Tenant notice before shutoff at a landlord-billed property

How do we give tenants at a landlord-billed property the required notice before a shutoff, with an option to take over service, and record it?

Treat the tenants as parties the rules protect, not occupants the account ignores. When a landlord-billed account reaches the disconnection sequence, Callvu classifies the premise (a multi-unit or single-unit rental, the service type, the units and their occupancy on file, the landlord's account and contacts, the state's tenant notice rules), generates the tenant notice the rules require with its content (the planned disconnection and its date, the amount the landlord owes, the tenants' right to take over service in their own name or to pay to continue it with the credit against rent where the state allows, the contacts and the assistance rights), delivers it to each unit and posts it at the premise as the rules require with the days counted, chases the tenants' responses through a link (a takeover application, a payment, a dispute), routes the takeover and the payment decisions to the credit desk in the Decision Desk, holds the shutoff until the tenant notice period runs and the responses are decided, and writes the notice, the deliveries and the outcome to the billing system and the CIS.

In scopeComplex: multi-party handoffsCallvu moves: classify, chase and verify, write back

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Last updated November 7, 2026.

The problem today

The landlord stopped paying in March, the tenants learned in June when the lights went out, and the commission's rule had required their notice in May.

Today, without Callvu

When a landlord holds the account and stops paying, the people who lose service are the tenants, who had no notice and no account. The commission's rules in most states require the utility to notify the tenants before disconnecting a landlord-billed property, to offer them the service in their own name or the right to pay and deduct, and to hold the shutoff while the notice period runs. A utility that disconnects without it has broken the rule against the people least able to absorb it.

The tenant notice has content, a method (to each unit, and posted at the premise), a timing counted in the rules' days, and a set of responses the utility must handle: a takeover application with its own deposit and credit rules, a payment by a tenant that continues service with the credit against rent the state's landlord-tenant law provides, a dispute. Each is a process on the account's data and the premise's units.

The tenants are the public interest in the rule, and the process should serve them first.

How it runs

From the requestto the system of record.

A landlord-billed account (a master-metered building, a landlord's account for a rental unit) reaches the disconnection sequence for nonpayment. Callvu classifies the premise and opens the tenant notice case.

Tenants: Receive the notice, and can apply to take over service, pay to continue it, or dispute, through a link.
Landlord: Receives the disconnection notices on the account and is told of the tenant notice.
Credit and collections desk: Decides takeovers, tenant payments and the hold in the Decision Desk.
Field operations: Posts the notice at the premise where the rules require.
Callvu: Classifies, generates and delivers the notice, chases the responses, routes, holds and writes.

Classify the premise
The premise is classified from the account and the records: a landlord-billed rental (single-unit or multi-unit, master-metered or landlord-paid), the service type (heating service carries stronger rules), the units and any occupancy or tenant contacts on file, the landlord's account and its disconnection sequence status, and the state's tenant notice rules (the days before disconnection, the content, the delivery and posting, the takeover and the pay-and-deduct rights); the shutoff is held in the collections schedule until the tenant notice period runs.
Generate and deliver the notice
The tenant notice is generated with the required content (the planned disconnection and the earliest date, the amount the landlord owes, the tenants' right to apply for service in their own name without the landlord's arrears, the right to pay to continue service and to deduct from rent where the state provides, the assistance and the dispute rights, the contacts) and delivered to each unit by the method the rules require (mail or hand delivery to each unit, and a posting at the premise by field where required), with the days counted from delivery; the landlord is told the tenant notice was issued.
Chase and verify the responses
The tenants respond through a link: a takeover application (identity, the unit, the start date, through the new customer start process with the rules' limits on deposits and the landlord's arrears not transferred), a payment to continue service (an amount, with the receipt the tenant needs for the rent deduction), or a dispute; each response is read and checked, and a unit that does not respond is chased on the schedule within the period.
Decide and write back
A takeover application that passes the rules is approved by rule and the unit's service is set up in the tenant's name from the date; a partial payment, a takeover at a master-metered building (which may require a conversion or a building-wide arrangement), a dispute or a landlord who pays during the period goes to the credit and collections desk in the Decision Desk with the record and only the allowed outcomes (approve the takeover, accept the payment and continue, hold the shutoff, or proceed after the period with the units that did not respond); the notice, the deliveries with dates, the responses and the outcome are written to the billing system and the CIS, and the shutoff eligibility check reads the tenant notice proof.

