Tenant Sticks Me With A $750 Electrical Upgrade Bill

I got rid of a dead beat tenant in a POH last fall. Of course the home was trashed, but the two always seem to go together.

Out of the blue, I got a $750 electrical bill (dated 8/16/19) for adding a four prong stove outlet in the home. The home has gas hookup, which works fine, but Tenant Bozo had bought a used electrical stove and ordered an electrical company to wire the home for his stove, the cost be damned.

The note on the invoice said they tried to get the money out of Bozo but he just said send the bill to me.

I want to tell the electrical company to go pound sand; there were red flags all over that job – some guy in an old mobile home in a park willing to pay $750 so he can switch from gas to a crappy electrical stove — oh really guys – in what universe? But can’t he just put a mechanic’s lean on the home and I’m screwed?

Ok correct answer: talk to an attorney, this is a legal question

But, I’m guessing the electrician doesn’t have much leverage here for a POH. The work wasn’t authorized by the property owner, so I doubt the electrician is going to be able to file a claim against the property owner and property.

I would not talk to an attorney over a $750 issue. Save the attorneys for real problems. I would also not tell the contractor to pound sand otherwise you are creating angst with a contractor who is not an enemy of yours. Call the electrician, politely, and tell them that you never authorized the work so they will have to collect from Mr. Bozo.

This happens to us every now and then. We have never had a mechanics lien placed on a home, and even if one were placed, I would not care. In the most recent case, one of our tenants was angry at the park manager, so he decided to set his own living room on fire. Fire department arrived, condemned the home, and ordered it to be boarded up by the fire department’s “board up” contractor. Contractor sent a bill to our company, and we politely told them we would not pay. They stopped invoicing, haven’t filed a lien, and all is good.

In another case, we had a Lonnie dealer move 3 homes into our park and hire an electrician for setup. the dealer never paid, so the electrician invoiced us. We politely explained that the Lonnie dealer ordered the service and would be responsible for the bill. We never heard from the electrician again. Months transpired, we needed an electrician, so we called the same one, explained that despite the past issue we were ordering service as the park owner as opposed to a deadbeat and we always pay on time, and they serviced us. We paid on time and all is well. They are now our go-to electrician.

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We also hand out a list of “Approved Contractors” that we work with. When we first hire them we explain what we are responsible for and what is the tenant’s responsibility. The contractor knows exactly who to bill. The tenants like to call them because they think the will only bill us. It’s a win win.

If the tenant hires a non approved contractor and the problem is our fault the tenant is responsible for the trip charge. We tell the contractor thanks for letting us know but you are not on our approved list of contractors so you need to bill the person who called you. The tenant also is told this.

This policy is handy especially for sewer back ups. My Approved Plumber knows to immediately inspect the main line. If the main line is clear then he knows to bill the tenant. If the main line is clogged then I will pay. I’ve had “non-approved” contractors start in the house and push the clog into my main line and then try to blame me. I do not pay for these.

AW