Feeling trappped...have you ever felt it???

[T4]

Ok, so here I am typing away, looking for answers in an open forum. The living conditions of my apartment have NOT gotten any better. The hydro bill keeps climbing regardless of the fact the paying $225.00 a month so that they don't cut us off. The total of the bill is now $2886.52. Nope it's not a spelling error...it's the truth. I have discussed with my landlord the possibility that the upper two apartments have things on my bill....needless to say it hasn't been checked =( There are MANY things that need to be done in this apartment...nothing has been done and I have lived here almost a year.

Now I know some of you are going to say.."go to the rentalsman" truthfully there is only so much they can/or are willing to do. Sure they can tell you to bring the rent money to them and they will get the "work" done...but.

Bottom line of my rambling, is the fact that I feel trapped in the apartment I'm in because I have dogs, and most places will not rent to you for that reason by itself, let alone the fact that I have kids. The rent is decent, and I know you only get what you pay for....but like I said..I have that "trapped" feeling because it is a very large apartment and I am able to have my dogs here.

Anyone else every feel "trapped" by a rental situation? If so..could you please share and also share how you got "untrapped" lol....

[space]

we were living at an apt one time where we were paying for the electricty for one of the tenants. what we had done we had a building inspector to come in and do an inspection of the building. next thing they wrote a letter to my ex lanlord to correct the problem as it had cause the landlord about $5000.

[T4]

wow, that must've hurt his pocket book!! The landlord is a really decent guy...just dosen't have the "extra" money I think to put into this place. It's alot of little things that have become and are becoming bigger problems and he's kinda behind the eight ball. So did you have to pay for the inspector to come in?

[CM]

Wouldn't it occur to the Power company that the amount of your bill is rather outlandish? Is there not something they can do to determine if there is more than just your apt running on the same meter? I would place a call to them and ask who you can speak to, to find out about that. I feel for you, that is an insane amount of money for one bill.

[T4]

You said it CM...it is a large bill, and I have spoken with them, but they said that it is up to the landlord to "check" it out.

[trinity]

My suggestion: arrange for a place to stay for a few days, talk to SJ energy and have the power temporarily cut off, and see who howls. The Rentalsman can do more than you think sometimes as well. Do you have access to any fuse boxes/circuit breaker panels you can shut off?? And the part about the landlord not being able to do much, that's bull, he probably knows and just won't do anything about it. As a former landlord, I know you don't have the option of "not having enough money" to do what you need to do, sucks to be you if you are the landlord. We used to run a store out east with an apartment attached...we found out that the apartment was "subsidizing" the bill for the store when the tenants had a problem with their stove and it needed to be replaced and we couldn't decide which was the breaker for the stove, we shut off everything in the house and whoops, all of the fridges and coolers in the store went too.

[girdy]

I expect if you called one of the electrical contractors and asked them to look, it wouldn't cost you more than perhaps 2 hours of their fee (which isn't likely to be cheap). If there is one near your apartment, maybe you could even ask them to give you $20 or $50 worth of opinion by taking a quick look. It would be your cost to bear, unless the landlord was found in fault, and then you might be able to get it back as well. You probably need your landlords permission to get the person to come, because the tech would need access to more than your apartment.

[space]

wow, that must've hurt his pocket book!! The landlord is a really decent guy...just dosen't have the "extra" money I think to put into this place. It's alot of little things that have become and are becoming bigger problems and he's kinda behind the eight ball. So did you have to pay for the inspector to come in?

doesn't cost anything for inspector .. we call the one at city hall.

yea and it looks good on him. one time when we were away on vacation for 5 days when we were still living there ..when we got back to the apt there was no power in our apt. had to throw out all the frozen food. there is a garage next to the house that has electricty also hook up to our meter the landlord would sometimes come over and use his power tool and it would blow a fuse. after we had moved we went to the rentalsmans to put a claim in for the loss that we had.

[tred816]

This is going to sound harsh, but, it sounds to me like you are putting your landlord's financial situation above your own...

Can you afford to pay that much in hydro in order to not cause him grief?

I'm not saying he isn't a nice person, but he could be playing on your niceness in order to put off doing what he has to do.

Your concerns about your pets and large family are valid and it really is difficult to get a place that you like which will accomodate you. Perhaps he's also aware of this and just blowing you off with lots of self pity in order to let you foot the bill until he can afford to fix it or until you've had enough.

I've spent enough of my life being a doormat to recognize another one.

