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Hi there - I'm having an issue with my landlord over utilities. I live in an in-law unit below her (my landlord). There is only one meter, which we share.
In the lease, it specifies I am to pay 1/3 of any utilities (gas, water and electric) -- and here's the tricky party -- as well as any amount OVER the average of the "summer months" cost for electric. (She has a tenant who also lives in her house, hence the 1/3).
The reason being for this is my unit has electric water-based heaters, which she claims are hugely ineffective.
When I signed the lease, I did not fully comprehend the discrepancy this arrangement would create.
First, in the lease, she did not specify what these "summer months" are, but she made an assumption that the average for electric during these months for both her house + my in-law unit is $80.
For the last couple "winter months", the electric bill has been $30-50 *higher* than $80, of which she has assigned entirely to me for payment. This means I'm paying 1/3 of $80 plus an extra $30-50, so as high as $130 -- and she never pays a penny over 1/3 of $80, so $26.
For the December to January bill, I was on vacation (ie, not home) for 23 days of that billing cycle -- and yet, I paid 1/3 of $80 AND another $35... $110, for just the 7 days I was home.... truly revealing the faultiness of her logic.
I wrote her a letter expressing the inequity of this situation, and asked her to specify "summer" months and provide proof the average was $80... but aside from that, is there anything I can do??
Why did you sign a lease that you didn't fully understand? You should've asked questions and got clarification, in writing, to those questions.
You can call the utility companies, but you already signed a lease agreeing to pay 1/3 of the bills plus the overage...so whatever they say doesn't matter. When it comes to utilities, you can 'assume' what you want, but since they're based on usage, and you have three people using them, you're assumption goes right out the window.
You have two options: Stay until the lease expires or break your lease and move.
No, in most US climates electric usage increases in summer--as does water usage--due to increased air conditioning use and increased landscape watering.
Speculating now (didn't Google) most US homes are heated by either natural gas, propane, or oil. Electric heating is the most expensive form of heating IMO.
But no typo.
The OP can confirm type of heating (or I missed it). In any case a lease always means what it says, because by definition what it says is what it means, nothing more and nothing less. You (landlord) wrote it, you (tenant) agreed and signed it, it is enforceable in court unless it violates landlord-tenant laws in your jurisdiction.
In any case a lease always means what it says, because by definition what it says is what it means, nothing more and nothing less. You (landlord) wrote it, you (tenant) agreed and signed it,
it is enforceable in court unless it violates landlord-tenant laws in your jurisdiction.
Nope... it's rarely quite as simplistic as that.
The person who writes the lease bears greater responsibility that in most jurisdictions will
extend beyond mere compliance with the law to being fair and equitable as well.
This is especially so in circumstances like the OP has... where she is living within the home
of the owner and doesn't have control over the appliances that will run up the bills that she
is then being expected to pay for using some odd calculus that the lease writer prefers...
No, in most US climates electric usage increases in summer--as does water usage--due to increased air conditioning use and increased landscape watering.
Yes, more households increase their usage in the summer. However, the OP said the LL's reason for her paying more of the electric bill is due to her electric heat. She isn't using heat in the summer, so her lease is completely backwards.
There is an average "summer month" bill, during the time that the electric heaters are not in use. That average is $80. So when the heat is not in use, the average usage is $80.
In the winter, it costs more to run those electric heaters, so the OP has to pay anything that is in excess of the summer average, because that overage would be due to the use of the heaters.
If the OPs unit is the only one in the building that has these electric heaters, then this calculation is correct. Any overage SHOULD be their bill.
In other words, they have to pay for anything over the average OF the summer months. Not anything over the average IN the summer months.
Last edited by Lacerta; 03-10-2017 at 08:48 AM..
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