Paying utilities till end of lease or until keys are turned in? (house, roommates)
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I'm not paying a termination fee, my lease is up June 30 and I'm paying rent for June, but will be out within the next week. I can't figure out why I would be responsible for any bills once I've turned over the property.
Depends upon three things:
1) The terms of the lease, and
2) The applicable lease/rental/tenant laws of the state (for example, CA has several statutes which override whatever the terms of a lease are that you may have signed)
3) The policy of the utility provider. (for example, the utility companies for a number of my rental properties will not change-over billing to another party without their acceptance of the responsibility. I've had tenants move out and ask for a final billing on a certain date, but the utility company cannot change the billing back to me unless I am notified of the change and accept the responsibility).
The fact that you are moving out early (and turning in your keys) isn't applicable here because you're paying for the lease to the end of it's termination. There are ongoing utility costs for that unit even if you're not occupying it ... keeping service active, heating/cooling requirements, water & septic costs, appliances (refrigerator/freezer), etc. Where you are paying for the unit through the end of the lease term means that the property manager cannot lease it out to another party to take over the utility responsibilities.
Where you are paying for the unit through the end of the lease term means that the property manager cannot lease it out to another party to take over the utility responsibilities.
You wanna bet they aren't going to leave that unit untouched until the end of June? No way.
When the tenant turns over those keys, the LL re-takes possession. Then, the bill goes to the owner. Who pays the bill when the place is vacant? The last tenant? Nope. The owner.
2) The applicable lease/rental/tenant laws of the state (for example, CA has several statutes which override whatever the terms of a lease are that you may have signed)
3) The policy of the utility provider. (for example, the utility companies for a number of my rental properties will not change-over billing to another party without their acceptance of the responsibility. I've had tenants move out and ask for a final billing on a certain date, but the utility company cannot change the billing back to me unless I am notified of the change and accept the responsibility).
The fact that you are moving out early (and turning in your keys) isn't applicable here because you're paying for the lease to the end of it's termination. There are ongoing utility costs for that unit even if you're not occupying it ... keeping service active, heating/cooling requirements, water & septic costs, appliances (refrigerator/freezer), etc. Where you are paying for the unit through the end of the lease term means that the property manager cannot lease it out to another party to take over the utility responsibilities.
The only relevant utilities are water and electricity, neither of which should have any use when the place is unoccupied. They've already leased the place for July.
I'm not paying a termination fee, my lease is up June 30 and I'm paying rent for June, but will be out within the next week. I can't figure out why I would be responsible for any bills once I've turned over the property.
I would consider that a termination fee. You're turning in the keys prior to June 30, correct? Otherwise, if your LL rents the unit out prior to June 30, they have to return some of June's rent to you.
You're falling into a grey area. If I were you, I would talk to the LL and decide if this is effectively terminating your lease since you are turning in the keys or if you are still considered a tenant and the lease is still effective. If the lease is still effective, then yes, you are responsible for utilities as stated in your lease. You're being risky by not clarifying with your LL what exactly this "deal" entails and you also need to get it in writing. Turning in the keys does not protect you from the terms in your lease. When you signed your lease, you said you would rent there from June 30 to June 30 and I'm assuming your lease says you are responsible for utilities during that time. Meaning, you have not fulfilled that obligation yet as you have not paid the utilities for that last month - unless your LL agrees to terminate the lease a month early by asking for the equivalent of last month's rent.
Basically, that would be like me paying my lease until it ends then moving out and returning the keys but refusing to pay utilities even though according to my lease, I am responsible for those utilities until the termination OR end of the lease.
Well, OP, you can always tell the LL you'll mail the keys then on June 30th, and you still consider the unit yours until then, and he doesn't have the right to enter until the end of the lease.
Option B, you go ahead and pay until the end of June, and move out, but he puts the utilities back in his name when you vacate.
If you are responsible for the rent AND the utilities until the end of June, then that unit is yours and yours alone until then.
