Tenant not paying water bill

[Seth Kitchka]

Hi all,

So we have a tenant that hasn't been paying the water bill. They're a few months behind and we said something to them last month and gave them a notice stating per the lease you're responsible and please pay... something like that. Once again it's not paid. In our county, and I think in all of Michigan, unpaid water bills go against the property so we were advised to keep the water in our name. That way we receive the bills and can look to see if they're paying, and when they're not... Like this tenant.

So my question is where do we go from here? Pay the bill ourselves? Can we deduct from the money they're paying for rent, then deliver a late rent notice because it's not paid in full? If so, can we charge a fee because we have to now take care of something they're responsible for? Or evict?

Oh and they haven't been the greatest tenants to begin with. We are not renewing the lease with then when it's up in a few months.

Thanks!

[Marcia Maynard]

Make it clear in your rental agreement how you will apply payments you receive from the tenant, leaves less room for argument; here's how we do it:

"PAYMENTS.  All payments made by Tenant to Landlord after the tenancy commences, no matter how designated by Tenant, will be applied as follows: first, to any outstanding amounts due for damages/repairs, utilities etc.; second, to any outstanding service charges or fees from prior months; third, to any rent outstanding from prior months; fourth, to any service charges or fees due in the current month; and lastly to the current month’s rent."