Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in Texas
I live in a duplex in Abilene, Texas. My landlord lives on the other side of the duplex. When I moved in 4 years ago he told me he paid for the lawn to be watered.
There are electrical and water outlets on each duplex. The water sprinkler controls are in my fenced in patio area. The fuse boxes are both in his fensed in patio area.
We each have our own water and electrical companies.
He has hoses hooked up to my water outlets. One time he left the water running all night....he forgot to turn it on. I called his wife and told her it had been running for over 24 hours...I tried to turn it off but I wasn't strong enough to turn it completely off. My water bill was $25. higher on my next bill...however, I gave it to him and he paid it.
Right now ( and he has done this 2 times before) he has a long extention cord hooked up to my outside electrical outlet charging the battery on his van.
He is an older (75-80 yrs) man. Nice man. But it really irks me for this to happen. Is it illegal for him to do this?
1 Answer from Attorneys
If he doesn't have your permission to use your electricity, and he isn't paying the electricity, then he is stealing it, and it's illegal. Now the question becomes how hard do you want to rock the boat? It seems that a visit to him, and a polite request to stop doing it, would be the best course of action. If he refuses, then you certainly have options.
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