Illegal apartment, is lease valid?
A few years ago I moved into an apartment. I was paying 200-400$ electric bills because it was in a commercial building and I was paying the commercial rate. CL&P told me to go to the town hall and get a certificate of occupancy in order to get the residential rate. In doing so, they said there was no apartment in the building I was living in, gave me a copy of there blue prints (or what was supposed to be in that building) and told me I would need to move. So I did. I called the electric company and had them shut off my power on August 10th when I moved out and they told me it would be shut off on the 13th of August. A month later I received a bill for 301$. I refuse to pay it because I did not occupy that apartment during that month. I had called multiple times to have cl&p come out and check my meter and they failed to due so. Showing that if no one was living there I was paying electric for other parts of the building. Now 3 years later I'm getting threats from collection agencies for this bill. If the landlords at the apartment try to sue me for this, do I actually have a case? As far as I'm concerned, that apartment was illegal and therefore that lease was void. One more note is when we moved in they made us sign a 2 year lease in order to get our 1700$ security deposit back because a year lease they said they would've kept it for any cleaning. Please help.
Comment on JudyKayTee's post
Comment on AK lawyer's post
Yes I called them on the 10th and they said it would be shut off on the 13th. I was paying so much that myself and my family suspected that I was paying electric for another part of the building. Only other places in the building are the woodshop which is run by the landlord, a dance studio and a few other businesses. Which is why I had to go to the town hall to get the certificate of occupancy so I could get residential electric rates instead of commercial/industrial. So, CL&P wants me to pay that bill of 301$ for the month of August and September, but since the apartment was illegal and I was told bu the town hall I shouldn't have been living there, and the fact that I was probably paying someone else's electric I refuse to pay it. So now I have a bunch of collection agencies calling me and I have awesome credit!
Comment on JudyKayTee's post
I see now how that is confusing. In a way I wanted to know both. If the town hall said I had to move, wouldn't the apartment be illegal and because the eletric bill was billed for after I moved it would not be my responsibility since I called on the 10th and had it shut off?
Comment on AK lawyer's post
I'm ultimately trying to figure out whether the apartment was illegal. If the collection agancy accepts the paper I have stating I moved out of there on the 10th, and they send the bill to the landlords to pay, I'm almost positive the landlords will come after me and try to sue me. So I'm just getting some opinions.
Comment on Fr_Chuck's post
I'm asking if the electric company ultimately decides that I'm not responsible for the bill and they send it to the landlord I thnk they (the landlord) will try to sue me.