We Got Arrested for Unlawful Eviction. Here’s What Happened.

We got arrested for unlawful eviction. Handcuffs, mugshots, the whole thing. And we did not evict anyone.

This is the full story. We are sharing it because every landlord in New York needs to understand how fast this can happen to you, even when you did nothing wrong.

The Setup

We had a tenant in Solvay, NY. Solvay is a small village just west of Syracuse in Onondaga County. The tenant was in a multi-unit building we own there.

This tenant stopped paying his National Grid electric bill. That is between the tenant and the utility company. We are not responsible for a tenant’s electric bill when the account is in the tenant’s name. The lease was clear about that. Utilities were the tenant’s responsibility.

National Grid eventually shut off his power. Standard procedure when you do not pay your bill. Again, this had nothing to do with us. We did not request the shutoff. We did not know about it until after it happened.

What the Tenant Did Next

Instead of calling National Grid to work out a payment plan or reaching out to HEAP for assistance, the tenant went into the shared basement of the building. He opened the electrical panel and jumped a breaker from his unit to the neighboring unit. He rigged the wiring so he could steal power from another tenant’s electrical service.

This is not a minor thing. This is tampering with electrical infrastructure in a multi-unit residential building. It is dangerous. It is illegal. And it destroyed the electrical service for the building.

The electrical system went down. Multiple units were affected. We could not just flip a breaker and fix it. The damage required an electrician to come out, assess the situation, and make repairs. We started working on getting it fixed immediately, but electricians do not show up in 20 minutes. It takes time to diagnose the problem, get the right parts, and make the repair safely.

The Arrest

Within 48 hours of the power going out, the Solvay Police Department called us. They asked us to come down to the station to discuss a complaint.

We went. We should not have gone without an attorney, but we did not think we needed one. We had not done anything. The tenant’s power went out because he did not pay his bill, and then he sabotaged the building’s electrical system. We were the victims here, not the other way around.

When we got to the station, they were apologetic about it. The officers seemed to understand the situation. But they had a complaint, and under the law, they had to act on it. They arrested us for unlawful eviction under RPAPL 768.

The charge: interruption of essential services. The tenant claimed that we, as the landlord, were responsible for the building having no power. He filed a complaint saying we cut off his electricity to force him out.

What Is RPAPL 768

Real Property Actions and Proceedings Law Section 768 makes it a Class A misdemeanor for a landlord to engage in unlawful eviction. The statute covers:

• Using force or threats to remove a tenant
• Removing a tenant’s belongings from the unit
• Changing locks to prevent a tenant from entering
• Interrupting or discontinuing essential services, including heat, water, electricity, and gas
• Any other act intended to force a tenant to vacate without a court order

The key phrase is “interrupting or discontinuing essential services.” The law does not require that the landlord intentionally caused the interruption. If a tenant has no power and you own the building, you can be charged. The police and the DA can file charges based on the tenant’s complaint alone.

The Penalties

A Class A misdemeanor in New York carries:

• Up to 1 year in jail
• Fines up to $1,000 for a first offense, up to $10,000 for subsequent offenses
• Civil liability: the tenant can sue for actual damages, and the court may award triple damages
• A criminal record that follows you

This is not a slap on the wrist. This is a criminal charge that can put you in jail.

How the Case Played Out

We hired an attorney immediately after the arrest. We should have hired one before going to the station, but you do not think straight when police ask you to “come in and talk.”

Our attorney gathered documentation showing that National Grid shut off the tenant’s power due to nonpayment. We got confirmation from the utility company that the shutoff was their action based on the tenant’s delinquent account. We documented the electrical tampering in the basement with photos. We showed the timeline of our repair efforts and the electrician’s invoice.

The charges were eventually resolved in our favor. But that does not undo the arrest. It does not undo the booking process. It does not undo the stress, the legal fees, or the time spent dealing with it. And it does not undo the fact that for a period of time, we had a criminal charge hanging over us for something a tenant caused.

Why This Law Catches Legitimate Landlords

RPAPL 768 was written to protect tenants from slumlords. The classic scenario: it is January in Syracuse, the heat goes out, the landlord does not fix it because he wants the tenant gone. That is unconscionable and it should be illegal.

