Common area lighting is on tenants circuit breaker

[Sara Taslitt]

Hello-

I just had an electrician doing some work in my two family house. I am living in the second floor. My first tenant is moving in next week.

The electrician noticed that the common area electric is on the tenants breaker. I have asked the tenant to get the utilities in her name before move in day, but now finding this out I am conflicted with what to do.

We live in Massachusetts, so I looked up the law here and it says that you can have the tenant pay the common area in a building less than 4 units as long as it is disclosed to them. Here is the link: https://www.mass.gov/guides/housing-courts-guide-to-landlord-tenant-issues

I am thinking that it would be appropriate to give the tenant a credit or lower the rent a bit based on this.

We originally asked 1275 for rent so I thought that asking for 1250 could cover that.

I would love some feedback!!