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I and my roommate we entered our apartment in the month of August 2013. We never got along since then.
She got the electricity meter registered in her name. For the first four months we were reciving electricity bill. However from January 2014 there were no electricity bills.
I enquired with my roommate time and again but she said that she too had no clue why we were not receiving any electricity bill.
One day the electricity company representative came to the apartment and informed me that the documents for completing the registration were not in place. This had happened during the absence of my roommate. Hearing this I immediately called up the company and asked them what was the problem to which they replied that they were not willing to part with any information as the meter was not registered in my name.
Soon thereafter I informed my roommate who told me that she had faxed the required documents. Within a fortnight she left the country for vacation and my electricity service was terminated.
The only information thereafter that I could find out from the company was that required documents were never submitted in the first place and all this while my roomie was intentionally lying to harass me by getting the service disconnected and was waiting to fly from the country for her vacation.
She had lost one of her documents and had applied for the same and received it around 15 days before her planned vacation. I am presuming that all the while she was lying to the company that she had misplaced one of her important documents and buying time. Even after the reciept of the document the H she never informed me at any given point of time that the meter was not registered for want of documents,given the situation in which I would have registered the meter in my name and avoided this situation.
What are my legal options in hand.
can I go to the Police? I want to proceedings against her for claims. Please let me know.
Talk to your landlord immediately and let him know what's going on! Are you and the roommate jointly on a lease?
In whose name is the account currently? The only thing I can suggest right now is that you open up the account in your own name since it seems she never did complete the transfer. If the bill hasn't been paid at all then I'm guessing the account was shut off for non payment and the outstanding balance will have to be paid up before a transfer is made and power restored.
You need to talk to your landlord as not having electricity turned on in your unit may be grounds for eviction.
I have never had to provide documents to get electricity, so this is confusing me. Your profile has no info on where you are, which might be helpful info.
I have never had to provide documents to get electricity, so this is confusing me. Your profile has no info on where you are, which might be helpful info.
I've never been able to open an account for electrical service at a rental property without providing a copy of my lease or a letter from the landlord along with documents proving my ID both in residential and commercial properties.
I've never been able to open an account for electrical service at a rental property without providing a copy of my lease or a letter from the landlord along with documents proving my ID both in residential and commercial properties.
that's what I had to show to open an account here.
OP, call the police for what? They can't do anything. You need to talk to your landlord and talk to the electric company about opening an account in your own name. As STT said, they might require you to pay any balance linked to the property or they might just go after her....you wont' know until you pick up the phone and call them.
Are you a student? I'm guessing from your post that English is not your first language, which may complicate things in terms of communication with both the landlord and electric company. If you are a student, you should have access to legal advice through your university. Most schools have a student legal support office. Check with the dean of students office or international students office. At the very least, they can help communicate clearly with the landlord and electric company.
Firstly thanks for responding.
I am a student from Massachusetts. I am pursuing my masters and also English is also not my native languague. I have registered the account now in my name after almost 4 days of no service.
As I had mentioned earlier the electric company is not willing to divulge any account details as initially my roomie had applied to get the meter registered in her name. I have checked their privacy policy and its in line with what the representative has told me whenever I had called her up to make enquiries. Also we are jointly on lease.
I have communicated to the landlord, a registered company, and they have refused to intervene.
I assume I can take action by calling the police for harassment and mental torture as I was homeless for 4 days and by making false statements my roomie was cheating me. I have also heard about small claims court, will that help. Please advice.
PS: the electric company has informed me that there is no need for me to clear any dues as the meter has been registered on my name only recently.
I assume I can take action by calling the police for harassment and mental torture as I was homeless for 4 days and by making false statements my roomie was cheating me. I have also heard about small claims court, will that help.
She screwed you over, but you got your electricity back on and don't have to pay any outstanding bills, therefore the situation is over. The police are not going to do anything for you.
I don't know what you can do about your lease, but if it were me I would do everything in my power to either evict your roommate or move out myself and get my own place.
I assume I can take action by calling the police for harassment and mental torture as I was homeless for 4 days and by making false statements my roomie was cheating me. I have also heard about small claims court, will that help. Please advice.
You're assuming wrongly. You have nothing to go the police about and nothing right now to file in small claims court for as you have nothing yet to recover. You weren't "homeless for 4 days". Being without electricity for four days doesn't constitute homelessness.
The only person who can remove your roommate from the lease is your landlord. What you should do is send a return receipt certified letter to your roommate at his or her last known address and ask what his/her intentions are as far as the lease is concerned since he is still legally liable to fulfill all its terms. Do this politely and briefly as you may need to have the letter in case you end up having to go to court. Is the roommate current on rent payments? Does the roommate still have possessions in the apartment? Can you afford to stay there and pay the full rent?
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