Bills Withheld From Old House Overdue

[tmsmalley]

He can not contact your husband’s employer to collect a debt (Fair Debt Collection Practices Act - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia). It is against the law under the FDCPA. Write a letter to your old landlord immediately (certified) stating that you do not want contact at your husbands employer..

Unfortunately, that's not correct. Fair Debt Collection Act applies to debt collectors, not private individuals.

The FDCPA broadly defines a debt collector as "any person who uses any instrumentality of interstate commerce or the mails in any business the principal purpose of which is the collection of any debts, or whoregularly collects or attempts to collect, directly or indirectly, debts owed or due or asserted to be owed or due another."

That means that a collection agency can't do the things on the list, an in-house accounts receivable person probably can't do the things on the list, an attorney acting on behalf of the company can't do these things, but a guy whose main business is being a landlord and once in a while has to chase someone for some money isn't covered.

So, it would be mean and nasty of him to go to your husband's boss, (not to mention counter-productive since if he gets fired, the landlord isn't going to see any money), but it isn't illegal. It wouldn't even be slander since you do owe the bill and truth is not slander even when it is done in a nasty way.

If this goes to court, you're going to lose and owe the money and probably any interest or fees that apply as well. Even though you didn't see the bill, you know you used propane so they're going to say that you should have known that there would be a bill out there somewhere. And of course now that you know it exists, you know you owe it so there's no defense. It would be a lot better to make a payment plan than to get a judgment against you, especially since interest and fees are going to continue to rack up and by the time you'd get sued in small claims it would be an even bigger bill.

I'd start with sending a registered letter (keep yourself a copy) and including a check for whatever you've got, even if it is $25, then continue to pay that amount every week. If he takes a month to pick up the letter, that's his issue, not yours, you'll at least have the paper trail that you're attempting to pay the debt.

Hang in there!
Tess

[purplefdu]

His son basically was hiding every other propane bill, since it was his job to pick them up, make a copy for us so we could make payment for our share. So when the propane was refilled more often than it should have been (because he kept his thermostat set to like 80) he decided to hide them and hope noone noticed instead of giving them to us so that we'd refuse to pay right then and there. He knew we wouldn't just split the bill because the landlord (his dad) said so since we never used tht much propane before the son moved in.

*bangs head on desk* I called him and told him I would be leaving a check in the mailbox Friday when I take my father for his CAT scan. He's just mad he has to pay whatever his son doesn't now instead of sticking us with the bill, lol.

Thanks for the feedback guys. At least I'm not flying off the handle feeling like he's treating us unfairly.

[licoupons]

Were you sharing a home with this person ? From you last post it sounds like you did.
Did you have some sort of arrangement that you would pay a certain% or would it be 50/50 or such.
Also I would ask for a copy of it first to make sure that it was the times that you were living there.

[purplefdu]

The quick deal:
Our landlord broke the lease and allowed his son to move into the "summer apt" in the downstairs of his house he was renting to us. The original lease allowed his father to live there in the summer for 1-2 months. His son was supposed to be there one winter and he decided splitting the bills 50/50 would be "fair" to both parties. We dealt with that for two years. The utilities are on one bill, which is why it was left in the landlord's name (and so he could keep the mooring).

The bills were when we lived there (I called the gas company myself). Normally in the winter we went 1.5-2 months between tank fills, when his son moved in they become closer to every month, and his new girlfriend moved them closer to every three weeks (not to mention the extra electric she used somehow).

We're just trying to get him paid so he will leave us alone and we can forget we ever rented from him.