All Forum Posts by: Blake Cromer

@Jennifer T. that’s a good idea

@Matt Carey I didn’t write the lease, I inherited it.

@Caleb Heimsoth

It’s in my name because the duplex isn’t metered. The utility company bills it as one unit at a fixed rate instead separate units. I called the two previous management companies today and both said that they billed it back to the tenant like I am trying to do. The tenant still owes the previous management company one month of sewage.

Going forward, it needs to just be calculated into the rent. One solution I thought of for now is to deduct the sewage cost from the tenant’s security deposit.

@Meg Kay

It’s fixed at $43.09 per unit, so $86.19 total. The tenant has paid rent and been there about 4 years now. I don’t want to damage the relationship, but I also want to be reasonably firm on what the signed agreement is.

It would definitely be more costly to get them out and get someone else in there. My communication has been through email with no response. I drove by today, but tenant wasn’t home. I’m going to call the previous management company tomorrow to see how what the tenant is accustomed to.

@Christopher Phillips

Sewage is specifically noted in the lease that I inherited for the tenant to pay it. I’m going to give the previous management a call tomorrow to see how the sewage bill has been handled previously.

Thanks for your thoughtful response!

@Brian R.

Thanks. I’ll look into the laws for Indiana. The sewage is through a private company, so I don’t think that it would be added to my tax bill. What’s interesting is that the sewage company sold its water utility “system”, so now they have no control over the water. I’m not sure how they would “disconnect” the unmetered sewage then. I think normally they would just turn off the water and that wouldn’t allow you to flush.

I plan on giving the previous management company a call tomorrow to see how they handled this. I know when I called around the time of closing, they mentioned that the tenant owed them one month’s worth of the sewage bill.

I appreciate your response and thoughtful input!

I recently bought a duplex (first investment property) that has a tenant under contract until the end of March 2020. The lease states that the tenant pays all utilities. The previous management had the sewage in their name. The sewage isn’t metered for the duplex, so it’s billed as one with a fixed rate. That’s why it can’t easily be put in the tenant’s name and it is currently in my name. For the first sewage bill, I marked up and emailed a copy on the 15th showing that the tenant owes me half on the 1st the following month. The tenant paid rent, but is now 6 days late on the sewage. The lease states that if they fail to pay utilities that is in the management’s name then management can disconnect service without notice. There’s nothing about fees on unpaid utilities. Tenant hasn’t responded to multiple emails. How would you handle this?

Thanks in advance for your input.