Previous landlord wants me to pay power bill?

[Matt W.]

This is slightly complicated so please bear with me.

Background: I bought an investment house in October 2019, put the electricity bill in my name for the month as I painted and did some minor touch ups.  In November tenants moved in, I took my name off the power bill and the tenants put it in their name.

Fast forward to today, October 30, 2020.  I get a call out of the blue from the former owner, who I have never met, who says he got a bill for the property for the last few weeks for $75.  He texts me the bill and I call the power company.  They tell me he had a "landlord account" and that he never canceled it, so any missed payments are his responsibility.  I cannot put it into my name as a landlord until the former owner cancels his account, plus they require you to own 10 homes, which I do not. 

The representative from Duke energy would not tell me the specifics about what the problem is with the current bill, so I can only assume the tenants have missed a payment.  The previous owner scheduled the power to be cut off.  I called the tenants and told them they need to contact the power company and make sure their bill is paid up.

The previous owner wants me to pay/assume this $75 bill, which I don't think I have any obligation to do, legally or ethically.  He was the person responsible to cancel his special "landlord account" with the power company, and I fully paid my bill for the month it was in my name.

Am I in the wrong?  Has anybody ever heard of this happening?  

[Kyle J.]

Well, of the three parties involved in this story....you (the CURRENT owner), YOUR tenants, and the FORMER owner, I can tell you who I think has the LEAST legal/ethical responsibility to pay this utility bill. That would be the FORMER owner.

Assuming he can prove this bill he received was due to your tenants not paying their bill (as opposed to being from one of his other properties), how is it right that he should have to pay it?

Your tenants should pay their own bills (my lease requires tenants to start utilities in their name AND keep utilities in their name and make timely payments). However, if they don’t for some reason, you should probably pay him and then work it out with your tenants because I can’t imagine a scenario where he should have to pay this bill or be the one to work it out with your tenants.

Just my two cents.