The tenants are moving out and their lease ends on a Saturday, April 30. I called the water utility company and the tenants have it set to switch OUT of their name on the 29th. Should I wait until Monday May 2 to have it switched to my name, or take the chance and have it switched on the 29th while the tenants are still there in case they need to us water to clean, etc.? Thanks.
Have them transfer billing to your name effective when they would shut it off from the tenants. With some utilities, this is also actually cheaper but does not force a break in service. Some utilities actually have ‘landlord prorams’ that default to the landlord automatically anytime a tenant take sit out of their name and notifies you that this has happened.
It wouldn’t hurt to ask what is available.
Keith
I only put water in my name if I have to. Water can get shut off as far as I’m concerned. It’s $50/month for no water useage around here and more if you actually use the water. The place I’m working on right now I bought the neighbor a case of beer and he is letting me use an outdoor spigot for what I need (which isn’t much). It’s much cheaper for the month or two I will be using it.
If you don’t need much water at all or just for cleaning, I would just fill up a few jugs of it at home before I left. But I’m cheap.
Is hiring a property management service worth the cost? Yes it is. Property management services help with the advertising of your apartments, the screening of interested tenants, filing of evictions, hiring of contractors and so on. They literally manage your property as liaisons between you- the landlord and your tenants.
What I do, in that case, is I tell the water company that the tenant is not scheduled to move out on the 29th, and they appear to be hoping to get free water. I suggest that the water company send someone out first thing in the morning and turn the water off.
Then I will really hit the tenant hard for any cleaning I have to do, because they can’t clean without water.
If you have the water turned into your name on the second, the water company will go and read the meter on the 29 and that will be used as the reading for when yo assume service. So you will pay for whatever water the tenants use those last couple of days.
My tenants try to do this all the time, calling and having the electric service taken out of their name a week early. The power company here does not actually turn the power off, so the tenant gets a week for free, and I get billed for it.
I check the date that the tenant takes power out of their name and I take it out of their deposit.
Hi,
I always seem to have a tenant that either doesn’t turn the utilities
on in their name or prematurely turns them off. I find the best way to
handle that problem is to go to the business office of the respective
utility company with the lease agreement and copies of the tenants
driver’s license and show them to a representative.
The lease agreement shows that the lessee (tenant) is responsible for
the utilities from the effective date until the end date of the lease agreement.
The representative will remove the charges and apply them to the the tenant.
This way to unpaid charges will follow them arounnd until THEY pay it.
However, for a day or two of unpaid utilities, I wouldn’t do it. It’s not worth
the measly $5-10 to hassle with it. Now, if the utilities haven’t been paid for
a month or more…most definitely am I going to screw with it.