After a Florida man moves into a smaller rental home, he is shocked to receive higher electricity bills than ever before. Then he takes a second look at the “cabin” behind the property.
TikTok creator Nick (@nickharding904) posted a video about the issue on Oct. 24. He starts the video by saying, “So I moved into this house back in February of [2025], and the electricity prices have been insane.”
The first bill only covered part of the month, and it was approximately $200. Nick says his last place was bigger, and the electricity never cost more than $150 per month. “Every month since, the bill has been between $300–$400,” he says.
Nick decided to adapt by lowering his air conditioning use and was shocked to receive yet another $400 bill. That’s when Nick remembered the cabin-like structure set up across the property line from his backyard. A wire runs from the cabin along the fence line. “What’s going on here? Am I paying for my neighbor’s electricity?” Nick asks.
Is This Florida Man Paying for His Neighbor’s Electricity?
Nick decided to visit his county’s property appraisal website and found that the two units are on the same parcel of land. “It’s not listed separately,” he says.
So, he decided to call the electric company. He says they told him they don’t have a record of that address. That led him to call the property management company. A representative confirmed that the company managed a property at that address, but couldn’t say whether the tenant was receiving a separate electricity bill.
That led Nick to conduct an experiment. He went over to his circuit breaker box and flipped off one of the switches. As he suspected, that cut the power to the porch light on the second unit. “So, what you are telling me is that for the last eight months, I have been paying for somebody else’s [expletive] utilities?” asks Nick, referring to the property owner, Patel, as a “slumlord.”
Before the video ends, he states that he will give property management until the following Monday to give him an explanation. Otherwise, he says he plans to escalate to various city departments, including code enforcement.
Viewers React to the Jacksonville Man’s ‘Slumlord’ Story
In the comments section, viewers weighed in on the situation and offered advice for how Nick might choose to proceed.
One person said, “Look up the permits on the property appraiser’s website and see if there’s a permit for the building.”
A second person said, “This happened to us when we had a house fire. It affected the second house’s power. The utilities got involved and the homeowner got in hella trouble for an illegal second rental.”
“The power company should be able to come out and they’ll see that your unit doesn’t have its own meter,” a third viewer wrote. “I don’t know if they can install the separate meter or if they’ll contact the land owner and they’ll be forced to update the meters. That landlord is most likely aware and was hoping no one would notice. Maybe because that other building is not legally on the property.”
In Florida, landowners can furnish each residential unit with its own meter, opt for submetering— which allows the utility company to charge each renter for their individual usage—or use a formula based on occupancy numbers and average energy consumption. That arrangement would generally be outlined in the lease agreement, however, and not uncovered like in Nick’s situation.
AllHipHop contacted Nick via TikTok comment and direct messages for comment. This story will be updated if he responds.
@nickharding904 I am beyond livid #fyp #slumlord #local #jacksonville ♬ original sound – Nick
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