Case in point, although not landlord related, my friends who are contractors, separate from my company, ran into a homeowner who habitually did not pay contractors for work.

Case in point .

This is especially the case in rural areas, and I tend to exclude these locations from my marketing altogether.Very Respectfully,Cornelius Garland

@Travis Sperr yes that used to be the case in Denver as well.

If your lease already has the tenant paying utilities (does not appear to be the case in your case), any increase of utility cost passed on to the tenant is not a rent increase. 

@Steve Vaughan The home is from the 1920's so I think that this might be the case in hand.

@Russell Brazil  lots of land leases in Hawaii.... was not aware that was the case in your area..one oddity in the NW west is how Timber is treated as real property while its standing and is personal property after it is severed and harvested.So you can buy and sell timber deeds .. you can 1031 timber deeds.. and this is just the standing timber does not effect the land underneath.

@Guy GimenezHere is a media articleAUSTIN — Home mortgage scams in El Paso and Austin have prompted three senators to propose legislation to curb the abuse and protect homeowners.Senators Judith Zaffirini (D-Laredo), Kirk Watson (D-Austin), and José Rodríguez (D-El Paso) today filed several bills to address “wraparound” home mortgage scams, which leave homeowners at the mercy of a middleman who may or may not keep up with the mortgage payments.In one particularly egregious case in El Paso, a wrap scammer absconded with nearly $2 million from 200 families before the Texas Department of Savings and Mortgage Lending was able to intervene.

Please share your county of business and whether or not this is in fact the case in your locale.  

Not sure if that's the case in Michigan.