Do renters pay own heating and electricity? (Oxford: apartments, renter)

[jon41241]

Someone with multi-level bldgs (4 + units ) in the state of Maine, share with me how the heating cost is broken down per unit. Does each apt. have a way to monitor the use of oil and electricity? Do renters pay their own heat and electricity?

Thanks, Jon

[forest beekeeper]

I do not own an apartment building in Maine [our last building is in Ct]; but we have rented in Maine.

It was a Tri-plex, heat and hot water were included in the rent. Electricity was billed seperately. The building has one boiler and each apartment has one thermostat to turn on the warm water through the baseboards in that apartment. So they have one boiler with three loops.

[flower girl]

Originally Posted by jon41241

Someone with multi-level bldgs (4 + units ) in the state of Maine, share with me how the heating cost is broken down per unit. Does each apt. have a way to monitor the use of oil and electricity? Do renters pay their own heat and electricity?

Thanks, Jon

A few rents have all untilities included,some the landlord
pays the heat,and renter pays elect.If you are paying electric each apt has
it's own seperate meter.Most apt that i had rented it was heat included.
when I did pay for heat it was when i was in a duplex.each half of the house
had it's own oil tank. flower girl

[BacktoNE]

It will all depend on the set up of the building and the landlord. I've been in both situations. A heated apartment is more budget friendly because you don't have any nasty surprises in the middle of Winter. Unfortunately that also means that some landlords will have a "lock" on the thermostat so you can't raise the temp above a certain level. I like a cool home so it was never a problem for me, but I know it is for some people.

[MainelyJersey]

A friend of mine came into work one day last week, quite upset. She had picked up the BDN on her way in, and the front page had the story of heating oil hitting $4/gal. She owns two buildings with a total of 15 apartments. All of the apartments are month-to-month, utilities and heat included. This past winter resulted in barely breaking even.
At $4/gal, or likely more by next fall, she simply can't charge enough rent to cover the costs.
She now is seriously considering her options..sell in such a poor market? Close up and attempt to make the mortgage payments?
There's a thread on another forum that discusses a landlord group meeting in Oxford county. Many landlords are facing the same issue; there's real concern about some limited availabilty of rental units coming up due to these "forced" closings of multi-unit buildings.

[forest beekeeper]

Of the properties that we collected, we knew that the property in Ct would be the one that we would be holding long term. My Dw grew up in Ct, and wanted to always have a back-up plan for herself in case I died [I worked in a fairly high mortality career field], so we purchased and have kept one property in her hometown.

Early on with it, we ripped out the single boiler system. It was an oil fired steam boiler that fed heavy cast-iron steam radiators in each unit. We replaced it with separate NG boilers, one boiler for each apartment, and I plumbed baseboards up into each apartment. So that each renter has their own NG meter and pays for their own heat and electric.

This has been a wonderful modification for us, and now with the cost of fuels rising so much. It has kept us afloat.

I would seriously recommend that anyone owning apartments, you need to be seriously looking at installing separate heating systems into each apartment.

[flycessna]

I own several properties right now, And I have only have one heating system per property...all OIL.

In Maine, I do find more often than not, that rents WILL include heat and hot water. But this is not protocol. If your fortunate to own a property that has separate heating systems for each unit....then you are at liberty to let the tenants pay their own heat.

Of course in the end its a numbers game and you would be charging LESS rent when there is LESS included.

The problem, IMO, is that all of us Landlords who do pay for heat and hot water ect. over the years (like myself) was really liberal with rent. If they were a good long term tenant..and my expenses stayed the same...I left the rent alone. So now, I will be forced to raise rents like 10-20% to keep up with heating costs. I should have been raising the rent every year regardless.

ultimately, no should be losing their property because of costs. This is something we ALL have to deal with. I have a 6 unit that I own outright...no mortgage...I am still having problems crunching the numbers at $4.00 a gallon. Landlords will either raise the rents...or walk away. Where are they going to move to....every one has the same proplem.

The sad part is, I have tenants that are old and retired...and I really do feel for them. This is where a free market economy would fix it. You have elderly tenants that get heating assistance when they pay the heat......BUT I cant, and I pay the heat for them.

[wordsmith680]

Originally Posted by BacktoNE

It will all depend on the set up of the building and the landlord. I've been in both situations. A heated apartment is more budget friendly because you don't have any nasty surprises in the middle of Winter. Unfortunately that also means that some landlords will have a "lock" on the thermostat so you can't raise the temp above a certain level. I like a cool home so it was never a problem for me, but I know it is for some people.

I can tell you how important this is....... I am still paying a winter heating bill for a four plex. The first floor tenant has a thermostat that has "priority" (it will fire the boiler). It was reported on a number of occasions this winter the windows were open in all apartments and the heat set on 75F. There will be a lock on the thermostat, and the first floor tenant is being evicted. I am writing into the lease "any window open during the heating season will result in a $200/month charge". Most tenants are reasonable, but if you have one yahoo it can be disaster.

[starwalker]

I once -- long ago -- lived in a place where the heat was included and I did not control the thermostat and NEVER AGAIN.

It was always either too cold or way too hot....

And I would not want others especially those not in my household to be subjected to my idea of proper heating... it's hard enough for just my family to agree.

I understand with the idea of boilers and such that this is the way it works, but it would not appeal to me.

[forest beekeeper]

Originally Posted by starwalker

I once -- long ago -- lived in a place where the heat was included and I did not control the thermostat and NEVER AGAIN.

It was always either too cold or way too hot....

And I would not want others especially those not in my household to be subjected to my idea of proper heating... it's hard enough for just my family to agree.

I understand with the idea of boilers and such that this is the way it works, but it would not appeal to me.

"Trailer Queen"?

LOL