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I have been living at my current apartment for 6 months now. On January 1st my landlord called me yelling at me that the electric bill as high. I tried to let him know I'm almost never home and don't leave anything running. I said maybe since it was a holiday the tenants above me may have Christmas lights. He told me it had to be me because they told him they only use $145 worth of electricity. Turns out my heating set up was electric and since I don't control the heat it was set to 70 and was always running. Moving to the February Im told he didn't get my rent check. I track it and it was in the post office. I told him and he gets mad. (He lost the pink slip). Come March Im at work and he calls and sends texts telling me the electric bill is high again and how it can't go on. I come home at 9pm and he showed up banging on my door saying he wants to come in to talk about the electric. I live alone and am in my pjs and didn't feel safe but he pushed his way in to yell at me saying Im running something. I work long hours and Im home maybe one day a week. I know I can't raise a bill by $300 in 4 days out of a month. He then starts looking around my apartment. I told him to leave and I'm going to start looking for a new apartment because the harassment is going too far. He tell me to not make him angry or I will regret it. Tonight at 9:30pm someone knocks on my door and gives me eviction papers saying its an attempt to collect past due rent. I don't owe any rent. I don't understand.
I don't know anything about evictions, but you should research carefully online. Even if you want to move anyway (not sure if you do?) you should do everything you can not to let the eviction proceed because it will tarnish your record as a renter in this city and make it harder for you to rent another apartment in the future.
Here's the thing about the electric bill -- EVERYONE'S electric bill went up like crazy in January because the rates went extremely high. It most likely has nothing to do with usage; it has to do with rates. Your landlord most likely won't understand this because he sounds like a thug and a bully.
the first thing I would do is get an order of protection out against the landlord. He has no right to barge into your apartment at night. And other posters are correct everyone's electric went way up in January and if you have electric heat let this be a lesson to you when looking for your new place which I would do tomorrow.
I have been living at my current apartment for 6 months now. On January 1st my landlord called me yelling at me that the electric bill as high. I tried to let him know I'm almost never home and don't leave anything running. I said maybe since it was a holiday the tenants above me may have Christmas lights. He told me it had to be me because they told him they only use $145 worth of electricity. Turns out my heating set up was electric and since I don't control the heat it was set to 70 and was always running. Moving to the February Im told he didn't get my rent check. I track it and it was in the post office. I told him and he gets mad. (He lost the pink slip). Come March Im at work and he calls and sends texts telling me the electric bill is high again and how it can't go on. I come home at 9pm and he showed up banging on my door saying he wants to come in to talk about the electric. I live alone and am in my pjs and didn't feel safe but he pushed his way in to yell at me saying Im running something. I work long hours and Im home maybe one day a week. I know I can't raise a bill by $300 in 4 days out of a month. He then starts looking around my apartment. I told him to leave and I'm going to start looking for a new apartment because the harassment is going too far. He tell me to not make him angry or I will regret it. Tonight at 9:30pm someone knocks on my door and gives me eviction papers saying its an attempt to collect past due rent. I don't owe any rent. I don't understand.
How do the people upstairs from you know that they use $145 worth of electricity? Has he called the electric company to come investigate? There is no way a single person who is hardly home can use $300 of electricity in a month. When I paid my own electric bill using the air conditioner during summer months I didn't pay $300 a month.
+1 Definitely call the Met Council on Housing for advice. His accusations are baseless, and his demeanor is hostile, so you will not have a positive result if you try to reason with him.
The courts also have a volunteer lawyer program where you can obtain advice: NYC Housing Court
Is there some reason why he favors the upstairs tenant? Common heritage, religious affiliation, friendship, distant relations? What he is trying to do is pressure you into paying that utilities that are apparently included in your unit's rent, basically thinking that if he pushes, you will say that you will cover the overage on the electric since it has to be your fault, and you do not want to move, etc. I should say that was his ploy, until you told him that you were going to move, so he is trying to intimidate by initiating an eviction order. My guess is that he wanted you to call and say that you do not want to leave, and how can you resolve this, and the answer would be to pay the overage on the electric.
He's a rotten landlord, with no sense of professionalism at all; so do not enter the situation without obtaining advice. That way, you can assess whether or not the matter can be easily handled, or if you need to engage the services of an experienced landlord-tenant attorney. I would begin looking for a new place, and see how quickly you can remove yourself from this situation at no extra cost.
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All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players: they have their exits and their entrances; and one man in his time plays many parts, his acts being seven ages.
~William Shakespeare (As You Like It Act II, Scene VII)
he gives you eviction papers? i thought the only source that can give you eviction papers is a court or process server.
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