The Albatros is back. [insert swearing here]
Mea Culpa. I spoke too soon... The saga continues.
Please allow a brief explanation, for those of my readers not in the know. Here in my province, our electricity supplier is government-run and is independent to each individual dwelling. When someone buys a building with more than one dwelling and rents the individual apartments to tenants, there are two possibilities for the responsibility of the electricity. The tenant can pay and the landlord charges a lower rent, or the landlord can pay and adjusts the monthly rent accordingly.
When I owned and was a landlord for the past five years, my tenants were always responsible for the electricity. This meant that, with every new lease, the outgoing tenant contacted the electricity company and ended their contract, and the incoming tenant contacted the same company with their details to start a new contract.
As of April 1st, 2009, the person who's living in the ground-floor apartment hasn't contacted the electrical company to start a new contract. The electrical company has now contacted me, because I was the owner of the whole building.
This means, much to my complete distress, that I am being held responsible for the very LARGE electrical bill for an apartment in a building that I thought was out of my life for good. I have drafted a registered letter to the tenant, but I'm holding out very little hope, to be honest.
Needless to say, I'm at work right now, hovering on the verge of a complete breakdown, with Hysteria sitting on my right shoulder and Fury on my left.
Please allow a brief explanation, for those of my readers not in the know. Here in my province, our electricity supplier is government-run and is independent to each individual dwelling. When someone buys a building with more than one dwelling and rents the individual apartments to tenants, there are two possibilities for the responsibility of the electricity. The tenant can pay and the landlord charges a lower rent, or the landlord can pay and adjusts the monthly rent accordingly.
When I owned and was a landlord for the past five years, my tenants were always responsible for the electricity. This meant that, with every new lease, the outgoing tenant contacted the electricity company and ended their contract, and the incoming tenant contacted the same company with their details to start a new contract.
As of April 1st, 2009, the person who's living in the ground-floor apartment hasn't contacted the electrical company to start a new contract. The electrical company has now contacted me, because I was the owner of the whole building.
This means, much to my complete distress, that I am being held responsible for the very LARGE electrical bill for an apartment in a building that I thought was out of my life for good. I have drafted a registered letter to the tenant, but I'm holding out very little hope, to be honest.
Needless to say, I'm at work right now, hovering on the verge of a complete breakdown, with Hysteria sitting on my right shoulder and Fury on my left.