But the law is written so broadly that it catches landlords who are trying to fix tenant-caused problems. Our tenant caused the electrical failure. We were actively working to repair it. And we still got arrested because the law says “interrupting essential services” without distinguishing between landlord-caused and tenant-caused interruptions.

Police officers are not electricians. They cannot assess who caused the power outage in the time it takes to respond to a complaint. They see a tenant without power, a complaint filed against the landlord, and a statute that says interrupting services is a crime. They have to act.

Lessons Every Landlord Needs to Learn

This experience changed how we operate. Here is what we learned, and what you need to do to protect yourself.

Document Everything in Writing, Immediately

The moment you learn about a utility shutoff, service interruption, or any issue with essential services in your building, start documenting. Timestamped photos. Written notes. Emails to your property manager, your maintenance team, your attorney. Create a paper trail that shows exactly what happened and when.

Get the Utility Company to Confirm in Writing

If a utility shuts off service due to tenant nonpayment, call the utility company and get written confirmation. An email or letter from National Grid stating they discontinued service due to the tenant’s delinquent account is your best defense. This proves you did not cause the interruption.

Fix the Problem as Fast as Humanly Possible

Whatever caused the service interruption, fix it immediately. Call the electrician at 10 PM if you have to. Pay the emergency rate. Document every phone call, every dispatch attempt, every invoice. If you can show a court that you were actively and urgently working to restore services, it undermines the tenant’s claim that you were trying to force them out.

Call Your Attorney Before You Do Anything Else

The second you learn a tenant has filed a complaint or the police want to talk to you, call your attorney. Do not go to the police station alone. Do not give a statement without legal counsel. Do not try to explain the situation yourself. Anything you say can be used against you, and even truthful statements can be taken out of context.

Never Go to the Police Station Without Your Attorney

This is worth repeating because we made this exact mistake. The police will ask you to “come in and chat” or “help us sort this out.” It sounds informal. It is not. You are walking into a situation where you may be arrested. Have your attorney present or do not go.

Understand That the Law Is Stacked Against You

In New York, the landlord is presumed to be the bad actor when essential services are interrupted. The burden of proof to show otherwise falls on you. This is backwards from how most criminal law works, but it is the reality. Prepare for it.

Preventing This From Happening to You

Beyond the immediate response steps, here is how to reduce the risk of facing an RPAPL 768 charge:

• Keep utilities in your name when possible. If you control the utility accounts, you control whether they get shut off. This is more expensive and more work, but it eliminates the scenario where a tenant’s nonpayment creates a building-wide problem.
• Inspect shared spaces regularly. If you had caught the electrical tampering before the whole system went down, you could have addressed it proactively. Regular basement and utility room inspections catch problems early.
• Know your tenants. A tenant who is not paying rent and not paying utilities is a tenant headed for a crisis. Start the eviction process for nonpayment before the utility situation escalates to a building-wide problem.
• Have an electrician and plumber on call. When essential services go down, response time matters. Having a reliable contractor who can respond within hours, not days, could be the difference between a resolved situation and a criminal charge.
• Keep copies of all utility account records. If utilities are in the tenant’s name, keep copies of the lease clause making that clear. If there is ever a dispute about who is responsible for a shutoff, you want the documentation ready.

The Bigger Problem for New York Landlords

This experience is one reason we are so vocal about the state of landlord-tenant law in New York. Between Good Cause Eviction, the existing RPAPL 768 exposure, the months-long eviction process, and the general assumption that landlords are always the villain, being a landlord in this state is harder than it has ever been.

We are not asking for sympathy. We chose this business. But every landlord needs to understand the legal risks they face every day. A single tenant complaint, even one based on a situation the tenant caused, can result in criminal charges against you.

Protect yourself. Document everything. Get a good attorney. And never, ever go to a police station without legal counsel.

If you are a landlord in Syracuse, Oswego, Auburn, or Utica and you are dealing with a tenant situation that could turn legal, do not wait for it to blow up.

Talk to Us

Call RenPro Property Management at 315-400-2654. We have been through it. We can help you avoid the mistakes we made.