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Is it legal to turn the water lights and heat off for non payment of rent in a rental unit ware renters refuse to pay rent?
Anonymous4 views2 answers
I manage a building for a friend and we have a problem with tenants that paid the first months rent and right after refused to live up to any part of the lease.
they refused to put the utility's in there names or buy insurance.
they have a garbage pile they keep adding to that they refuse to clean up.
They have stated to me that they will not pay rent to live there.
they have moved there friends in,
they are suspected of running the water to run up a bill in the land lords name,
we are worried that they may open the windows and turn the furnace on or place air conditioning units in windows and open all windows to run up the electric.
we are afraid they may do damage to the property.
we have already turned the water pressure down to a trickle to minimize financial damage.
When a landlord shuts off utilities, it is generally a constructive eviction, which is not permitted under Wisconsin law. All evictions must be done in accordance with eviction rules in Ch. 799, Wis. Stats.
If you are worried about their actions, you should file for an eviction, with a claim for damages (if provable) and perhaps also an injunction to prevent them from causing additional damage.
Arguably, if the utilities are included in the rent, a landlord might be able to shut off that utility if rent (and, consequently, the utility) is not paid. However, that does not seem to be the case here.
If the tenant is responsible for paying the utilities, the landlord may not shut them off.
You should hire an attorney to assist you in the eviction process because it sounds like you are leaning towards pursuing illegal actions.
If they are in violation of their rental agreement, then it is illegal. A rental agreement is a contract, and contract law is its own law. The rules established under such agreements become the binding rules that parties to those agreements must follow. I can help you with this problem.
