Utilities payments.

If they signed the lease they should have to pay it

How well did you explain this when they signed the lease ? Did you tell them at all, or just have it in the written part of the lease.

Next is any of the bill for a time when they were not in the house, for example if the bill is for 3 months, and they only lived in there for 2, they would only owe for their percentage of the bill, not the entire bill.

Yes you can make them pay, but it should have been very clear.

I will assume you are not in the united states where it is customary for poeople to pay their own utilities

I let my wife rent the place for spending money and I pay the bills.

Did she explain the lease to the tenants- heck no. I bet she didn't even realize we pay for those services!

Here's the corker. I did not have the tenants pay for any pro-rated utilities when they moved in. In fact, I forgot about the water, sewer and all the property utilities until I received the bill. I was about to pay them when my wife brought to my attention that the lease stated the tenants were responsible- and they had no disputes about paying a $40 water and sewer bill every 3 months.

I paid the property utility bill (because it was in my name). I meet with them at the end of the month (I live far away) to discuss this so I would like to know if I should comprimise and pay for some or stick rigid to the contract and not open a can of worms by breaking the contract.

I would compromise. The water and sewer bills are easily recognized as utilities and should be understood as being the tenant's responsibility from your lease clause. But the trash disposal bill might be a little more difficult. Is trash disposal considered a utility in your location? I am temporarily living in a rented townhouse. In this town 90% of trash removal is public and is paid for by property taxes. But rental complexes have private trash removal and the cost is included in my rent. I pay for all utilities, including water and sewer, but not trash removal. It is not considered a utility.

So if you chose to pursue this, and if the tenant refuses to pay for trash removal you would have to file a lawsuit for non-payment. The issue then becomes, will the judge consider trash removal to be a utility and therefore required to be paid by the tenant as part of the lease?

If you are not living hand-to-mouth and can afford the bill I would let the trash removal go this time around, but make sure to include it in the next version of the written lease.

Whatever they are expected to pay better be an account in their name. In certain states in the US, landlords are required to pay the water and trash no matter what ... Something about it being connected to the property, not the occupants. But everything else is shut off and the tenants are the ones who get it turned on... In their name. You just might want to check about the laws in your area concerning water and trash since there would be the possiblity of being sued for illegal collection, regardless of any contract signed.

This is not my primary source of income.

As suggested, the property utilities are attached to the owner and cannot be transferred into the tenants names.

I will not seek from them the city sewer or trash disposal$365/year) but I will expect them to continue pay for the water utilities because they have been doing that since they moved in ($45/3 months).

I would say that is fair and reasonable and uncontestible in court!

Hello bhane:

And, that's how things wind up in court. ONE side thinks their solution is "fair and reasonable" and "uncontestable". But guess what? The other side might not agree, and it is, Sir, absolutely contestable.

I'm not suggesting that your solution ISN'T fair. I'm just suggesting that it be negotiated and discussed with your tenants. Indeed, that's where the problem started in the first place. There was a mis-understanding. I think you need to make your arrangement with your tenants as clear as possible.

That said, I think you are being unfair. The term "utilities", would NOT include rental on the meter. It may not be much, but the cost of measuing a utility, is NOT a utility and you should pay it. Plus, as has been previously suggested, "utilities" may not include trash pickup

Plus, it's stuff like this, that causes a perfectly good landlord/tenant arrangement to go into the toilet. The bottom line is, you are in the landlord business. Your tenant's are your customers. Sure, you can be rigid, and right, but you're not going to have very happy tenants. And, unhappy tenants can cost you bigtime.

excon

PS> As a new landlord, you should be required to see the movie "Pacific Heights", I think.

When you pay gas utilities, you pay for rental of the meter and for the meter reading.

When you pay electric utilities, you pay for rental of the meter and for the meter reading.

It is reasonable to consider that when you have agreed to pay water utilities (that adjusts according to your usage), you also agree to pay for rental of the meter and for the meter reading.

I am a senior engineer and if I cannot stand by my reasonable judgement, we're all in a lot of trouble!

I believe it best be included in the rent if it can't be in the renter's name or risk being caught in a legal mess. If I were the renter, I would not be willing to pay if the account was not in my name but if your tenants don't mind, cie la vie.