electriccity being used but meter not indicating use

There is a young man who is living in a unit (We have a court case to get a Bar and Band) who is not supposed to be living in the unit. The owner has said he has no one living in the unit, but we know his son is living in the unit. We know the lights are on and he food has been seen in the refrigerator by the pest control man.

I thought to help our court case I would check the electric meter. I notice that the meter seemed to indicate that no electricty was being used.

Does anyone here have any idea how this could happen?

Melissa,
I couldn't even see a wheel when I checked the electric meters so I had to depend on the numbers.

I almost knew I would get a response similiar to yours that it is not our business who lives in a unit. I respectfully disagree with you. This is a senior independent living community and our documents restrict residences as to age but also giving the Board the authority to give waivers in "emergency" situations. The owner never came to the Board to request a waiver, he just called me and the President last October and told us that "workmen" would be going in and out"

There are other things in our documents that would prevent him or anyone else even of age living in the unit by "sneaking in". But that was not my question, I was mainly concerned with the electric meter. I really wish I could have seen a "wheel"

Also I am certain our lawyer would have told us if it was not our business who lives in a unit.

and yes, I do now we are allowed to have 20% of the units with underage people living in them. But this is not for people who "sneak in" It is for a widowned underage person or for someong who inherits a unit.

Call the power company and have them check for possible improper electricity consumption. It's within their right because it's their meter and I bet the meter is on common property - the exterior of the condo.

The unit is not Dad's permanent residence. Dad lives more that 15 miles away.
I have researched and found that we can have a more restrictive age requirement than and least one person 55+ in a unit. The only person allowed to be living in a unit who is not of age is the spouse of a person who is of age. Our documents specifically state this.

Before I moved in there was a young man living in a unit with his two aunts. They were also sneaking around and acting as though he were not living in the unit. This young man caused a multitude of problems including dealing drugs. We don't want to take that chance again. Of course I know an older person can cause the same type of problems. I have even read about prostitute rings in senior communities. But at least we are doing our best to follow our douments.

Bonnie

If the person is not causing any issues and is flying under the radar then it might be best to "ignore" it versus taking a "sneak" peek at the meter to build a case.

While we are not an age based association, we have several living arrangements that we choose to ignore as they are not causing any problems. Now could some say we are defacto violating or own covenants by ignoring such? Well, yes we are but we consider it in our best interest to do so as they are not a problem and the dues are paid on time.

We have more issues with "covenant legal" people who are not paying, causing issues, etc. These people we concentrate on, versus the rule bender that pays and causes us no issues.

Hope this helps.

Again electric meters are the utilities property. It does matter if they are on common property or on your house. The equipment is the electric company. I even believe there are laws for messing with the meters that carry fines or jail time. It is possible each electric company has different models.

That makes sense to me. But is looking at a meter messing with it?
Thank you for staying on the subject of electric meter.

This is what I found in my research:
I think this was on activerain.com but not certain. I just copied and pasted. I am not certain what HOPA stands for.

Once a community meets the HOPA requirements, they are free to create their own rules for how they will define their age restriction, as long as they are in compliance with state laws. The community can make the age-restriction more strict than the HOPA requirement, such as stating that all of the residents must be over 55 or that 80 percent of the households must include a resident aged 60 or better.

We are not selective enforcing a rule. More than one person has been told they can not move in and no one fought it until now.

I wholeheartedly agree with Melissa. Don't go looking for trouble, and frankly, sneaking around and peering at other peoples meters is looking for trouble.

Thanks for all replies and all viewpoints. I just want to say that I probably will not check the meter again. although if I ever look at my own meter, I can not help but see this meter because the meters are adjacent just as my unit is adjacent to our "problem unit".

I have arthritis all through my body it is difficult to get down to look at the meters. Correction getting down is not the problem. Getting up is the problem.

Also I just want to let everone know that I do not need to go on anyone else's property to look at these meters. This is a condominium building with 43 apartments in the building.

We do not go into the unit because we know we cannot go in without a valid reason.
Once a realtor was with me and we knocked on the door.and the young man answered. Another time there was notice of a fire in a unit possibly this unit and our President went down to check. She did knock on the door first and the young man answered and told her there was no fire in the unit.. This was the second unit she checked.

Actually I was the person who fought for no advertising indicating we would allow someon uner 55 move into a unit. I have known about the 80% requiriement of at least one person 55 or older residing in a unit almost since I bacam a Baord member. Shortly after I was on the Board I read a book written by a cou[;e of lawyers.
The main reason we are trying to get the young man who "snuck" into the unit out is because we don't want to open the door for other underage residents to move into any unit. This young man knows he is not supposed to be here and is keeping a very low profile.
Currently (with the exception of the young man who is not supposed to be here) we have only one unit with a couple underage living in it. So we more than meet the requirements. Even in this situation, the man will be 55 in a few months.
I know about the Fair Housing Act of 1968 and the amendments to this that allowed senior communities to deiscriminate due to age. Just bacause I don't know all the abbreviations does not mean that I haven/t researched this issue.

And the lady working as our manager had ages verified this year.

As I mentioned before, other people were told they could not move in. Our Board is very concerned about keeping this a retirement community.

John I understand what you are saying. And I have thought about the pandora's box you mentioned. Such as how much will the judge check into our records. I don't know everything that had or had not been done before I was on the Board relating to keeping this a senor community.

But it is too late not to fight as the fight has already started.
A previous Board member has told me and others that she has had trouble with this owner before. That is one reason that I worked with him when we received some late payments from the owner, but not the only reason. There was a death in his family, his mother-in-law who prevously owned the unit. I told him (I can't remember if by email or letter) that we would waive the late fee for a few months due to the death in the family. That in my opinion should be done for anyone in that situation.

He the owner mentioned in court last time we were there that his son was in the service. This is the first time I heard that and if that is truly the case all the owner would have had to do was come to the Board and request a waiver as our documents do allow the Board to give waivers.

BUt this owner has lied so much that I truly do not know when to believe him.