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Ok, just to clarify. This was NOT the first house I rented. I had rented other houses for years leading up to my buying one, so I knew the routine here in Michigan. Not my first rodeo, if you will.

I DID call the gas company, DTE, and told them that I was leaving. They told me my landlords would have to call and have it put in their name, just like I had to call DTE and have it put in MY name.

I found out not too long ago these are slumlords with decades of experience, so it's not as if THEY didn't know THEY were required by DTE to call after I gave my notice and have it put back in THEIR name. DTE has a seperate 'landlord' phone number/option for pete's sake!

My point is, they didn't. They waited and stuck me with 13 days of gas and I wasn't living there.

Nobody seems to be able to answer my question, so I'm going to give up on this one. Thanks anyway.

Don't get me wrong, I take full responsibility for signing the contract. Oddly enough, there wasn't much to it, just your basic 'only the people named can live here' and 'no loud parties', stuff like that.

It was only AFTER signing that my landlords became just plain weird. The condition of the house left alot to be desired, but like I said I needed a place to stay right away. The only good thing about my landlords was they rented on a month to month basis. Like you stated, it was in their best interest because they mainly rented to low income people who eventually were conveniently evicted due to loss of employment, welfare reduction, lack of child support (I could tell a horror story about my neighbor regarding this that involved missing cs checks....but that's something I cannot prove, only a bad feeling.)

Regardless, it definately was a bad experience and I refuse to rent ever again. I have my own house now with a mortgage payment less than what I was paying them for rent. I'm glad to be gone, but.....

is it a common practice for a landlord to WAIT to put what coincidentally was the HIGHEST costing utility bill back in their name? If I gave them written notice that the 18th is my last day, that I paid rent up to that 18th day and not a cent more, that the gas bill would be reverted to them on the 19th? Was I LEGALLY obligated to pay that extra 13 days even if I wasn't living there and was offically no longer a tenant?

I used to rent a nasty house from two nasty women. I was in a hurry to find somewhere to live before the snow came and I didn't have to drive across the state to get to work (a one hour commute one way.) So I opted to rent their house. The house, along with the three mobile homes/trailers on the property had at one time been condemned. I thought once condemned, always condemned? Regardless, only two of the trailers were barely liveable and rented out. The house made me ill from the mold. No insulation, outrageous gas bill. It was -20F and the highest affordable temperature was 58F. I vowed I'd leave within the year, which I did. Landlords were pissed off I had bought a house. The agreement, the selfsame agreement dreamed up by THEM and signed by THEM, stated I needed to give 15 days notice. I gave them 18 and she has the nerve to say "Well, I WISH you had given me MORE notice!"

There were plenty of other things wrong with this situation. Winter came and when they finally got around plowing, they plowed the snow right up to the side of the house, which aided in the constant flooding of the basement. I worked, as did my neighbors. Big storms came and where were the landlords and their plow? They finally show up at 5 pm, I had to be to work for 7 AM! So my boyfriend snowblowed the whole driveway including the two trailers so people could get out. Landlords grateful? NO. "Tell your boyfriend we KNOW what our responsibilities are!" 7 am.....5 pm.....

I shared a well with one of the trailers. I paid the electric bill that covered the water being pumped, I paid the electric bill for the water softener that hardly put a dent in the iron and blood-stink water. Then the landlords insisted we hook up the trailer to the water softener and I'd have to pay for all the softner salt. My boyfriend stepped in and said no way.

So happy to be out of there and far away from the creeps! Unfortunately, as part of my punishment they didn't have the gas bill put in their names until the end of January. I paid nearly $140 for 13 days of gas pumped into a house I wasn't even living in.

I will never rent again, I would rather live in my car or a tent, than go through that again. Never.