Tenant Not Setting Up Utilities

[Ryan Dusel]

I work for a property management company with about ~350 residential and commercial units in Norfolk, NE. We have a select few tenants who refuse to set up the utilities in their name, but have been reimbursing us for their charges. Is it legal to charge a fee for the tenants utilities that are not setup? I could not find anything in my states laws saying we can or cannot. It is clearly stated in the lease agreement that they must set them up themselves at time of move-in. We don't want to resort to any evictions if at all possible because they are good tenants and reimburse us, but we don't want to be stuck with the bill if they decide not to pay in the future. 

[Ray Harrell]

It's possible that they have past due balances from previous apartments that prevent them from switching the utilities. You can keep hoping they continue to reimburse you, or you can evict and get a tenant who follows the rules, assuming setting up utilities is part of your lease.