Utiliy expenses and tenants

[Christopher Davis]

Curious here. At the moment I am renting out my primary residence and relocating. In discontinuing my name on the utilities, mainly water and electric, the representative said that they would put the new tenants on the account, but if they default I am ultimately still responsible as the homeowner. Ok.

My question is, as a landlord for an investment property and new tenants, is this also the case? If the tenant defaults on rent and then utilities, would I ultimately be responsible for the utilities as the homeowner?

What is a typical arrangement for utilities? Obviously I would like to shift all accountability to the tenant. Just trying to hear different opinions and arrangement. Thank you!

[Clark Kirkpatrick]

In my municipality, I can put the gas and electric entirely in the tenant's name/account, so I'm not liable for that at all. For water and sewer, I can't do that, and I can't even put the tenant on the account - it's just billed to me directly, regardless who lives there.