Judge orders Gas Company liens on rental properties invalid!

[Max T.]

In Philadelphia the Gas Utility (PGW) is publicly owned, and therefore, able to place liens on real property.

In the past PGW has placed liens on rental properties due to gas charges in the tenants' name.

It looks like this is changing. See article below:

http://www.philly.com/philly/business/Judge-declar...

[Max T.]

@Andy D.

All cities are able to place liens on real property. This is the primary enforcement for collection of unpaid property taxes.

Some cities also are able to do this with utilities if the utility company is a branch of the local government (like PGW). This is no problem in the case of owner-occupants, but is morally problematic when the utilities are in the name of someone other than the property owner (tenant). There is something "off" with the idea of charging someone for services they did not contract for or use.

Private utility companies cannot do this. For example, PECO is the electricity provider in our area. They are not able to place liens on property due to unpaid electric charges in a tenant's name. 

As for your analogy with the traffic ticket - I have heard of people successfully fighting these in court with the defense of, "That was not me driving."