Where it ends: The tenants were told on the rules' clock with the content the rules require, had a real option to take over or continue service, and the shutoff waited for the period and the decisions, with the billing system holding the proof. The Decision Trace shows the premise classification, the notice content and the decisions; the Audit Trace shows each delivery, posting, response and the outcome with time.

Runtime enforcement

What is enforcedwhile the work runs.

The regulations preloaded in Callvu Studio and the bank's own policies, applied as steps that run, not lines in a binder. A step that breaks a rule does not run, so a completed run was compliant.

Regulations

State commission disconnection notice rules: The commission's rules for landlord-billed or master-metered premises require the utility, before disconnecting for the landlord's nonpayment, to give the tenants a separate written notice a set number of days in advance (commonly ten to thirty days), delivered to each unit and often posted at the premise, stating the planned disconnection, the amount owed, the tenants' right to apply for service in their own name without liability for the landlord's arrears, the right to pay to continue service, and the assistance and complaint rights; the utility may not disconnect until the period runs and must accept a tenant's application or payment under the rules.
State landlord-tenant law on utility shutoffs and rent deduction: The state's landlord-tenant statutes make a landlord's failure to pay for utilities it agreed to provide a breach, allow the tenant to pay the utility and deduct the payment from rent (with the utility's receipt as the evidence), and in many states prohibit the landlord from causing a utility shutoff as a self-help eviction; the notice states the tenants' rights under it.
State commission tariff rules on takeover of service and deposits: A tenant who applies for service in their own name is a new customer under the tariff, with the deposit rules and the identity verification applied, and may not be charged the landlord's arrears; a master-metered building may require a conversion or an arrangement the tariff provides for.

Company policies

The shutoff of a landlord-billed premise is held until the tenant notice period runs and the responses are decided; the eligibility check reads the proof.
The notice goes to each unit and is posted where the rules require, with the content the rules set and the days counted from delivery.
A tenant's takeover or payment is handled under the rules, with the landlord's arrears never transferred.
The billing system and the CIS are the systems of record for the notice, the deliveries and the outcome.

Controls

Premise and unit classification with the state's rules.
Automatic shutoff hold for the notice period.
Notice generation with required content and delivery to each unit with posting.
Tenant response links with checks.
Decision Desk for takeovers, payments, disputes and the proceed decision.
Billing and CIS write read by the shutoff eligibility check.

Clocks and deadlines

Tenant notice period: The rules' days from delivery to each unit before any disconnection.
Response chase: Within the period, on the schedule, to units that have not responded.
Takeover start: From the date the tenant's application is approved, with service continuous.

Documents and checks

The premise classification
The notice as generated and each delivery and posting with date
The tenants' responses
The decisions
The billing and CIS record

In the Decision Trace

The classification and the rules applied.
Each response's check.
The decisions and the people.

In the Audit Trace

Each delivery and the posting with time.
Each response with time.
The outcome and the write.

The handoff

Between the front doorand the back office.

The front door

The tenants through the notice and its link; the landlord through the account's notices; field posts at the premise.

The back office

The credit desk decides takeovers, payments and the proceed decision; collections holds from the record.

The Decision Desk

A partial payment, a master-metered takeover, a dispute, a landlord payment during the period, or the decision to proceed after the period goes to the credit and collections desk in the Decision Desk with the record and only approve the takeover, accept and continue, hold, or proceed with the non-responding units.

Proof

In scope.Proof at scale, not one process at a time.

The kind of process Callvu runs in production for customers in this industry. Ask for a reference on this exact process. The results below are the industry's published proof; each claim code links to its record on agents.callvu.com.

More than 1,000 processes are live across Callvu customers.

Across Callvu customers

PSEG Long Island runs start, stop and move service on Callvu, live in 4 weeks.

Across Callvu customers

Questions

What buyers ask next,answered plainly.

What must tenants be told?

The planned disconnection and its date, the amount the landlord owes, their right to take over service in their own name without the landlord's arrears, their right to pay to continue service and deduct from rent where the state provides, and the assistance and dispute rights, in a notice to each unit on the rules' clock.

Can a tenant take over the service?

Yes. The takeover runs through the new customer start process under the tariff's deposit and identity rules, with the landlord's arrears never transferred, and service continuous from the approved date.

Is the shutoff held?

Until the notice period runs and the responses are decided; the shutoff eligibility check reads the tenant notice proof before any order releases.

Related processes

Disconnection notice on the state clock Shutoff eligibility check before field order Start, stop and move service Deposit and credit decisions inside the request Try it in the sandbox All utilities processes

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