Utilities and the Lease

[Brian Wolf]

Hello All,

I recently inherited a tenant with a duplex I purchased. I am about to convert the one old oil furnace, used for both units, into 2 split traditional HVAC systems. Her old lease reads "The tenant will pay all utilities, except for the following which will be paid by the landlord: Oil heat, water & sewer." With this verbiage in place until January 2021 can I have her pickup this utility for the fall/winter as it is no longer oil hear but natural gas and also her own unit? 

Also, I was going to give her the option for me to add central air as well for an increase in rent, thoughts? How much is reasonable being that it would cost me an extra $3,000?

Thank you!

[Andrew B.]

Technically speaking, yes, the lease does not say the landlord will pay for natural gas so you probably have a good argument, however, the tenant rented the unit with oil heat, and converting the furnace from oil to gas could be seen as a material change to the agreement, and I'm sure a judge in any tenant friendly state would say you have to pay for the natural gas. MY OPINION is that it would be a better, cleaner option to just pay the gas until lease renews.