Understanding Essential Services: When the landlord stops paying for public utilities

A tenant has several options when the landlord stops paying for the utilities.

Go to Court

If the landlord unlawfully stops paying or asks the utility company to shut off a tenant's service, a tenant can sue the landlord for a court order to reconnect the utility. A tenant can also sue for damages in the amount of a full month’s rent for each month that service was stopped.

If the landlord willfully disregarded a tenant's rights, a court might also give the tenant special damages. This could be up to $300 per month or $5,000 per month divided by the number of affected tenants, whichever is less.

Pay for the Utilities

When the landlord does not pay the bill, you or the other tenants may pay for the service. If you do, the utility company must apply the payment to the landlord’s account. The law says that a tenant can withhold payments a tenant makes to the utility company from their rent. It is against the law for the landlord to raise the rent to collect all or part of the amounts that the tenant withheld from the rent payment when the landlord did not pay for the utility bills. If the tenant’s payments are enough to pay the past due amount, the utility company cannot disconnect service or must restore service if it was disconnected.

When the landlord has not paid the bill, any tenant can ask the utility company to put the bill in the tenant’s name. If the tenant has decent credit, or pays a deposit and agrees to pay future bills, then the utility company cannot disconnect service and must restore service to any tenant that was disconnected.