Bathroom Heater Fan Costs Too Much for Rental Apt?

Question

Dear BP Members,

We installed a ceiling heater and exhaust fans for a small bathroom for our rental property. There is no heat source in the bathroom. That is why we took the suggestion from our contractor. However, we feel that the tenants (students) can keep the heat switch on for a while or forget to turn it off etc. Since we are paying the electricity, we are concerned that it may end up costly. We thought about setting the timer but the duration can still be as long as 30 min. It is a small bathroom and the heat can come in from the living room. All it needs is just a bit heat to take the chill out at times. Is there any other option to heat up a small bathroom without costing much on electricity? Thank you!

Thomas S. · Answer

I would take another look at having tenants pay utilities. It is in fact easiest and most profitable for you to not pay for utilities. Landlords should never include utilities in the rent if avoidable. Alternately you send a copy of the monthly bill to the tennats to pay you. Profitability is number one priority. As soon as you posted on here you made it obvious that you have created a problem that has a very "easy" solution.

Thomas S. · Answer

Expenses should be charged monthly, when they begin or end the lease is irrelevant. You are over thinking the problem. The tenants decide how to divide the expenses not the landlord.

What you appear to be doing is billing tenants separately. This is the wrong approach. You rent the entire property to a group of tenants and each tenant should be ultimately held responsible for the entire monthly rent plus utilities. In this way they decide what they pay and you receive only one payment not individual payments from each tenant. As tenants come and go it has not effect on what you receive in payments.

Never make tenants problem your problem.

Anthony Wick · Answer

@Peace Lily

Why do you pay the electricity? Is the unit not metered separately?

Peace Lily · Answer

@Anthony Wick we rent out to students per individual room so it is easier for the rent to include all expenses.

Peace Lily · Answer

@Nathan G. Thank you Nathan! Great advice. I will look into that!

Nathan Gesner · Answer

You can install a timer switch. This switch will only run for a certain amount of time (30 minutes maximum) and then turn off.

Peace Lily · Answer

@Mike McCarthy Got it. Thank you!

Mike McCarthy · Answer

I like the timer idea. If 30 min is too much (I don’t think so) they do have 15-min timers. And sure, it could break, but so could the heater. Install it and don’t give it another thought.

Peace Lily · Answer

@Thomas S. But none of them wanted to be responsible as that person to collect the rent and pay the landlord. During academic year it may be possible since some tenants look for their own roommates so they rent altogether. In the situation that each of them doesn’t know one another, it may be more difficult?

Peace Lily · Answer

@Thomas S. Thanks for you feedback. We are still exploring this. I agree with you. Eventually we would like to switch each of them pays the utilities by splitting the bills. The current situation is that each one’s lease starts at different time so it is hard to split overall expenses at a fair amount... if they all start and end at the same time, it will be good to just have them spit the expenses.

Bathroom Heater Fan Costs Too Much for Rental Apt?

Bathroom Heater Fan Costs Too Much for Rental Apt?

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