Newbie question about Utilities

[Megan Hanks]

Hello BP community!!

I have recently acquired my first rental property and it came with tenants in place.  They are moving out in 2 months and all the utilities are in their name.  

My question is, after the current tenants move out, do I place the electrical, water, etc. in my name until I get new tenants?  Do you go through this process each time there is turnover?

Thank you for your help!

Megan Hanks

[Marcia Maynard]

We need the utilities left on during a vacancy. We use them during the turnover (water-cleaning & toilets) (electricity-lights & security) (natural gas-heat & hot water). Also, they need to be on when we are showing the place to prospective tenants. The only one we generally do not put back into our name during the vacancy is garbage/recycling/yard debris. If we generate garbage or yard debris we haul it away.

It is easy to do. We telephone the utility companies at the time we are doing a tenant move-in and at the time we are doing a tenant move-out. We prefer to do this together with the tenant. I dial the utility company, give them the property address and let them know we need to change the utilities out of our name or into our name. I then put the tenant on the phone so they can confirm as well for the utility to be put into their name or out of their name.