Do a lot of Seattle apartments charge what is essentially a fluctuating monthly rent? (renters, mattresses)

[CharlesRamon]

Buildings that charge separately for water/sewer/garbage seem to be doing so. Most places I've lived those things are included, but in Seattle they're charged separately and vary from month to month. You could live in an old building with lots of water leaks or a place where lots of illegal dumping goes on and you have to pay for that. Instead of the property managers fixing those things, they just let the problems linger, 'cause why bother when your tenants have to pay for it.

Somehow this doesn't sit well with me. It seems extortionate. You also have the questionable non-refundable "deposits," parking, pet fees and other forms of nickel and diming that go on. Basically, none of the advertised rents are accurate. Your actual rent will be a couple to a few hundred dollars more. How is this legal? Seattle, for being such a "liberal" place, really sucks at basic tenants' rights.

[Ruth4Truth]

Where are you from, OP? It's quite common in the US for renters to pay for the utilities. Sometimes the owners might pay for one service; I've seen announcements for rentals that say "water included", or some such. And you occasionally might run into a rental where all utilities are included in the rent. But It's most common for the tenants to pay for their utilities.

This is a protection for the landlord. If all utilities are included in the rent, the tenant could waste water, taking a couple of showers or baths/day, watering the yard, leaving the faucet on in the kitchen or bathroom, and being careless. Or letting something leak and waste water, without telling the landlord that a repair is needed. Same with electricity. Costs would become unpredictable for the landlord. If tenants want to be careless and wasteful with water and electricity, they can do it on their own dime.

[CharlesRamon]

I lived in NYC for a little over a decade and heat and hot water and garbage were always included with rent. Electricity, gas and Internet were separate.

[Ruth4Truth]

Well, that's NYC. I've lived in 3 different states, and the most common arrangement on the West Coast and in the SW is for the tenant to pay for all or most of the utilities. I can see how that could take some getting used to, if it's outside of your experience. But no, Seattle landlords aren't charging a fluctuating rent. Your rent amount is in your rental contract; a fixed amount per year, or per contract period. You're responsible for your own utility consumption and payments.

[Commonproject]

this is standard for many west coast cities lol.

[CrazyDonkey]

It used to be that way here too: you only paid water/sewer/garbage if renting a house. If renting an apartment, you only paid for electricity and gas (lights, heat, stove, fridge, hot water, etc.). They're charging for the rest now because they can and computers make it easy to calculate and bill it. If you're renting from a building owner, they are less likely to do this, than if renting from a property management company (for the denizens of which Dante reserves their own circle in Hell).

[CharlesRamon]

it's a weird system. for instance, my building has all its dumpsters just exposed in the back. people come and dump stuff all the time. mattresses, tvs, furniture, and other garbage. obviously, the property owners didn't like paying for that. tenants should only pay a lump sum for these things, a fixed portion of the utilities costs. any overages should be the owners' responsibility. why do tenants have to pay for things like illegal dumping or bad plumbing? and third parties bill the utilities and add a fee on top of that. it's an extortionate system but people have gotten used to it so they don't care.

[GraceKrispy]

I have lived in at least 7 states, and they have all had me pay for utilities separately. So my monthly rates fluctuate. Assuming all utilities are metered, I like the fact that I have some control over the costs in terms of my conservation efforts. I currently live in an apartment that doesn't meter water and it's frustrating to pay those bills (they use a numeric algorithm based on number of people in the house)-- my efforts to cut down on water consumption don't directly impact my bill. I agree that the incentive to fix plumbing or slow leaks isn't as great for landlords if they aren't impacted by the bill.

[notnamed]

I've rented 5 places over the years in various states. Paid utilities in all but one that covered water. But even that was only the first year, starting with the 2nd they switched to have residents cover water too claiming it would be incentive to conserve.

[dpepsi]

I like how the rent changes day to day. And Some apartments increase rent each day apartment is empty to recoup lost money.