Flipper/Rehabber · Easton, PA · Member since 2016 · 13 posts · 2 votes
I have a tenant that never put the water nor sewer bills in their name and it states in lease that they are obligated to do so. I paid the last quarter's bills because they were experiencing a hard ship, but they were still trying to pay their rent. Now they are really falling behind and the next water and sewer bills have come in. I know I can't evict them and I'm trying not to annoy them too much, because I feel that they will just stop paying all together and I will be stuck until the eviction moratorium is lifted. I am not sure what I can do and I feel like I'm now stuck not getting rent and paying their bills. Any thoughts?
@Michael Bruno you should be able to serve them with notice to fix their breach of not putting the utilities in their name. If they don’t, you should be able to evict for that. The moratorium is over non payment of rent. Most courts are allowing evictions for other lease violations.
@Michael Bruno you should be able to serve them with notice to fix their breach of not putting the utilities in their name. If they don’t, you should be able to evict for that. The moratorium is over non payment of rent. Most courts are allowing evictions for other lease violations.
Is water/sewer a public utility in your town? If so, you want to keep it in your name and pay for it yourself, because the town can lien your property if it is not paid. Just pay for it yourself & pass them the bill to reimburse you.
Tell them that it needs to be paid and to you so that you know it is being paid. If they are claiming financial hardship, offer to let them out of the lease and move to a cheaper place.
We've had tenants not transfer utilities in a timely manner before so now we give them a signed contract when they pay the move in fees but they don't get keys until they show proof of all utilities being in their name. To the OP, if you can't evict them, you also can't shut the water off as that's considered self help eviction. It sucks and you won't let it happen again. Our sfr tenants put ALL utilities in their own name.
@Ryan B. thank you. I'm glad to see that I'm not totally stuck in this situation. I appreciate your insight. The tenant is still communicating with me and has been making small payments when he can. He seems honest enough and I would hate to see something happen to his family. But, I know I must cover my investment. We have structured a repayment plan of back money owed, and if he gets it all satisfied, I will revisit the issue with the utilities.
If your lease states that they must establish and maintain utilities in their name you can indeed evict them. You would need to send a material breach of contract notice stating their failure to establish and/or maintain utilities in their name.
This is something you can evict them for even if they signed a CDC Moratorium notice as it is not a filling about non-payment of rent but a material breach in contract.
@Gregory H. is correct. Definitely keep the water/sewer in your name and bill back the tenants accordingly. I know you are in a different and difficult situation right now with everything, but with this tenant and going forward, it is best to bill back water/sewer. Those utilities are lien-able and if the bills are going to the tenants, you may be unaware of missed payments that will eventually be your responsibility anyway... or even worse.
Regarding electric, gas, and any other utilities, we have the service scheduled to terminate on the day after they move in and ensure they are properly notified of who to contact and to call ahead to get it in their name. The service will work for that first day, but if they do not transfer as expected they understand it is their responsibility soon enough.