When you live in an apartment, you generally have to pay for your own electricity.

What would you do if you had reason to believe that the washer and dryer that sit outside of your apartment are actually running off of your electricity?

That is what is happening to the guy in this story, and he is trying to figure out how to know for sure. If he has been paying for everyone’s use of the laundry, he is wondering if he can sue the landlord.

I do think that it is worth having a professional look at the setup to confirm where the electricity is coming from. If the landlord knowingly has him paying for communal laundry, he can likely sue.

Am I paying for my building’s communal laundry?

I live in Chicago in a multi family unit, 2 floors and a garden (basement) unit.

This seems like a simple setup.

I live in the basement unit, and our communal washer/dryer is also in the basement (not in our unit specifically).

It’s shared by the basement and 1st floor units. The 2nd floor has their own in-unit washer and dryer.

He will need to see where it is plugged in. And possibly look at the circuit breakers.

Our electric and gas bills have always seemed a bit high to me, and I’m curious if it’s possible that we may be paying for the electricity and heat used to run the laundry machine, since it’s in the basement with us.

Is there any way to confirm this? If I called the electric and/or gas company, is this something they’d be able to discern for me?

I would certainly think that he could sue for the money it cost him.

Our landlord is a penny pincher, which is another reason I’m suspicious.

If I find out we have been paying for this communal resource for the past 3 years, do I have any ground to demand back pay from my landlord?

Any tips are appreciated, thanks!

The exact answer will depend on how this is all set up. It is impossible to know without seeing the system. That being said, it is definitely worth looking into.

Let’s see if the people in the comments have any recommendations.

I think this is the right way to test.

This is how it should be set up.

I had no idea this happened too often.

This is a simple test.

Apparently, this is quite common.

He could have been paying a lot of money for his neighbor’s laundry. I hope he can get to the bottom of this and possibly sue the landlord if this is the case.

The washer and dryer should be on their own circuits. Fortunately, this should be pretty easy to track down.