My property manager is saying I must pay for my evicted tenant’s electric bill.

I currently have an agreement with a property manager to handle the rental of my home.  The home is in Florida, as are my husband and I, but the property is 7 hours away.  A tenant moved into the home in mid-August.  The tenant paid pro-rated rent for August, full rent for September and 1/2 of rent for October and then stopped paying.  One-third of the security deposit was also paid.  The eviction process is in the final stages and the tenant is in the process of moving out.  However, the property manager did not require the tenant to transfer the electricity out of the property management company’s name and into his own at anytime during his time living in the home.  Therefore, the tenant made one electric payment of approximately $100 in his almost 4-month term and the property management company and myself have paid the minimum to maintain electricity to the home.  The property manager is now stating that my husband and I must pay the balance of the electricity bill (even if the tenant is out of the home) and is not returning the balance of the money currently in our account.

I realize that a landlord cannot indirectly or directly cause termination of electricity while a tenant is in the home.  However, once the Writ of Possession is served and/or the tenant is out of the home, can the property manager require that we pay the balance of the electric bill?  Also, it should be noted that this property manager did not do a complete credit check on the tenant prior to his moving in the home or we would have known that the tenant could not have electricity turned on due to non-payment of previous bills as well as a recent bankruptcy.

Any advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!  I am extremely frustrated and stressed due to the advanced nature of the situation:)

Thank you for your help!

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