I just moved into an apartment in January of 2008. I have been on SS disability,SSI & state assistance since 1995. My apartment was vacant for 9 months before I moved in so my landlord had all the electricity on 1 meter. They live upstairs from me.He had another meter added, put a fuse box in the basement for my 1st floor & asked me to call the electric company to have it put in my name, which I did. One night I blew a fuse and my friend and I went down in the basement and I noticed the hallway & basement lights were out. To make it short, I called CL&P and the inspector said his 2 furnaces,sub-pump,all outside and hallway lights, his washer and probably more were on my meter.They will send him a letter to correct all this by a licenced electrician and would most likely need to go throughout the entire house since I could also have more.Plus add another outside meter and fuse box for the common areas.I also filed a complaint with the building housing for repairs. Can he try to evict me? Added today...My landlord banged on my door last night and said the rent is due or your out tomorrow,,Its not th3 1sr today,he was drunk and calling me bad names,he slammed my outside door in my face,I was halfway outside and said to leave me alone,I had my hand in the door which kept bleeding and he smashed my nose which was bleeding as well.I thought it was broke at 1st.I called 911 an ambulance and the police came he was arrested & brought to the police station for disorderly conduct which the officer said that this also includes the assault on me. He said I should sue him. Please advise me of my rights.Sincerely, Janet Steffman

Hello Jansteff,

In a situation such as this, the Landlord tenant issues and the assault issue are seperate matters to themselves as far as pursuing suit or charges. First, for the criminal aspect of assault, the police will impose charges, as they have no doubt already done, and he will be fined or jailed accordingly.

Second, you can file civil suit for damages and injury resulting from the assault in the appropriate court, which is determined by the monetary amount of the medical bills and/or punitive/emotional distress damages that you are, or claim to be, due; you may or may not be able to assert the latter in your state.

Third, depending on your state's landlord tenant laws and/or court, you can file a civil suit again for his retaliatory actions in that he threatened your tenancy as a result of your informing the authorities about your electricity situation. In other words, if you assert your legal right to have a rental situation remedied pursuant to an applicable law, the landlord may not threaten your tenancy in turn. He could be subject to fine, and you might be due some monetary damages. And the proper court depends upon whether your state has a landlord/tenant court or division, or whether it is based solely on monetary damages and goes to a standard small claims or district court.

Fourth, with your situation resulting in both physical injury and retaliatory actions, both matters may likely be raised in both courts as the facts are concurrent. Your landlord messed up big-time.

I seriously recommend that you consult an attorney regarding these questions as they have their complexities, and due to the nature of the offenses, attorney's fees may likely be awarded for one or both offenses. This site has an attorney locater service readily available. good luck, and give him hell, he deserves it for all that he did and for trying to rip you off in the first instance. Nice guy!!! Who knows, there may be other stuff regarding your disability status as well. Seek council,

Lawford

Hi Jansteff. I can certainly understand this is a very frustrating situation for you - it would be for anyone - especially given that the landlord lives upstairs and you are in such close proximity. I suggest you contact an attorney immediately to determine your legal options including what legal remedies you may be able to pursue against the landlord for the code violations, charging you for utilities not related to your unit, and the physical assault. You can find an attorney through the locator service on LawInfo’s home page at: http://www.lawinfo.com/.

You can also browse through the information in LawInfo’s Free Legal Resource Center here: http://www.lawinfo.com/index.cfm/fus...lient.consumer, or search for your particular topic here: http://resources.lawinfo.com/index.html.

See specifically:

http://resources.lawinfo.com/en/Lega...ant/index.html

http://resources.lawinfo.com/Search....me:Connecticut

http://resources.lawinfo.com/Search....ourceType:FAQs

http://resources.lawinfo.com/Search....Audio%20Guides

Good luck!