Single Family Tenant Rules (MN) - Rookie Question

[Stoddard Barnhill]

Hello All!

I am new to this community and have already found great value in the books, blogs, forum, and podcasts. Thank you to all! 

My parents have invested in Montana over the years and I have helped with the finances. I have a family of my own and a single family residence. Our goal in the next year is to buy a new property to live in and rent out our current property as a simple way of starting our real estate rental portfolio. Our desire is to build up the cash for a down payment rather than take out a home equity loan for our first entrance into this space. 

Question: 

• What do most Landlords do in MN in regard to passing on cost to the tenant. I have looked at Craigslist and see most tenant are required to pay for utilities, water, recycling, yard work, etc but not all are setup this way. 
• Is this common for the Landlord to only cover Mortgage, Property Tax, Insurance, and repairs? 
• What is a simple way to transition bills that you are paying over to a tenant once your property becomes a rental? 

Trying to plan things out ahead and be proactive. I appreciate all of your advice and information. 

Best..

[Casey Powers]

In my area, since trash and sewer can put liens on the property for unpaid bills, I advertise the “no utilities” price and then write the lease so tenant pays a flat fee to cover trash and sewer each month. My lease says if tenant’s usage on those bills exceeds the $x amount, they will be billed for the overage. It is extremely rare for that to happen (so far never). Owner keeps trash and sewer bills in their name and they are effectively reimbursed through rent.