I am a landlord and licensed contractor. I've seen tenants tampering with Utility Services many times. Your right to expect the City or Utility to hold the owner responsible for their tenants bad deeds, unless you report it to the property authorities and have "proof"!
I had a tenant who climbed up on the roof of their apartment and tied into another tenants over head lines. I saw this and immediately too pictures with a time/date stamped camera. Then I printed out many copies and uploaded it into my computer.
I first called 311, the City Services Number and get transferred over to the Electrical Utility Supervisor. I wrote down the name of my operator, id number and the Electrical Supervisor's information too. I reported the "thief of utility". I got the supervisors email address and sent him a picture and description of what's going on.
I then waited a couple of days and nothing. The power was still being stolen and the illegal hookup was dangerous to my tenants and property.
So the next thing I did was walk over to my district councilman's office were they sent an official message to the Department of Water and Power. By their laws, the Department of Water and Power has to respond to the Councilman's request in a timely manner, 1 to 3 days. I got a note from my Councilman's assistant plus a copy of the messages sent.
I then got involved with other things and just left it up to them. Soon after the Department Housing Sent me a violation and fine for allowing my tenant to sell City power. So I had my Attorney Call the City and ask, "What should I have done"? Their response is that I should have told someone about the theft to limit my liability.
My attorney then sent the mandatory 30 day notice to the City and Utility company that unless I'm issued an apology and the fine cancelled, we will be filing a suit for a 1000 times the fine because the City was notified and did nothing, putting my property into harms way.
Then second time a tenants stole power from the City and not another tenant, I walked to the fire station and reported it to them. They came out and disconnected the illegal service and called the police. Problem solved in 36 minutes without involving my attorney.
--47.155.xx.xxx