Who pays what bills?

Question

First time poster here. I am looking to buy my first rental. When it comes down to who is in charge of paying for what bills, do I the landlord have control over that? for example i notice some rentals the renter is responsible for the water bill, in other rentals they are not. Is this all determined when the lease is signed? If i purchase a property with people in the middle of their lease would i have to wait to change these bills until the end of the lease?

thank you so much in advance

JD Martin · Answer

This depends on where you live. In Ohio, yes it becomes a lien on the property. In Tennessee or North Carolina, no - the utility bill is always the responsibility of the person whose name it is in. My SFHs the tenants are responsible for all utilities. To do it any other way encourages wastefulness - people use less of what they pay for themselves.

Edit: Sorry, I thought you were in Ohio. But I think Illinois is similar; we have friends that had properties in Chicago and they always kept the water in their own names.

Charles Morgan · Answer

One of my rentals though had a cable bill go unpaid by a previous tenant and the local cable company refused to connect cable until the bill was paid. They are still waiting for their money.

Colleen F. · Answer

In single families normally the reason you pay water and sewer is in most places you can't get those utilities put in the tenants name and they become a lien on the house if not paid.

Account Closed · Answer

You should never be paying for tenants water. If you feel the need to keep the bill in your name, you can still pass the cost along to the tenant. Including any utilities into the rent only makes yours seem higher in comparison to other places, and always encourages the tenant to waste resources.

Colleen F. · Answer

Ryan R.  I  have yet to find a way to have my tenants with well water pay for water- wish I could not from a cost standpoint but from a wastefulness  standpoint.  You pump it from the ground but it is not unlimited.

For properties with water that must stay in our name for other reasons I  use an excessive you clause that says that they pay if it goes above usual use. Even with college students I only had one instance for implementing. However our water runs about $70 a quarter now maybe if it was $70 month like some areas I would do a pass thru.

Matt Leavell · Answer

Hey Mike,

I can tell you that I agree with not paying for any of the tenants bills and not to keep the bills in your name either.  Depending upon landlord tenant laws in your state, if it is in your lease that you will pay these bills, even if the tenants stops paying their rent, you must continue paying the bills that you agreed to pay.  Otherwise, if you stopped paying and they got cut off, that could be used against you in an eviction scenario which would make it more difficult to get the tenant out of the home.

As others have stated, sometimes you have no choice but to keep it in your name.  In those situations, I would provide them a copy of the bill and bill them for it.

Others may have good success with covering the bills when they have the discretion not to, but from my experience, this is never a good idea and really does not help you get any greater of a renter in your home.

ML

Mike Lalor · Answer

thank you all for the feedback. The knowledge here is incredible one issue I am facing is one town I am looking at just redid their sewer and septic and people are having massive water bills. In the hundreds of dollars per month. Its insane and would cut into profit margins quickly if I have to pay

Randy S. · Answer

Would it be okay to have the tenants pay for it but keep it in your name? Just show them the bill every month? And I'm assuming you'd have to state this somewhere in the contract.

Who pays what bills?

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