i think there's a lot of topics from previous years regarding runaway tenants and never paid electricity bills. i googled this topic and its everywhere on the net, newspaper but it never seem to be ending.

lots of measures advised by netizens and TNB itself to avoid future complications but how effective are they if owners are not getting any form of protection?

skipping the similar stories with the tenant running away without settling the utility bills, i was just informed that the outstanding TNB bill is RM32,000.00!!!! yes, THIRTY TWO fccking THOUSAND ringgit!!! and that's just TNB. i haven't found out how much SYABAS & IWK outstanding yet.

there's only RM6,000 for Utility Deposit. She didn't pay her rental for month of Aug and ran off early Sept.

Although she informed me she's closing shop & moving away, she never informed me she never settled the TNB bill. previously, TNB sends me sms as outstanding reminder and the amount is around RM6-7k. When i forward her the monthly sms and follow up with her, she gave me a story about faulty TNB meter and they replaced it and she already settle the outstanding bla bla bla (but nvr show me any proof of payments made)

if the figure is not crazy like RM30+ thousands, i wouldn't bother to hire laywer and pursue a legal case with her. but since the figure is so big, and she's no where to be found now (last i heard she flew off to Hong Kong) i'm gonna meet a lawyer next week to discuss next course of action. not confident of getting anything back at all but will definitely try. at least with a lawyer letter & a police report, i can go to TNB and nego with them.

i understand i have to settle that amount with TNB no matter what if i want to reconnect back the supply. and i'm not gonna wait for 2-3 years (if that) till this case is over before i can rent it out. i'm willing to settle it first, get it reconnected while at the same time, pursuing a legal case with the previous tenant. i heard from other owners there's a possibility i can nego an 'installment plan' with TNB since they know & understand its not owed by the owner and the previous tenant is now MIA.

why TNB never disconnect their supply even though deposit is only RM3000 (or something)?? well, its a wonder how our national electricity supply company works. for example, if i didn't pay TNB bill for 3months, by right, RED letter will be issued and power will be disconnected. 2 easy ways of getting by this:

A) reconnect it illegally & continue using it until TNB comes around again (which could be a few months or years)
B) before TNB disconnect, pay 1 month bill or pay partial bill. as i'm made to understand, as long as there's payment made, doesn't matter if its 10% or 50% of the outstanding, TNB can't disconnect your supply.

so if i'm those bad eggs tenant, every month i will pay only 30% of the total bill. remaining 70% will be brought forward month after month after month until tenancy expired and i'm leaving the premise. that way, i'm always enjoying discounted TNB supply. the last 3 months before i move out, i don't pay anything at all cos it takes 3 months before a RED letter is issued

same with water bill, one can do the exact same thing and SYABAS can't do nuts about it.

i also read online TNB advising owner to do a Change of Tenancy (CoT)e.g. register the account under tenant's name and not owner's name. i have a little doubt - even if its under tenant's name,
-he/she defaulted the payments and has left the premises.
-supply disconnected.
-owner found new tenant
can the new tenant apply for another CoT and TNB will reconnect supply even though the previous bills was not settled?

anyone with experience or success in pursuing a legal case? i'm not sure how much its gonna costs me but i have to do this. i have a photocopy of the previous tenant's IC though she may not be staying at that address.

is there any website where i report her as a bad fuuking tenant and should be avoided at all costs?

how to make tenants show me proof of payments for utility bills. i know its written in the tenancy agreement but most of the time they will say, "haiiyaa, i left the receipt at home...next month la i show you" is there any way to make this condition just as important as paying on/before 7th of every month?

is it possible to collect 2months rental as Utility Deposit (on top of the 2 months Security Deposit) rather than the standard 1 month?

is there any cons for registering the tenant's name in TNB account?? what does the law says about TNB account? must i provide the account first and they sign a CoT after?? (for new tenancy) or can i just tell the new tenant that they need to apply for TNB account on their own.

lengthy topic...thanks for reading; appreciate any feedback

woww...so many ppl sharing experiences here...i've been to hell & back with this property...finally got it settled...now will face the headache of dealing with TNB as i've just found a new tenant...

went to TNB today and found out the ugly truth bout TNB...i can't say the previous tenant was not to be blame..but partly (well, about 75%) is TNB's fault. the officer at TNB was kind enough to let me see on his PC screen the payment (or non-payment) history of the premises..and to my shock, most of the readings were estimated readings. i believe this is because that tenant didn't run a day time business (only opens in evening from 4pm onwards) so TNB didn't have access to read the meter...

but i think it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out how much of electricity a restaurant business normally consumes, or if they don't know that, they should at least estimate based on previous month's average readings....instead, certain months were estimated at RM100, some other months, RM50 when their monthly usage on average is RM2-3K...

the estimated meter reading went on for a while, until i guess for once they actually have access to the meter and corrected the meter reading. so for that 1 month alone, the bill was RM19,000.00...yes, RM19 thousand. of course that tenant not going to pay...previously they only paying like 50% or 70% of the actual billed amount...there's no way they going to pay RM19k one shot...

and that RM19k bill so happened was the last tenancy month's bill..previous amount outstanding is about RM8k...and TNB charged an extra RM4k as 'Cagaran Tambahan'

so, TNB is partly to be blamed...but i haven't yet figure out how much the SYABAS bill is at the moment...i found out Indah Water bill is RM2k++

so, with the deposit money i have from them, minus 1 month they didn't pay rental, plus the bills i have to settle now...i'm at a loss of about RM40k++....

the only plus point from all these ridiculous issues, i manage to rent the property out at a much higher monthly rental than the previous one...so...hopefully nothing will go wrong with this new tenant and i will start making my losses back slowly...

the officer at TNB told me i should get the tenant to sign up an account with TNB rather than using my own name...i asked him, if this guy ran away with unsettled bill, will i get in trouble? am i able to reconnect the supply? he says, TNB will only go after the account holder...and i will be able to reconnect the supply under a new account even if the previous outstanding amount under a different name is not settled.

i will need to reconfirm this with his higher officer next week as she's not around this week. (apparently, due to the high figure, i need to speak to the higher officer for nego or installments)

i will keep posting updates whenever i got them...so property owners renting out their units as investment need to take note...