[sgc6657]

Son in law living in my home, daughter not there and I don't live there - am I required to continue paying the utilities until he leaves? He has never paid rent or any of the utilities and isn't under any kind of lease.

[Fr_Chuck]

Tell us how he got there, was he living there with your daughter at one point. How long has he been living there.

But it appears you were allowing him to live there on a month to month rental ( for no money) and you were funishing utilities.

If so, yes you will have to keep paying them till you evict him. You may also give him notice ( normally 30 days) that he will have to start paying rent.

[ballengerb1]

Iagree with Chuck but in many states you only need to give a 3 day notice to quit before starting eviction. Where is the home located?

[MKH2U]

Exactly, why is he still there and none of you are there? A notice to vacate is required and if he doesn't leave then you will have to obtain a judgement from the court. In Texas the utilities have to remain on and cannot be used to attempt to get a resident to move out or you can be found in contempt of court and jailed until the utilities are turned back on. Yikes. It won't take long in Texas. It's a landlord state.

[AK lawyer]

... am I required to continue paying the utilities until he leaves? ...

It's going to depend on the terms of the landlord/tenant act for whichever state you are in. To cut off utilities for the purpose of ousting a tenant is prohibited in most places. The penalty, however, can be a multiple of his monthly rent. If he is not paying rent, the penalty could be $zero. As I say, it depends.

And also, one would have to look to the LL/T act to see what constitutes a "tenant", "rental agreement", etc. so as to determine if the ouster prohibition applies. So it all depends on what state you are in.