Tenant Help Regarding Non-payment & No Water

[Brenda Soto]

Hello - I am in a situation where I have a new tenant and this is their first official month they are paying me rent and they have already told me a bunch of lies regarding why they wont be paying in time. I plan on evicting if all goes as planned, as my experience with them in the first month has been a disaster. Separately, utilities took 2 weeks to transfer over but specifically for the water, they told me it was transferring but ended up being a lie and they have been a little over a week with no water. The water provider called me asking if x person was on the lease because the application was under their name but they in fact were not on the lease. Because of this I believe they are not able to get water, either they are not who they say they are or they have some kind of balance. is there anything I can do too regarding the water situation? My concern is the condition the home will be if they are living without water. 
thanks

[Theresa Harris]

Next time, if the utilities are not already set up and in their name and you have the first month's rent, do not give them the keys.  The deposit is to be given when you sign the lease.  Make it non-refundable until they move in, so if they end up not moving in, you keep the deposit. Once they move in, the deposit becomes their security deposit.