Tenant Utility Bills

[Lakeisha Alston]

I just acquired a property that came with a tenant and would like to receive duplicates of the utility bills.  The lease states that the tenant is responsible for paying all utility bills and I want to ensure the bills are being paid.  Is there way to obtain a copy of the utility bills without making the request from the tenant?  

[Lynn McGeein]

If your state/locality ties the utility payment to the home, not the customer, then you are allowed to receive copies of the bills. I know in Annapolis, MD, and Vancouver, WA, tenant received the bill but we were sent copies of water bill, and I believe the electric and gas as well in Vancouver. We could then notify tenant as soon as it was late as utility could put a lien on our home for unpaid utilities. In NC & VA, though, we just require proof that tenant has opened utility accounts in their name before providing keys because we are not responsible for the bills if they don't pay. Ask your state if they provide landlord accounts as they'll waive hookup fees during turnovers. Raleigh lets me do it both for gas and water, but not electric as I don't meet minimum unit requirement for their electric company landlord account. It's nice to be able to see when tenant requests start/stop service, but they won't notify if it's turned off due to nonpayment, so that's still an issue, especially in winter.