Landlord wants a copy of electric bill...

[ganjapool]

update

update

Alright, so I just heard back from my landlord and it's all good. I sent him a text earlier saying that I already installed smoke detectors and I would rather not get on my electric bill for privacy reasons. The text he sent back was, "okay thanks". So its all good and I can continue on until the next hurdle arises! I want to thank everybody for their advice.

I guess this goes to show that you need to be really careful about who you rent from and definitely do not rent through a property management company. Before I decided to rent this house I poured over the threads on this site to make sure I could avoid any potential issues in renting a house. The application to rent the house was only one page long. When I rented my previous apartment the rental agreement was almost 30 pages long!

When I got the text from him last night I just took a monster dab and was slightly paranoid. I just wanted to sleep on it and clear my head a little before I made any decisions.

 

[Mikenite69]

So u are paying 900.00 every 2 months for electric that's a little high there bud especially if you aren't in a med state.

You also better hope that the last people or people before who use to live in that house were never on a budget billing plan. What they do is add up a total years usage and base you monthly bill on a set price. Then when the year is over if you didn't go over the killawatt usage they give you a refund.

Now the reason why your landlord might wanna see your bill and I saw how he texted you back short and sweet but he might of been contacted by the electric company to find out why your electric bill is almost 4 times higher than the normal for that house. Believe it or not they might actually contact the owner about it first because he is the home owner and they are not gonna alert the tenant to there suspicions or concerns about this high electric use...

To me this whole situation stinks This happened to a friend of mine he was living in a house the previous tennants where on a budget billing program the landlord first told him that he was gonna come up and do a inspection with 24hrs prior notice when my friend told him can he please make it for another day the landlord agreed and what do you know the next day the porkers showed up no knock search warrant in hand and walked right in to the house with a spare key giving to them by the landlord.

All I can say to you is be very alert and I would of called the owner or landlord so this way you could feel him out. You cannot feel someone out by a text message.

Well I wish you luck and just know with that clause in your lease the landlord or owner can give you prior notice to enter wether you are there or not. This is what landlords or owners do when they get suspicious they start beating around the bush for reasons they need to enter you residence. I hope that it all works out for the best for you but those excuses sound fishy.

 

[DarthFader1]

Omfg. Electric companies do not ring the property owners asking them to find out why their tenant has high power usage. That is the biggest crock of s*** ive heard so far in this thread.

Id be extremely careful who i listen to in this thread OP, as some people are just making s*** up, and are spreading a ton of misinformation. I used to have my real estate licence, i have a major in Uni in real estate, my family has heavy ties in rental properties, i know what im talking about here. I also have experience with high power usage. The power companies protocol is when you first move into the place after the 1st couple months when they take an ACTUAL reading, usually the bill gets red flagged and AUTOMATICALLY gets sent to another department. What follows then is you get a courtesy call from one of their more senior staff members just checking that the power usage is inline with what you think it is, before they send the bill out. THey do this merely as a courtesy to make sure the meters aren't faulty etc. FWIW 450 isn't even very high and i would not be worried at all. Ive run 3bdrm houses with nearly double that. AS long as you pay bill on time they usually don't care. Although this is in my country not the good ole US of snitch.

I never post in security forum as too many retards with bad info, this thread is just another case of it.

Be careful who you listen to OP

 

[lemongrove]

Oh brother. In the SOUTH! MJ doesn't mix well with football and Jesus. I would shut it down lickety split. okay thanks could meankay thanks that's all I needed to know. Meaning that not wanting to show him your electric bill looks suspicious because that is an innocent request and if you aren't doing anything wrong he would expect you to give it to him. You didn't and couple that with a huge increase in electric usage for that house, it makes you look suspicious.
If the owner wants to do something to the house to improve it with more insulation and the current renter acts like he doesn't want better insulation, which would lower his electric bill, it looks very odd that he wouldn't want to do that and that will raise red flags.
It looks to me like the owner has already been contacted by the electric company asking why the electric usage in the house is so high. Going from $150 a month to $450 is not something that will go unnoticed. That's a huge increase and it has gotten you some unwanted attention. Be safe, close it down.
Oh and just so you know the IRS was offering tax credits for insulation installed by Dec. 31, 2013. It's past that date so that story doesn't fly. Also rent is income and the person that said it isn't is wrong. Look it up on the IRS web site.
Remember people this is the SOUTH! People who don't know anything about the south in the good ol' usa doesn't understand that LEO does pretty much whatever it wants to do.
If a good old rich boy owns a bunch of properties and had his buddy from the country club manage them and he is a golf buddy with one of the execs. at the utility company, he can get any info. If his buddy at the electric company was asked to tell him if any of his properties are looking fishy I have no doubt he would do that. Believe me things aren't always by the book and being well connected means more than the law in some places. Believe that.
If you're in the south, growing and your electric bill is three times higher than it has ever been for that property and your landlord is suddenly asking for your electric bills, you'd best be shutting down. Sometimes you don't need a weather man to know which way the wind is blowing.

