Adding utilities separate to rent amount

[Bryan Cork]

Hi all,

I am looking at buying townhomes and condos as buy and hold rentals. Some complexes have a portion of the utilities included in the HOA dues, so that tends to push the amount of the HOA dues way up. So my question is, has anyone had success in charging tenants rent plus a "utilities fee"? I'm afraid that just tacking it onto the rent amount will cause renters to skim over my property as "overpriced" compared to a similar property that doesn't include utilities.

So if you have done this, how do you market it? And how do you structure that in your lease?

Thanks!

[Theresa Harris]

One of the landlords who has a unit in the same complex as me was telling me that they tried to rent it for $1100 a month and had no takers.  They then 'lowered' the rent to $1000 plus $100 in utilities a month and rented it out without any problem.