I spent most of yesterday changing the utilities of our new house into our name. Water comes from the city and trash pickup is supplied by Waste Management (in Aiken both these came from the city.) Then there was electricity from Pacific Power and natural gas from Avista (in Aiken both these came from Dominion.) Today we signed up for cable.
What all these places had in common was that they never asked for proof that in fact I was moving into this particular house. This got me thinking of a really evil dirty trick to pull on somebody. It might cost a bit, so to reduce your investment pick one that does not require a deposit, and sign up for it in your name. Make sure to sign up for paperless billing and then when the first bill comes, pay it. Wait a week and set a date to shut off service. The current occupants probably wouldn’t notice the missing bill, but they sure would notice when the water stops flowing or the lights go off.
I am totally not recommending this. For one it would be pretty easy to figure out who did it because all these places ask for a drivers license or social security number for ID. Anyway, I just thought it was odd that no one asked for some sort of proof I lived there…