Excessive Utility Usage

[Roy Lam]

I have a duplex  that my two tenants share the utilities charges.  One tenant with the larger unit pays 2/3 of electric, gas and water.  The other tenant pays the 1/3,  During the summer, the electric bill was almost $200. because the bills are under my name and I have to let them know what their shares are. I thought it was the tenant in the larger unit that uses more electricity because they have a couple of kids. A couple of weeks ago, I passed by the smaller unit and heard the air conditioner was running, so I asked another tenant about it. Another tenant told me the air conditioner was always on while this tenant is at work. She denied it was on all the time except for the one day that I found out.  She is a habitual liar, I found it out earlier when I try to collect rent from her. Excuse after excuse. She is always late with the rent.

This month when I went to collect the rent, she refused to pay the utilities saying it's too high.  So I took the rent anyway but no utilities.  I know I can't evict her for not paying utilities, i will deduct it from security deposit.

My question is, what can I do if I catch her leaving the air condition or any other appliance on while she is working? Her lease ends February 28, 2020 next year.

[Jeff Willis]

@Roy Lam

Welcome to the world of shared utilities. If you are in Monterey Park and are saying $200/mo electric is high for this last summer, I will have to disagree with you, $200 is cheap! It was a hot summer, and in my opinion, I would just collect what you normally collect from each tenant. I would not push it. It is not worth the aggravation of losing a tenant over.