I left a note in the downstairs tenant's mailbox detailing what their half of the utility bills is. Tonight said tenant nearly knocked my door down banging on it and read me the riot act that I asked for their half of the utility bills, which is the understanding in our leases. The tenant seemed to make it abundantly clear that they did not have to pay the utilities and if I had a problem with that, I could take it up with the landlord. The most recent water bill was twice its normal size and the tenant told me, well, that is because the water bills recently went up. Um, NO. Even if they HAD, I doubt that it would be such a steep raise in our rates. I asked my mother what she pays and even with a dishwasher and a washing machine and two people showering, it's STILL less than what I pay in a normal month (she pays somewhere in the neighborhood of about $30-ish and I usually pay around $40-$45), and now this sticker shock of paying nearly $85 for a water bill? And the downstairs tenant refuses to pay their half? Did they leave the water running indefinitely or forget to turn off a spigot? What gives? I found out that I should call the city and have them come out and inspect the place to find out if there is a leak or a problem, but the downstairs tenant made it abundantly clear that nobody is to come into the unit and they will not permit it, so since I scheduled an inspector to come first thing tomorrow morning, I will need to call the city and cancel and see if the landlord can reason with the tenant over this. I can't afford to be paying these gigantic bills, not on a tiny fixed income pension. So I have contacted the landlord regarding this situation and I hate to do it, but I must resort to hardball now. I have asked that the tenant be evicted for non compliance in paying the utility bills and copping an attitude when I requested their half. I can't take this drama anymore.
I've put too much time, money and energy into this place to make it my home. I've either made new storm and screen windows or had existing ones repaired. I've painted the kitchen and bathroom. I had the bathroom faucet fixed because it was dripping, replaced a broken toilet seat in the bathroom, disconnected the old doorbell box in the kitchen, installed new smoke alarms all around the place and generally spruced the place up quite a bit. There has been an investment of considerable money into my apartment and more to go before it's done. I have five light fixtures to replace or repair, some more painting that I would eventually like to do and a broken drawer in the kitchen that needs to be repaired. I plan to stay as this is my home. But I won't put up with a hostile tenant who erupts into emotional histrionics when presented with their half of the utility bills. Ideally, the best solution would be for each unit to have its own individual meters so we would not have to resort to this drama, but since that is never going to happen, then we have to resolve this problem once and for all. Enough is enough. I have reached my limit of tolerance. The tenant downstairs must leave and let me find a more cooperative tenant with whom I can get along OK. This one has turned out not to be a good fit, not at all. I hope that they are gone before the year is out, and the sooner, the better. I've spent 30 years dealing with Tenants From Hell and I've about had ENOUGH. The next tenant will be thoroughly vetted if I have anything to say about it. Since I more or less do the renting since I live here, I will make all future tenants apply to live here and then background check them to make sure that they are who they say they are and do not have a history of being a Problem Tenant From Hell.
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