Can someone please send me a link, in English or Chinese, to a Law, or similar, that says cutting off power, water, and other utilities is not legal in criminal (ideal) or civil code, if it exists. The building is in Taipei City. * (see note below)
Also, can anyone recommend a course of action faster than a lawsuit?
My friend is having a dispute with his landlord and he has now 2 times cut off the power and water without notice. The landlord says that he does not have enough money to pay for it, and will talk to the power and water companies about turning it off permanently. This threat was by text message.
Please don’t reply just to tell me that he needs professional legal help. We’re working on that. Free legal aid takes a long time and he can’t afford a lawyer.
The English translation of the “Housing Act” of 12/30/2011 says the following, which means that there is some other relevant Taiwan or Taipei law, act, ordinance or similar, but I can’t find it.
In order to allow all citizens to enjoy suitable housing and a dignified living environment, the central competent authority shall formulate housing policies with consideration to future environment developments, supply/demand in the housing market, and housing development issues, and submit the policies to the Executive Yuan for ratification.
Municipality and county (city) competent authorities shall establish administrative goals for housing in accordance with the central housing policy and local development requirements, and formulate housing plans and financial plans, which shall be submitted to the central competent authority for future reference.
If it’s not on-line, can someone please send me the address of a law library or somewhere I might be able to get a paper copy. I’d like to show this to the landlord.
The Ministry of Justice has the most comprehensive (official) database at http://law.moj.gov.tw. Not all of them are available in English, and the quality of translation is uneven.
If I’m not mistaken, you want the Civil Code and the Land Act, not the Housing Act. I’ll see what I can find.
Glancing at Art 421 to 463-1 of the Civil Code and Art. 94 to 105 of the Land Act, there doesn’t seem to be anything specifically about turning off the electricity. If the landlord endangers the tenant’s health or safety, the tenant can terminate the contract (Civil Code Art. 424), and if the tenant falls two months behind on the rent (or a few other situations), the landlord can terminate it.
A threat to cause injury to life, property etc. is covered by the Criminal Code Art. 305 and may also result in compensation through the Civil Code, but I don’t know if that applies in a situation like this.
The Housing Act is for “citizens” (國民). It does have anti-discrimination provisions in Art. 45 to 47, but those don’t seem to apply in this case, assuming the landlord’s texts don’t include racial slurs etc.
My advice:
talk to Tsui Mama
read threads about the funny relationships landlords sometimes have with the tax office
If it turns out there is a specific rule about this, please let us know.
I know for a fact that the water company cannot turn the water off “forcibly”. For repeated non-payment they’ll turn the pipe off on the roof and tag it but you can turn it back on since access to water is a basic human right. I was told this by a water company guy who was doing exactly that to a neighbor of mine.
This is true. You can manually turn on and off your water. You just have to find the location of the lever in your building and the correct lever that corresponds with your apartment.
I had to do this a few months ago when one of our faucets was leaking. I there’s a serial number on the meter in your apartment that corresponds to the one on the roof or wherever the valves are located so you don’t accidentally turn off your neighbor’s water.
Unless the resident is using indutrial amounts of water/electricity, I do not understand why the landlord cannot pay it. Heck, water cannot be over 500 ntd, but electricity is trickier, as the building could be marked as industrial or there could be several people hanging from the same line. It can be several thousands. Definetively calls for an inspection by proper government authorities.
It is highly recommended to pay for utilities separately from the rent. It is really easy to take the receipt to the bank and send automatic payments so you do not even have to bother going to any 7-11. Options abound.
If th etenant is paying the utilities and the landlord is playing hookie with public systems, oh boy, this can get interesting. And incoming lines are public.