 

[ganjapool]

Omfg. Electric companies do not ring the property owners asking them to find out why their tenant has high power usage. That is the biggest crock of s*** ive heard so far in this thread.

Id be extremely careful who i listen to in this thread OP, as some people are just making s*** up, and are spreading a ton of misinformation. I used to have my real estate licence, i have a major in Uni in real estate, my family has heavy ties in rental properties, i know what im talking about here. I also have experience with high power usage. The power companies protocol is when you first move into the place after the 1st couple months when they take an ACTUAL reading, usually the bill gets red flagged and AUTOMATICALLY gets sent to another department. What follows then is you get a courtesy call from one of their more senior staff members just checking that the power usage is inline with what you think it is, before they send the bill out. THey do this merely as a courtesy to make sure the meters aren't faulty etc. FWIW 450 isn't even very high and i would not be worried at all. Ive run 3bdrm houses with nearly double that. AS long as you pay bill on time they usually don't care. Although this is in my country not the good ole US of snitch.

I never post in security forum as too many retards with bad info, this thread is just another case of it.

Be careful who you listen to OP

Thanks darth fader , I got a little frightened reading the mikenites post! I have paid my electric bill on time the ever since I've been in the house. I have gotten no calls nor have I had any contact with the electric company besides a monthly bill. There is nothing I can think of that should have aroused his suspicions. I have a full time job and I'm a clean cut college educated guy.


@mikenite69 I'm sorry to hear about your friend. The owner can not consent to search of a property if it is rented out to a tenant. Thank you for your concern, I like to think of myself as fairly cautious. I really don't see any red flags but as always will be vigilant.

 

[Mikenite69]

So pretty Darth a lot of your info is misinformation just because 1 you don't live In the United States. So basically you have no clue how anything works here.

Also all the time I have been living in the U.S I have never gotten a friendly phone call from a electric company asking if everything is all fine and dandy. Lmfao

 

[mowood3479]

I dont see whyba landord would make up an excuse to get a tenants power bill to try to determine if the tenant is growing.. They can just given 24 hours notice n have a look themselves. Id call the guy back n find out exactly what the guy needs n then give it to him, if possible. Its easy to get sketched by landlords, the last rental i did i was sure the ll hated me.. When i moved out he had me find him a new tenant.

 

[Mikenite69]

Hey ganja I am not talking about your landlord consenting to a search I am talking about Leo going to the owner/landlord to see if there is a spare key before they break down the door and cause a lot of damages to the owners property.

Another thing about the dude who is giving info and has no clue about the U.S if there is a crazy increase in electric the electric company can try to contact the home owner and offer incentives or start asking questions as to why so much of a jump this year over previous years and yada yada yada.

Also in the U.S it is protocol that a home owner if you live in some states will have a account on the same house a tenant rents so this way when the tenant moves and shuts his or her electric off it will automatically go back into the home owners name so this way say its winter time so the pipes won't freeze and cause obscene amounts of damage to the property.

I hope it checks out for ya ganja I really do just I always feel when a landlord starts asking for shit or home owner 99% of the time it's not a good sign especially when your bills are paid on time. Usually when you aren't doing a damn thing in your house like my house that I live in now my bills are paid on time along with electric and I haven't seen my landlord in years or heard from them. The only time I hear from them is if I have a issue with the house that I can't fix myself or have someone else fix.

I really hope it was just a freak thing just stay on your toes and keep alert. Better to be safe than sorry not telling you to rip your grow down but maybe call up the owner or landlord and kinda feel him out.

Good luck.

 

[ganjapool]

So pretty much a lot of your info is misinformation just because 1 you don't live In the United States. So basically you have no clue how anything works here.

Also all the time I have been living in the U.S I have never gotten a friendly phone call from a electric company asking if everything is all fine and dandy. Lmfao

Why do you think I don't live in the US? The point I was trying to make on my previous post was that I haven't had any phone calls Electric Company asking any questions relating to a faulty meter or excessive power use. I feel like you're blowing this whole thing out of proportion.

 

[Mikenite69]

That comment wasnt to you ganja it was to darth.

Plus you will never get that phone call from the electric company and don't think for once you will if they suspect high power usage for obvious reasons.


Not trying to get you paranoid I have seen it all before where your landlord doesn't bother you for shit than out of nowhere oh I have to come in for this or that.


Best advice I could give is call your landlord feel them out. If he calls you in a few days saying some other dumb shit then get worried. It could all be a fluke but still better to be safe then sorry.

 

[ganjapool]

Hey ganja I am not talking about your landlord consenting to a search I am talking about Leo going to the owner/landlord to see if there is a spare key before they break down the door and cause a lot of damages to the owners property.

