Land lord did not pay sewage bill, judgement against me.

[BTO429]

I lived at a property that I was renting until april 2010. I just got a court ordered judgement in the mail that says a default judgment has been entered against me. I have not been served because I moved. My former landlord even showed up at my new house demanding I pay this judgment.

My questions are these, who is responsible for sewer bills the owner of the property or the tenant.

I am going to write a response claiming improper service, but I was wondering if I should put something in my response saying that I am not responsible for this bill as I didnot own the propertry I was only renting.

That city where I was living bill whom evers name the city water bill was in. Regardless of whether or not you own or not. Thats how they figure out who is living at the address they use the water bill.

Am I or the former land lord responsible for the sewer bill? If I am I will pay it.

I need to get this judgment satisfied as I am in the process of getting some federal farm grants, and othe farm aide. You can not have any judgments or they will refuse a grant or any other farm aide.

I used the money I made from suing some former credit collectors to buy my farm last april. I grow apples and grapes.

And thanks for the help of the people on this forum I used of lot of their advice to acheive my victories against these junk debt buyers and other collectors.

[skippy1960]

In most cases utilities and who is responsible would be called out in your rental agreement that you had with the landlord, so that is where I would look first.

All rentals I have been a part of paid for sewer, garbage and water. But this could be different in other parts of the country....

[BTO429]

We had no renters agreement. The original was for one year and he never had me sign a new one. So for the last two years I lived there I payed them. But I never signed anything saying I would pay them I just did. I thought it was my responsibility.

Thats what I am trying to fing out. Who is actually responsible by law to pay them.

[Guest usctrojanalum]

This is something that would have to be litigated. Typically if you sign a lease this is all spelled out in the lease who would pay for things like this, if you have no lease agreement in place this then becomes a triable issue of fact.

[nascar]

I just got a court ordered judgement in the mail that says a default judgment has been entered against me. I have not been served because I moved. My former landlord even showed up at my new house demanding I pay this judgment.

Gunny, who obtained the judgment against you?

[BTO429]

the lawyer office that represents the city's sanitary district

[single317dad]

I had a similar situation, also in Indiana. I had rented a place for about 6 months, but kept my primary residence with intention of moving back. The place I rented, I paid the landlord for rent, trash, water, and sewage. I paid electric and gas to the utilities separately. However, in order to start the service I had to go to a town office and put down a deposit for sewage. This should have been a BIG red flag to me, but I ignored it.

Well, when I moved out I tried to get my deposit back from the town utility, and they refused. they said I owed $55 for water and an unknown amount (turned out to be $472) for sewage. Seems my landlord never used my money to pay the sewage, and stopped paying water when I gave him notice that I was leaving.

Now, I looked at this from every angle, and while I don't think I was responsible for the bill, I made some big mistakes in trusting the landlord instead of actually getting to the truth of the arrangement. I ended up paying the bills and I'm deciding the best course of action for suing the landlord. I'll probably take them to small claims in their county, but the 3-hour drive makes it hard to justify.