A solid landlord-tenant relationship is built on mutual trust and honesty — and when those qualities disappear, things can turn disastrous quickly.
This was the case for one renter in Virginia, who posted about a frustrating situation on Reddit.
They wrote, "The Landlord is using our electricity to power a freezer and pool for his friend next door. What can we do?"
They continued: "Our landlord allowed our neighbors, who are his good friends, to use our electricity for their pool and a large stand up freezer. We were never asked, we never gave permission and our electric was $200 more than normal. … This isn't the worst of his of total disregard for us as tenants. This however really upsets me, that's $200 we need to live."
Commenters were empathetic and jumped in with advice.
"You're paying the rent, you're paying the electricity, cut them off," one person said emphatically. "Turn off the breaker feeding their pool & freezer. If you want to go the extra mile, you can buy breaker locks and lock it out so your landlord would have to have bolt cutters to turn it back on."
Others echoed the advice. "If they refuse you can either take them to small claims or threaten to let the electric company know," another person suggested.
Bottom line? "Start looking for a new place to live," one person said dryly.
Unfortunately, the difficulties of navigating a landlord or homeowners association relationship are common for the vast majority of Americans. As of 2024, over 30% of Americans rent, per Self; another 30% live in an HOA-governed community, per the Foundation for Community Association Research.
While blatantly stealing from tenants is an extreme example, many landlords and HOAs have been documented preventing their residents from implementing cost-saving measures, such as installing solar panels or electric vehicle chargers, upgrading to water-efficient natural lawns, or even hanging clotheslines. Electricity theft also leads to more wasteful use of electricity since the perpetrators are not responsible for the bill.
Fortunately, with a growing awareness of these measures' cost-saving and environmental benefits, many residents have had success changing HOA rules or working with their landlords.
But in cases like this, sometimes there's only one option. "Once you identify the breaker powering the pool and determine it's not powering anything else you care about, you can remove the breaker from the box … and then lock the breaker box behind you," one person suggested.
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