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I had a situation in a previous rental where the landlord rented out the garage separately as a business (for a guy with a car detailing business). The guy renting the garage used the spigot attached to the house, and the electric was billed together as well. The landlord just averaged what I had paid prior to the car wash guy renting and we amended the lease to include that average in my rent. Other than the fact that the car detailing guy was a monumental jackass, it worked out fine for me. I don't think he asked me to increase my security deposit; but by the time we were making these arrangements I'd already proved to be a reliable tenant, so I guess his concerns were minimal.
I own a condo and all utility bills for the complex are split equally among owners. Don't love it, but it is that way. We get billed monthly by the HOA separately for the HOA fee and utilities. Many of the tenants are billed for utilities by LL's and apparently this works. Example: for the June 1st payment I owe $200 in HOA fee and $155 in utilities. The max I have ever paid for utilities is $265.
I made a decision a long time ago to charge a flat monthly rent price to my tenant including utilities; just keeps it simple and my tenant can budget. However, if I were in a private house, and for whatever reason decided to keep the utilities in my own name, I would charge a flat rate using a number I had developed based on utility usage in the past. I would devise a lease that reflected the utility basis and come up with a scheme to revisit and revise on a quarterly basis.....
As a landlord of a single family home I will NEVER have the utilities in my name again. I did it once, for my first tenants, simply sent them the bill to pay, they did not pay, the water was shut off by the utility, they were evicted, and I had to pay for it all.
I know require tenants who wish to rent a house, to act like they are responsible adults and pay for their own electricity and water all by themselves. They pay their own deposits to the utilities based on their own credit ratings, and all must be in their name before I turn over the keys.
This is how it was when I was a tenant renting a SFH. If the water gets shut off for non-payment then they can pay their own resume service bills themselves.
Every time a tenant leaves and I do not have the house rented right away (which usually is the case since all past tenants have left me with damages that took at least 2 weeks or longer to repair) the utilities charge me a deposit every time even though I'm a landlord and owner. They refund a portion of the deposit, but not all, when a tenant switches to their name.
If a landlord wants to keep all utilities (Water, Electricity, Gas, Trash) in his name, what is the best way to get the money back from tenant?
This is just a terrible all around. If the tenant won't pay, the landlord is liable for it, and trust me, you WILL end up paying for your tenants utilities. If the tenant doesn't pay, then who cares? Its their problem. Don't make it yours.
Best to have the tenant put things in their name, and sign up for the Landlord's program with your local utilities.
(For example, in my area, if a tenant doesn't pay for gas, then the city will put a lien on the property, UNLESS you sign up for the landlord program with the gas company, in which case, they won't come after the landlord because the tenant is not paying)
The rent would be $900. How to get more deposit from tenant than the rent value is?
You collect at MINIMUM 1.5 months rent in security (deposit).
Are you a tenant trying to figure this out or a neophyte LL?
And what are you REALLY asking and why?
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