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Shared Meter Questions

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Shared Meter Questions

Postby LAMetsFan » Thu Oct 14, 2010 1:51 pm

I rented a house on a vineyard in Northern California. The landlord kept the electricity bill in his name so he could continue to get a favorable "agricultural" rate. (I discovered since moving out that this was against the electricity provider's rules). Anyway, the bills would come to the house in his name and we'd leave them for him to pick up (he was there all the time). He would email me a bill and I would pay him the amount. He did this for four months after we moved in. He stopped sending bills to me after that.

Finally, at the beginning of our third year there, he said he "estimated" that our portion of the electricity bill was $80 a month and that he was going to add it to the monthly rent. I agreed. He never asked for the past bills or even sent any of them to me. We moved out a few months later (we were on month-to-month then) and he withheld what he said was my back electricity payments from our security deposit.

The rental agreement says "During the period of the year when Landlord is watering the vineyards, Landlord shall be responsible for that portion of the electric bill, to operate the well pump, in excess of the average monthly electric bill incurred by Tenant during Tenant’s occupancy"

My questions: Is his billing me in a lump sum at the end within his rights? Does his failure to bill me have any bearing on what he can collect? The terms of the lease seem overly vague -- how can I really figure out how much I owe him, if I owe him anything? The way he determined the $80 was by comparing the electricity bills from the year we moved in vs. the year nobody was living there. It seems grossly unfair that I have to come up with a lump sum at the end of the lease term because he couldn't be bothered to ask for payments when they were due.

Also, he deducted this from the security deposit. In California, you're not permitted to deduct payments of utilities from security deposits.

Do I have any recourse? Thanks in advance to anyone who can offer me advice or suggest a place where I can research this?
LAMetsFan
 
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Joined: Thu Oct 14, 2010 1:40 pm
Location: Northern California

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