Another thing about the dude who is giving info and has no clue about the U.S if there is a crazy increase in electric the electric company can try to contact the home owner and offer incentives or start asking questions as to why so much of a jump this year over previous years and yada yada yada.

Also in the U.S it is protocol that a home owner if you live in some states will have a account on the same house a tenant rents so this way when the tenant moves and shuts his or her electric off it will automatically go back into the home owners name so this way say its winter time so the pipes won't freeze and cause obscene amounts of damage to the property.

I hope it checks out for ya ganja I really do just I always feel when a landlord starts asking for shit or home owner 99% of the time it's not a good sign especially when your bills are paid on time. Usually when you aren't doing a damn thing in your house like my house that I live in now my bills are paid on time along with electric and I haven't seen my landlord in years or heard from them. The only time I hear from them is if I have a issue with the house that I can't fix myself or have someone else fix.

I really hope it was just a freak thing just stay on your toes and keep alert. Better to be safe than sorry not telling you to rip your grow down but maybe call up the owner or landlord and kinda feel him out.

Good luck.

The homeowner lives out of state and ive changed my locks so there's no way they can enter without kicking the door in. The landlord lives about an hour away.

The power bill was in the landlord's name and when I moved in I changed it over to my name. I do not think the landlord gets a copy of my power bill in fact I think that is extremely unlikely. If he already had a copy of my power bill why would he be asking for another one from me?

I don't think there's any need for alarm, I try to be pragmatic about situations like these. When I was in apartments I dealt with these type of things all the time. Sometimes I was able to hide them and sometimes I had to tear them down, it's just part of the game. I know it's a terrible idea to grow in apartments but if I didn't do that I would have never been able to afford a house and step it up a notch. For now everything will stay where it is and I'll keep an eye out.

 

[ganjapool]

That comment wasnt to you ganja it was to darth.

Plus you will never get that phone call from the electric company and don't think for once you will if they suspect high power usage for obvious reasons.


Not trying to get you paranoid I have seen it all before where your landlord doesn't bother you for shit than out of nowhere oh I have to come in for this or that.


Best advice I could give is call your landlord feel them out. If he calls you in a few days saying some other dumb shit then get worried. It could all be a fluke but still better to be safe then sorry.

Oh, my bad. Before I rented the house I talked to the landlord and told him above all else of value my privacy and I couldn't have people coming in and out of the house. I made up some stories about maintenance people entering my house unannounced. He understands and I'm sure he's pretty busy as long as he gets the rent on time what does he care? I'm pretty sure when I renew my lease he will just fax it to me and I'll sign and fax back, I won't even see the guy. The house is not that new but its in decent enough shape and I'm pretty sure its paid for, if that has to do with anything do with anything...

 

[the gnome]

Q for ya ganja, how long have ya been in the house and when did you fire up the lites?

 

[Mikenite69]

Lol ganja that is why I hate messaging or text things can be taking out of context.

Anyways good luck to ya brotha hope all is well. Try to just call landlord/ or owner whoever wanted that shit from you. Use the excuse that you put up the smoke detectors and just see if they are acting shady towards you that's the best info I could give ya. Now if they have some other excuse of pop a 48hr notice to enter then worry.


Peace and I am out of this thread.

 

[ganjapool]

Q for ya ganja, how long have ya been in the house and when did you fire up the lites?

Within the first month I had 1000 going all the time and around 2 months after that I have an additional 2k as well as a 12500 BTU AC unit running almost constantly.

 

[ganjapool]

Lol ganja that is why I hate messaging or text things can be taking out of context.

Anyways good luck to ya brotha hope all is well. Try to just call landlord/ or owner whoever wanted that shit from you. Use the excuse that you put up the smoke detectors and just see if they are acting shady towards you that's the best info I could give ya. Now if they have some other excuse of pop a 48hr notice to enter then worry.


Peace and I am out of this thread.

Thanks for your input, and yes I agree it is hard to feel somebody out through a text message. I tried to call the guy but he didn't answer.

 

[DarthFader1]

So pretty Darth a lot of your info is misinformation just because 1 you don't live In the United States. So basically you have no clue how anything works here.

Also all the time I have been living in the U.S I have never gotten a friendly phone call from a electric company asking if everything is all fine and dandy. Lmfao

Coming from a guy that clearly spends far too much time posting on here, has zero pics of any grow. GTFO retard, im done with this thread

 

[the gnome]

Q for ya ganja, how long have ya been in the houseand when did you fire up the lites?

i understand if you don't want to give out that info
but how long you've been there doesn't have to be to the exact month

 

[ganjapool]

I've been in my new spot for around 6 months

 

[ProMixNSunshine]

Can you build a secret room to toss shlt, or a trailer, then have the mother fucker over for crumpets and tea.