Utilities - To Shut Off or Not to Shut Off

Almost every landlord has wanted to shut off a tenant's utilities for one reason or another.  Unlawfully shutting off utilities can result in severe consequences to the landlord except for a few unusual circumstances.

Normally utilities cannot be shut off and Arizona State Statute allows the tenant to sue for damages and/or terminate their rental agreement.

Here is the statute that protects the tenant:

A.R.S. 33-1374  Recovery of possession limited

A landlord may not recover or take possession of the dwelling unit by action or otherwise, including willful diminution of services to the tenant by interrupting or causing the interruption of electric, gas, water or other essential service to the tenant, except in the case of abandonment, surrender or as permitted in this Chapter.

Buy a Fixer Upper with A FHA 203K Loan

The FHA 203K loan is a little known tool that many real estate and loan professionals have been using for many, many years.  A FHA 203K is very similar to the traditional FHA 203B loan...the only real difference is that with the FHA203K the home buyer is adding money upfront to their loan amount to finance any repair/improvement costs.  The traditional FHA203B loan requires that certain repairs to be done before the loan is made and the FHA203K loan allows the home buyer to purchase their fixer-upper and complete the repairs/improvements after the transaction closes. The other traditional FHA qualifications...appraisal guidelines, seasoning rules...still apply.  However, with the FHA203K loan the home buyer can fix up his/her home and not have to worry about the additional out-of-pocket expenses for the repairs/improvements.  A Fantastic Way to buy a Fixer-Upper!  Contact me on my blog site if you would like more info or check with your lender as there are two types of FHA203K loan programs.