It's completely unreasonable to expect you to pay for their power and water while they do whatever they do when they take possession prior to June 30th. They don't get to have it both ways.
Post #7 is the simple and logical response unless your lease specifically states otherwise and is exactly what I've always done right before I hand over the keys.
I've several times left places before the last day of the lease and as soon as I know my move-out date I go down to the utility company in person (they won't shut off utilities without confirmation that you are who you say you are) and let them know after what date they can shut it off. They don't always shut it off on the exact day and it can sometimes take up to a week. I've then advised the LL in writing that I've advised the utility company accordingly and then it's up to him to arrange for continuing service.
Service fees, for the gas & electric, could be what the LL/PM company spokesperson is referring to.
Gas and electric can be cut off to a unit (as in turned off), but someone (the owner) has to pay the service fee even if no one is living in it (as long as it's considered a commercial property as opposed to a SFR).
I learned this through having the latter - a commercial property about to be knocked down by ME, but the gas and electric company still charged me a monthly service fee once they found out that I had purchased the building and they finally had an address to send a bill to. And an abandoned property that had nothing going on in it for close to 7 years...the town shut the business down, and the proprietor/land owner couldn't afford the fines to bring the business back.
So the electric and gas company tried to get me to pay years of back "service fees" b/c the previous owner was foreclosed upon. Yeah, not going to happen and did not.
At the same time, I don't understand why LLs/property management companies make this so much harder than it has to be.
It's the cost of doing business and why make a tenant pay rent for a month after they vacated the premises....when you had sufficient notice that the tenant was moving?
Let the tenant out of the lease the day they move out- you should have had sufficient notice to start showing and re-renting the unit, and if not, go after the tenant for insufficient notice.
Tenants are not allowed, by law and in my state, to hinder LLs from re-renting their properties.
Energy companies are set up to do all of this LL/tenant "stuff". All you have to do as a LL, when a tenant calls for a last and final reading, is accept the switch back over in to your LL account until you re-rent the unit. And you, as a LL, can call the energy company, fax 'em a lease with the start date, if your new tenant doesn't "have the time" to put the gas and electric in their name.
Some think that because the lights & stove work when they move in, electricity and gas are "free".
I have moved out of place early like you are but was paid in full for the entire lease term. I had to keep the utilities in my name till the end of the lease. Usually in lease terms it says how you are responsible for utilities till the end of the lease term.
Another option you would have is to keep the keys and turn them in when the lease is finished. Since there would be very little utility use the charges would be very little.
You need to (legally) do whatever the lease says. If the lease says you pay utilities, then you do so. Moving out early doesn't change the lease terms you signed, unless you actually executed an early lease termination. It doesn't sound like that is the case here.
Terrible advice. Lease provisions are struck down all the time, and this is another prime candidate.
I've actually seen these type of provisions popping up a lot lately. In my opinion it's a way to try and force the tenants to foot the bill for the utility cost of things like remodeling and improvements between tenants. There is, however, basically no legal justification for enforcing such a provision and I doubt any courts would refuse to strike it down.
Following Rabritta's advice is the way to go.
Quote:
Originally Posted by unihills
If I were the landlord I would not accept this unless day X were also the lease end date.
You wouldn't have a choice. You would other accept, or utilities to the dwelling would be disconnected.
There is nothing you could do to force the utility company to keep the account in the tenant's name.
Once you vacated the utilities should go back in the LL name. That's how I do it. On your last day ( whatever day it might be, vacating early or not)we do a final walk through, I change the locks or rekey and the utilities get transferred in my name. The utilities are set up as a rental account so they just go back in my name. It's pretty easy to set up with utility co.
But your LL has to call and switch utilities into his name. You can't do it. All you can do is stop your service.. What he is most likely doing is trying to switch utilities from tenant to tenant not tenant LL tenant. That's why he wants you to pay till the last day so on the first the new people pick up the tab this way he doesn't get a bill for the time between tenants
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