name, but did not get them changed over, you may be able to turn them off, but I would be very careful and check your state and local laws and contact an attorney first. I am not familiar with Texas laws on this, but I believe in Indiana if the tenant is supposed to have utilities in their name, but you continue to pay the bill, you cannot turn the utilities off then.

It was recommended on another site, and I have added to my lease and move in practices, to have the lease state the utilities have been canceled already prior to the move in date and the tenant must get them moved into their name. I call the utility companies a day or two before the move in and confirm the tenant has had the utilities switched over to their name, if they have not, I will give the date to the utility company to have them shut off from my name and then I remind the tenants to get it transferred to their name.

I would recommend you check with an attorney familiar with your local laws to see your rights in this case, but you probably cannot turn the utilities off. So, bill your tenants for the utility charges. Hopefully your lease states payments received will be applied to all other charges before current rent, so if they do not pay, you can evict for non-payment of rent. If not, you will have a more difficult case on your hands and have to evict for breach of lease contract because they did not get the utilities in their name.

Not legal advice.