Tenant being evicted, utilites reverted to my name. Can I shut off?

[Mariah Jeffery]

I am in the process of evicting a tenant and just got a notice from the power company that the power was switched into my name. This is almost surely because the tenant didn't pay. Can I shut off the power since the tenant agree to pay? This is is South Dakota and he has two young kids. He has refused to answer the door when the process server went to serve him the Summons.

[Steve Babiak]

Be careful of doing anything that would fall under "self help eviction practices". Unfortunately for you, utility shut off by the landlord falls into "self help eviction practices".

What you should do is document the costs you incur for the utilities and add that to the monetary judgment. You will be out that money with little likelihood of collecting it, of course.

You sure that the tenant is still in the unit, and didn't do a midnight move out?