Tenants moving out question about utilities

[Nick Naik]

Hello,

My current tenant is moving out, do I have him transfer to utilities to me(landlord)? Secondly, how do I confirm that he has no balance to be paid before the tenants moves out? Am I as a landlord responsible for his any utility payments that he has not made. Please advise.

Thank you,

Nick

[Theresa Harris]

By utilities do you mean water, gas or electricity?  It depends on your area.  I would call each of them and find out.  You will need to call to have them transferred to you, the tenant can't do it-they can transfer it out of their name, but not to you.  When you do that, ask the company if they can let you know if there is a balance and who is responsible for it.  Where I am, only the water is attached to the house, so if that went unpaid, I'd be on the hook for it (that did happen once and since then I pay it and the tenant reimburses me).

You can also ask them to show you the balance on the utilities when you go to return the deposit after you inspected the property.