questions & answers

Question: I have a question about payment of utilities. I signed rental agreement stating that I have to make a tep account to pay my electric bill. But I got a notice yesterday that I have until today to make a simple bills account to pay for electric utility. I do not want to use this service and it was not in my lease. I called another number, but the woman was unhelpful.

Answer: The terms and conditions of a rental agreement between a landlord and a tenant generally determine what the landlord may or may not require of the tenant. So if your rental agreement specified that you would need to set up (and/or have the option to set up) a TEP account in your own name, then in principle neither your landlord nor any co-tenants you may have should be legally entitled to demand that you set up a SimpleBills account instead (although you may always choose to do so if you wish). When a landlord requests (or insists) that a tenant do something that is inconsistent with or not covered by the terms and conditions of a rental agreement, it is always recommended that the tenant respond through a short written letter (1) reminding the landlord of exactly what the rental agreement does or does not say and (2) explaining why the tenant does not intend to comply with the landlord’s request.