As a landlord, you may be trying to decide if you should include the utilities in the monthly payment. You can either charge someone rent and then tell them they have to pay the utilities on top of that, or you can raise the amount that they have to pay each month and include those utilities.
It may seem like you would always want your tenants to be responsible for their own utility usage. But why are some landlords offering to include them?
It makes things simple
Perhaps the biggest reason that people do this is just that it makes it simple. The landlord doesn’t have to transfer the utilities to anyone else’s name. They can simply pay those monthly costs for as long as they own the building, even if they own it for decades and have dozens of different tenants.
It’s also simpler for the tenants. They know exactly how much they have to budget every month, and they know that they’re going to have everything that they need in their apartment as long as they make that one payment. In fact, some people are so interested in finding this simple sort of lifestyle that they will pay landlords even more than the combined cost of the mortgage and utilities just to keep things easy.
It’s easier for roommates
If you want the roommate relationships to stay strong in a shared space, including utilities is one way to do that. A lot of stress between roommates happens when one person has to pay the utilities and then get paid back by the others. Including the utilities in the rent payment makes it so that this doesn’t have to take place. This can lead to long-term renters and more stability for you as a landlord.
No matter how you decide to set up this contract, just make sure that you understand what legal steps to take and that you and your tenant are on the same page.
