Landlord Demanding To Use My Outdoor Outlets For Christmas Inflatables Keeps Tripping My Circuit Breakers
Hi, I’m a tenant in Florida and I’m dealing with ongoing issues with my landlord. On Thursday, after hearing banging on the side of my house for over 15 minutes, I went outside and found two men unplugging my Christmas lights and grill to plug in multiple inflatable Christmas "decorations" Since my house is closest to the street, they wanted to use my outlet for this. I told them I didn’t mind, but the inflatables blow my circuit breaker. In fact, it had tripped less than an hour before they showed up. I explained that last year, they used indoor outlet strips, which caused the breakers to trip when the sprinklers hit them. We had no power for six hours, and I had to reset the breakers at least 100 times last December. I’ve had issues with this particular breaker/circuit since I moved in. It’s the same one that powers my refrigerator, and I can’t move the fridge. The outlet next to it trips the breaker if I plug in even a night light, indicating the circuit is at full capacity. Resetting the breakers is a monumental pain, as I live in an RV-sized mobile home and have to move multiple pieces of furniture just to access the breaker box. Despite my concerns, the men ignored me and left. After the breaker tripped, I unplugged everything and moved on. On Friday, I found two more men on my porch moving my stuff. I explained again that the breaker had popped the day before and that’s why the inflatables were unplugged. One of the men became hostile and told me to unplug it again, then stormed off. I mentioned I’m not an electrician and thought someone from maintenance should handle it. I also received multiple texts from the property manager asking me not to unplug the inflatables. I responded, asking if I should unplug the fridge instead. I also pointed out that I’ve been requesting repairs for over six months, including a broken window from Hurricane Milton and a broken AC, but no one has addressed these issues. On Saturday, a new worker came to my house while I was sick and had just taken medication. He claimed he was sent to plug in the inflatables. I told him they were already plugged in and that they’d threatened eviction if I touched the plug. I hadn’t touched it, and I was frustrated that they were focusing on these inflatables instead of the unresolved issues in my home. After a while, the worker came back and asked me to plug in one inflatable to "test" it. I told him it wasn’t fair to test one inflatable when they wanted to plug in six, as the circuit breaker trips constantly without them. I’ve had enough. I’m done with the harassment over these inflatables, and I feel like the landlord is neglecting the serious issues in my home. Additionally, the utilities are included in my rent, so I can't say utility theft & it’s frustrating to have these constant issues with the electrical system.
Before anyone asks: I have to turn off everything in the house to use my electric pellet grill, except for the fridge and wifi. Lights, ceiling fans, all of it has to be off, as such I very rarely use it. There is no written lease it's a month to month oral lease, so there's nothing in writing for either side to use.
Am I totally in the wrong here? They used an indoor outlet tap again at the wall to plug in my 1875w 15a appliance with two strings of Christmas lights and 4 inflatables. The outlet tap is 12a rated clearly old and damaged (its BROWN) and for INDOORS.
They do not know this but I am intending to move out in mid to late January, this is just coming to a head a month early. So there's no point in doing anything like FL 83.56 or FL 83.60 for rent withholding or repair and deduct as far as I can tell.
Am I being ridiculous? Do I have any options?
[link] [comments]