Rental properties with unpaid utilities

[Nicholas J.]

Where I live properties water and sewer bills have to be in the owners name therefore if the tenant is responsible for utilities the landlord has to pay the bill and pass the bill to the tenant to get reimbursed. My question is I have been looking at a lot of rental properties for sale and have noticed when looking at the tax records a lot of these properties have a high tax bill because of unpaid utilities. Am I missing something or are these landlords being careless. Seems like it would be a red flag that somethings fishy going on. Thanks in advance

[John Woodrich]

It is pretty common for cities to assess properties for past utilities, that is one way they are assured to get paid.  If I were looking to purchase a property with assessments for back utilities I would ask for the seller pay the assessments.