My suggestion is to put your own needs first in this case. Either find out how to resolve the situation or move somewhere else before you get in way over your head.

[pale rider]

maybe if you turn off all your heat and unplug your stove, start to cook with a barbacue and have a fire pit in your livingroom your landlord will do somthing.

[Mandi]

how many units in your building? how much do they pay monthly for rent? think about it, im sure it's more than the mortgage, and that he could be considerate enough to help you out. it's not your building and you shouldn't have to pay for it. :(

[Flaxie]

Shutting off your power is a great test. I used to rent an appt on Duke st west one time and I did just that. The landlord lived upstairs and ran a garage out of the basement. I moved in Aug. 1st and got a hydro bill of close to $400. for that month. So one night when they shop downstairs was very busy I went out into the hall and shut down the power to my appt. Guess what... Everything downstairs shut down as well. I stuck a lock on the power switch to my appt leaving it off and had the inspector come out before I turned it back on. Yes my kids and I spent a few days eating cold food out of a cooler but it was worth it to put a stop to the abuse my landlord was inflicting. Of course I did move shortly after that lol. Given that you want to stay maybe shutting of the power in the evening just as the sun is going down so people will notice right away and see who complains. That should be enough to tell you whats going on. Then call the rentalsman's office and tell them what happened. They'll help get everything straightened out. Good luck!

[Rickster]

While everyone else is dwelling on your power situation I know what you mean by feeling trapped especially with your animals. I had three dogs at the time my building was being sold and we all got notices that we would most likely have to move in order for renovations to be done.Well now, just try to find an apartment that will allow your animals to come with you !! It is hard and if you do find a place then it is either expensive(as they charge extra for animals) or a dump that the landlords really don't care how many animals you have as long as they get their rent.I ended moving back to the 'family' home. Was quite an upset at first but for the sake of my animals(friends) I put up with it and were all one big happy family now(yea,right..). Yea, I feel for ya as like I said been there but don't give up and if I were you I would look for another place(they are out there).As far as your power bill...That IS ridiculous ! I would definitly get a 'professional' in there to check it out.Even if it came out of your own pocket,it would still be worth it in the long run !! - Hang in there,there has to be a silver lining out there someplace for you !! Good Luck ! - Rick.

[mattpage84]

i know exaclty how ya feel im in the same situation as well. im paying over 400 a month for my hydro alone an my bill has not dropped once since dec. my parents have a house oustide the city on nb power(higher energy rates) that is about 3 times the square footage of my place and there using like 2600 kw's per month. im using over 4000 kw's supposedly a month. ive been fighting wit sj energy since the first bill. ive already shut my power down for 5 days, and its only me an my landlord that live in the building an he didnt lose anything at all. i finally told sj enegry that i wasnt payin the amount the wanted because it was outrageous and that i was goin to the media about it, an magically my bill for the alst month dropped literally in half, but they still wont send anyone out to check the meter to be sure its working properly

[pepsimama]

Oh my gosh! That bill is just astronomical! I would cry with a bill that high! I can certainly understand what you mean about feeling trapped too! Have you ever considered co-op housing? Many of those allow pets in the appartments (at least they used to...).

I would recommend unplugging everything in your apartment for 5 minutes. Yes, absolutely everything! Make sure all your lights are off and all your heat is off. Then go look at the power meter that is tied to your account (the meter # should be on your power bill). If all you have at that point is your hot water heater, then the dial should be turning at a crawl. If it's still spinning like nobody's business, then you are definitely paying for power that you're not using.

We had this happen once in an apartment. Both hot water heaters were on our meter for the apartment upstairs from us. They had 5 people living up there where there were only two of us in our place. We got that checked out the very first week we were there and I'm glad we did because they HAD to fix it immediately.

So do the unplug test and hopefully you will be able to work from there.

[dahen]

That is a crazy hydro bill. Here I was complaining about my highest this winter of 253.36
You're right about the Rentalsmen. They can't do very much except tell you to write letters...like wtf?
Anyways best of luck to you!!

[space]

That is a crazy hydro bill. Here I was complaining about my highest this winter of 253.36
You're right about the Rentalsmen. They can't do very much except tell you to write letters...like wtf?
Anyways best of luck to you!!

if the rentalsman can't do anything.. the building inspector sure can. it work for us! and if they see something wrong they will notify the landlord.

[LiLLY]

I am also having the same problem all but this month since december have been paying almost 300$ a month for a little 3 bdrm that is on the top floor!!!

