Tenants having lots of guests over. what should I do?

Question

Hello,
So I have this couple, their mother, and their new baby living on the first floor of my building. They mentioned to me that they have a church group over on sunday's. That I'm all fine with. What I'm starting to not be fine with is the constant flow of people during the day and at night. I have not received my most recent water and sewer bill, but I'm sure it's not going to be pretty. They are not loud or destructive, it's just a lot of people that are now using the water and sewer all the time. Has anyone dealt with this before? They are in a 12 month lease that's only a few months in. Should I ask them to chip in a little more because of all the people? should I wait till the lease is up and raise their rent $75? I want them to enjoy the house and stick around for a while I just don't want to suffer with the extra expense. Thanks for any suggestions guys :) :help:

Jon Holdman · Answer

You should have the tenants pay all the bills. I assume its a triplex without separate water meters, though. Do you just include the water in the rent or do you split out the bill among the three units? If you split it, and the bill is high, everyone will pay. How do you even notice this? Do you live in one of the units? This seems like a small detail to me. OTOH, people coming and going at all hours is a sign of drug dealing. Especially if they just stay a short time.

Bill Patterson · Answer

Hi Andrew, In the whole scope of landlord / tenant issues, this seems not too bad! If they are a nice family, pay their rent on time and don't damage the place a little extra water/sewer cost is a small issue. You can address this in the lease for the next period and have the tenants pay based on how many people live in the unit. This won't take care of the visitors, but it will give you grounds to talk to them about the extra water they are using. Or....you could install low flow toilets, showerheads & aerators on your faucets and save on your basic bills! Bill

Account Closed · Answer

This is a problem that should be addressed in the lease. Tough to do after the fact unless you made provision in your lease for this.

Tracey B. · Answer

Andrew, I have lots of spanish tenants and they always have family over too. If they pay on time and don't bother anyone then leave them alone, but make sure there's no loitering or illegal activity going on. One of my tenants lets her sister come over to do the laundry. It hasnt really been an issue with the bills but if I notice it is getting high I will let her know. She used to run the a/c all day and ran up the electric so I simply sent a letter saying to turn a/c off when you leave or you may be charged extra for utilities and she stopped.

Andrew Urban · Answer

@Curt- They are not an issue and I think your advice is correct about waiting till the lease is up. They always pay on time and are not very needy. As I mentioned I do not want to loose them. @MBCrosby- I do not have the tenants kick in any extra for water. I would have to say that the water is included in the rent. The triplex only has one water meeter so it would be difficult to say who uses how much. Do other people split the bill between the tenants plus the rent? @Jon- I do live in one of the units but there is only 1 water and sewer meter. I have thus far been charging rent to cover the sewer and water bills I know they are not dealing drugs. They are a very nice Spanish family with lots of family members. LOL

Michael S. · Answer

check with the other tenants to see if they are being bothered first, if they have no complaints or issues then i wouldn't do anything. if some of the tenants have issues with the traffic, i would let them know informally(not in writing) to keep traffic down.

Ralph S. · Answer

I, too, think this concern is premature. Some tenants use more, some less. It's in a triplex, so I don't think you'll notice much of an increase, and even if you do in the first bill, you wouldn't know how much of an impact the other two had on the overall bill.

Account Closed · Answer

I think you may be posting prematurely. You need to see a current water/sewage bill to determine how much of a problem this is. Do you require your tenants to pay flat fee on water? or a percentage? or what? If flat fee then I would recommend that once the lease is up maybe not up rent (depending on current rent market in area) but either separate meter or use a percentage to calculate their part of the water bill.

Marinda Morris · Answer

Im with Curt. If they pay on time I wouldn't make to much of it.

Curt Davis · Answer

Do they pay on time? Are they a problem? Personally I think you should just leave it be and when the lease comes up you can move to raise the rent then but in the mean time there is nothing wrong with them having lots of people over.