Because Washington DC

[Teresa F.]

The local Property Management group had a Q and A with an attorney specializing in Landlord Tenant law.  My question:  Lease says tenant responsible for all utilities.  Water gets cut off because tenant doesn't pay.   The tenant sues the landlord for breach of habitability because there is no water.  What happens?  According to the lawyer, tenant wins. 

[JR T.]

Another issue is you don't want the tenant falling significantly behind only to learn there is a lien on your property. We solve both issues by keeping the utilities in our name and then invoicing the tenant as bills are received. 

You'll want to have your lease state, "Tenant and Landlord agree and stipulate that any such amounts are considered between the parties to be additional fixed amounts of monthly rent." That's worked for me twice since the adverse ruling came down on these sort of charges.