Asked over 1 year ago - Newport Beach, CA
Flagmoved in and the landlord said she would tell me how much to pay for electric. 20 months later she says I owe all the bills after not asking for it on a monthly basis when I payed her the rent in person
First of all, is your agreement to pay your portion of the utilities set forth in writing, such as in a lease or rental agreement? It must be.
California law does not specifically regulate how landlords bill tenants for water and sewer utilities. The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) has held that it has no jurisdiction in the vast majority of landlord-tenant billing relationships. Because there is no direct regulation or guidance from the CPUC or statute, it is important that all facets of the landlord-tenant billing relationship for utilities be agreed to in writing.
In California, if the utility meter for your rental unit is shared with another unit or another part of the building, then the landlord must reach an agreement with you on who will pay for the shared utilities.
This agreement must be in writing (it can be part of the rental agreement or lease), and can consist of one of the following options:
-- The landlord can pay for the utilities provided through the meter for your rental unit by placing the utilities in the landlord's name;
-- The landlord can have the utilities in the area outside your rental unit put on a separate meter in the landlord's name; or
-- You can agree to pay for the utilities provided through the meter for your rental unit to areas outside your rental unit.
See California Civil Code Section 1940.9, which provides as follows:
"(a) If the landlord does not provide separate gas and
electric meters for each tenant's dwelling unit so that each tenant's
meter measures only the electric or gas service to that tenant's
dwelling unit and the landlord or his or her agent has knowledge that
gas or electric service provided through a tenant's meter serves an
area outside the tenant's dwelling unit, the landlord, prior to the
inception of the tenancy or upon discovery, shall explicitly disclose
that condition to the tenant and shall do either of the following:
(1) Execute a mutual written agreement with the tenant for
payment by the tenant of the cost of the gas or electric service
provided through the tenant's meter to serve areas outside the tenant'
s dwelling unit.
(2) Make other arrangements, as are mutually agreed in writing,
for payment for the gas or electric service provided through the
tenant's meter to serve areas outside the tenant's dwelling unit.
These arrangements may include, but are not limited to, the landlord
becoming the customer of record for the tenant's meter, or the
landlord separately metering and becoming the customer of record for
the area outside the tenant's dwelling unit.
(b) If a landlord fails to comply with subdivision (a), the
aggrieved tenant may bring an action in a court of competent
jurisdiction. The remedies the court may order shall include, but are
not limited to, the following:
(1) Requiring the landlord to be made the customer of record with
the utility for the tenant's meter.
(2) Ordering the landlord to reimburse the tenant for payments
made by the tenant to the utility for service to areas outside of the
tenant's dwelling unit. Payments to be reimbursed pursuant to this
paragraph shall commence from the date the obligation to disclose
arose under subdivision (a).
(c) Nothing in this section limits any remedies available to a
landlord or tenant under other provisions of this chapter, the rental
agreement, or applicable statutory or common law."
I assume this is a shared meter. Although it seems unreasonable to come to you so late, if your rental agreement addresses your responsibility, then you must comply.
As Frank Wei-Hong Chen pointed out, the agreement must be in writing, and it says "Civil Code says "Execute a mutual written agreement." I would question her as to how she came to the amount stated. Does the agreement address how she will determine your billing amount compared to the other users on the meter?
Scott Rights
www.sandiegoevicitoncenter.com
If it is not in the lease or some other document that you agreed to in writing, your landlord may have a hard time collecting the amount from you. That said, if you are on a month to month lease, the landlord could just not renew your lease. Tread lightly. If you know you should pay a certain amount you may want to do so voluntarily.
Other than that, Mr. Chen gives a very good answer.
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