Utilities under my name or tenant's name

[Stacy C. S.]

Hello! I rented out my house for one year and definitely had a lot of learnings with managing the property on my own.

One of the after-effects of the tenant moving out of the house was that her gas bill was not paid for the entire duration of her lease and since the property is under my name, the bill was forwarded to me once I had the gas turned on again under my name. I now know there is landlord insurance in the city of Philadelphia for scenarios like this.

To make a long story short: Is there a general rule of thumb if the utilities should be under my name and just sent with the monthly rent portal (I was using Cozy back then.) I know when I was a tenant the internet is under my name, not the landlord's. I'm stepping into buying a second home for rental (... first experience scared me and needed a break lol) so I want to do it right this time. Or be more prepared than before! Thanks!

[Joseph Cornwell]

@Stacy C. S. This might be market specific, but here in Cincinnati. In MOST cases on multifamily the owner pays the water/trash, tenants pay electric and heat if its separated by unit or multiple gas meters etc. On single families, tenants typically pay all utilities. Personally, I always require my tenant transfer any required utilities on or before our lease signing and move in date. I also try to coordinate prior tenants move outs in a way where I do not have to turn on utilities in my name unless we are doing an extended turnover of the unit. I would definitely not turn over keys going forward until the required tenant paid utilities have been transfer over. Good luck!