Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in California

I live on a parcel that has two units on it. The front house is a two bedroom with gas wall heaters and gas water heater and stove. And the rest of the house ( lights, alarm, dryer, dishwasher, and ac etc) is electric.

The unit I live in is actually a two room office space that he has rented to use as a residence. It has a kitchen, bathroom and waterheater, and ac. It is completely run electrically.

Both units are run off of one set of meters.

When we moved in friends of ours lived in the front house. They had a discounted electrical and gas rates based on economic qualifiers ( a low income discount, afforded to those that qualify).

During the year that we have lived here we have paid $ 60-120 per month for electric. In the summer due to lack of insulation (windows are not operational, doors don't seal, etc) we use the ac just about all the time. Our only source of heat is in the front room and is provided by a wood stove. It takes some of the sting of cold - it's regularly 50 degrees and with the stove brings it to 60. Despite this we stay because during this year my husband suffered a near heart attack and put him in the hospital for four days. We have a 16 year old dog and ultimately when we moved in it was because we couldn't find any other place that would take us ( we had lived with with relatives - so we didn't have real rental history and having a dog that weighs over 55 lbs, and my husband smokes). So we have dealt with these things because after 613 days at an extended stay we were over joyed to have our own place and a free standing unit at that.

So here is our problem. When one of our friends in the front house passed away, and his girlfriend moved out, leaving considerable utilities unpaid . Two to three months worth, we had paid her our share. The electric bill was in ( our dead friends name) and the water bill in the landlords name. I should mention that he receives all his mail here and it was the habit that when the water bill would come he after receiving his mail from our friends - he would then hand back the water bill to her. He still portrays to the world ( banks, businesses, etc that he lives here. ). He used to live here and ran his business from where we reside.

So when our friend died and we where left with unpaid utilities and started receiving disconnect notices - I gave him the notice for them and he said he would take care of it. I told him at that time that i had looked into the electric bill and i told him that if possible please leave it as is - because when our friend moved in she would put electric and gas in her name as she qualified for the same discount and the date that they were saying would be discounted was the day she would move in. So all he had to worry about was the water. Well he forgot supposedly and we were turned off , we informed hi he apologized and said he would remedy it. Well he didn't and they turned us off and locked the meter. So I blew my lid - he apologized and nothing more was said. The day before the new tennant was to move in our old friend who had moved ( who had been the one performing magical math and then billing us for our electrical consumption and who had taken our money and not applied it to utilities or answered our calls to untangled this mess) suddenly decided to call the electrical company and turned service off. She then informed the landlord of her actions, he without speaking with us or the new tennant and being fully aware that when he did that our rates would sky rocket . When I became aware of what our former friend did I inquired and he said he put it in his name and that the new tenant could switch it if she wanted later. Then when the new tennant moved in they signed a lease and he took it to copy and said nothing further about his process for charging us in the back for our usage or to her and the fact that she was responsible for utilities and should put in her name to recapture discount. He is impossible to get to respond in a timely matter to anything - so eventually as time worn on we all became concerned and as I became aware that there was a electric bill in the pile of mail that collects in one of his cars that he keeps here. Again all in his name - so the new tennant at this time questioned if she was responsible as he never said anything. He also at this point was over 30 days into her tenancy and still she had no copy of her lease to verify who was to pay what. Finally when the first came around she held her check until she got her lease. So he returns the next day and sites "he lost the lease they had signed"

And they drew up another one, at this time I was present and offered to make the copy for them. I did that and it was then he handed her a electric bill that was already past due and was only for nine days due to him changing into his name in the middle of billing cycle. He also said that he would be putting in a separate meters in soon - we were thrilled. although he has said this before several times thur out our time here.

He left and we examed the bill and it was $ 160 , we were shocked and worried so using the Internet and the account number that we now had I looked at what was currently showing and it showed $800 bill. We went to electric company and they took our payment of 160 and allowed us to switch into her name but that we would be liable for the $800 and for at least 2 months of billing at the higher rate as it takes that long for the discount application to kick in. The actual usage is not excessive but without the discount we can expect that the next two months will be billed at about the same amount. So although we can get a payment plan for the first 800 the following two months will be due as normal. So with no date for when he will put in the meters and two months of outrageous pricing what recourse do we have. I believe that due to his neglect to clarify these matters with all concerned parties he should be liable for the difference in what it would be with the discount and what we are billed with currently. If he ha spoken with us as it was known to him that we needed this discount and that the new tenant could have switched it the day she moved in and this would not have become as huge a problem. HELP, I know this is a long question but I tried to give you all the back round. We pay $1000 in rent and out rental agreement says only that we are responsible for any usage above normal usage of the front house. And on the lease that we suspect he redrafted for her it only states that landlord pays nothing. When we signed our agreement we did not realize what a pain in the ass this would become. And since our friends were doing the magical math as I said we never paid more then 120 in the summer and 60 - 75 in the winter. What do we do? We have always paid rent on time and cAnnot afford anywhere also still. Help!!

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