[trinity]

Well, the power rates have been higher this winter, I have had one power bill top 300, another two that were 270 and 240, then it started back down and is 124 i think this month. My average power bill has jumped $24, I tracked it on a spreadsheet, added up each month and divided by 12 and last year it was $114, this year $138.

[dolphins#1]

you know what t4 i feel your situation to a t cause i am in the same boat exactly my bill has not gone that high but i am at $900 and everytime i put money on it it seems like it is getting higher and higher so when i pay money i am getting pushed 3 steps back i have cats and kids and very dificult to move and i think i am paying for something above me which is my landlord. so if anyone else could help and i stuck too i thought i was the only person that felt thins way so t4 if you get any helpful info please share :( ty

[Flaxie]

Honestly, take the time to contact the rentalsmans office and the building inspector. You can't do anything about your situation until you do. With power bills like that you'll end up having to make the decision as to rather you feed your family or pay your bills.

[T4]

Ok, here's an update. It is Saturday June 2, we still have no power "of our own", lol...I am the "Queen" of extension cords. My neighbours upstairs have let me run extesion cords from their place (their heat and lights are included in their rent) so they said "use all you need"!!

I have spoken to literally everyone that I can possibly think of, from the office of Ed Doherty the MLA for this area, Elizabeth Weir's office, the Rentlasmen, Income Assistance, Saint John Community Loan Fund Office, and finally Vibrant Communities. I am ready to go to the media. The landlord has generously offered to raise the rent...to "800.00" that will of course include heat and lights...wtf!! I was paying 450.00 unheated and then off course 225.00 to Saint John Energy. So.....the condition of course it would be a trial basis..and if the power bill got too high...well then he would help me to find a place to move.
When the power was off it affected the other tenants, they had no hotwater and a few outlets didn't work. He (landlord) had the hot water turned back on and attached to a different meter. Boy oh Boy you should see that meter spinning. I would like to see what the bill ends up being.

Bottom line to date...still no power (of my own), looking for a place to live, wondering where or where te hell the silver lining is!! LOL.
I will check in again when I can.

[christine chittick]

by him changing the hot water to another meter just proves he knew all along IMO. Wonder whose electricity he is running off of now

[T4]

It is one of the other tenants, but like I said, their rent includes heat and lights. Mine was the only one that didn't have it included. Now...I know why. Somebody kick me! lol.

[space]

if you didnt have any power for 2 week the rentalsmans could hold ur rent for you instead of you paying it directly to the landlord. you have no power how would you shower or cook? you would have to give a letter to ur landlord to whatever needs to be done. I assume this is consider an emergency so you wouldnt need 7 days to have something done. if landlord does not respond then you give a copy to the rentalsmans and they take it from there. I assume the power that ur getting upstairs with extention cords is plugged into ur computer? for raising your rent I think landlord have to give you a 3 months notice.

[T4]

I'm using my friends computer at their house. We have lived in the apartment for a year, so I believe that you are right as far as the rent increase goes..not sure. I will be again contacting the rentalsman on Monday. As far as the showers go, we do have hot water, because the landlord had to reconnect the hot water to one of the other meters.

[Chinna Dah]

holy crap, that was awefully nice of you to pay for the hot water for the WHOLE building. wow, just wow is all I can say!

Your landlord lied right to your face, that is wild!

[drakelogan]

Hi, if I were you I'd move....I have 2 dogs too....and my landlord takes dogs....I'm at 40 mathew lane...nice place...all newly reno-ed....you should drop by and see the super about a place....by the way my light bill is under 100 per month....

good luck

[trinity]

And even with a 3 month notice of increase, he can't increase it 77%

[ravbrad]

To get your problem fixed you should really call the building inspector. Even if you're looking for a new place to live future tenants should not have to deal with the same problem you're having. The number for the building inspector's office is 658-2911. Definitely call.

[T4]

Thanks all for the information. I have found a new place to live, and I am not letting the problem go. I will NOT have some other unfortunate person/family go through what we are at present. When I called the landlord, he almost sounded a bit miffed that we were moving. Gone was the compassion and concern about my family and I.

[kaj27]

Good to hear this had a happy ending.

[T4]

Happy ending yes....without electricity (of our own) but DEFINETLY a better ending has/is going to happen. Man I can't tell you the weight that was lifted off of my shoulders. I still have the battle regarding the bill...but that can wait until after we move.