Tenants that didn't sign the lease
New to Real Estate · Pittsburgh, PA · Member since 2025 · 16 posts · 14 votes
Tenants that didn't sign the lease
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Honolulu, HI · Member since 2008 · 3k+ posts · 2k+ votes
6moContact your Tenant and inform them you need to perform a brief, walk through renewal inspection, primarily checking for potential leaks or other issues, as a normal part of the renewal process. As you walk through, take note of the number of different sizes of shoes; number of toothbrushes; number of sleeping spaces; and note any mail or other items identifying people not authorized to be living there. Finally, simply ask one of the tenants to reconfirm how many total are living there. They will often tell you aunty and uncle are staying with us temporarily because...
Just collect the information, do not start negotiating or giving deadlines etc. If they ask, advise you need to evaluate the current market before making any decisions. If your Rental Agreement has a clearly defined "guest" policy, for example 2 weeks maximum, "remind" them of that fact if they have confirmed someone is staying there already.
Review the written terms of your Rental Agreement, and, assuming you found several indicators or based on Tenant statement, send a Notice of Violation of the terms of that agreement, and follow through per local law.
With regard to your plan for changing how you bill them, are the two spaces identical in size? Number of people certainly can be an issue, are all occupants signing (and minors named, but not signing) on each Agreement? Are the appliances comparable in size and age for each unit? No shared laundry? My point is, all of these do affect actual usage. "Average" utility costs are not accurate or fair. Be sure you know local law on this point, some do not allow Tenant billing calculations for shared utils.
5 Replies
- Honolulu, HI · Member since 2008 · 3k+ posts · 2k+ votes6mo
Contact your Tenant and inform them you need to perform a brief, walk through renewal inspection, primarily checking for potential leaks or other issues, as a normal part of the renewal process. As you walk through, take note of the number of different sizes of shoes; number of toothbrushes; number of sleeping spaces; and note any mail or other items identifying people not authorized to be living there. Finally, simply ask one of the tenants to reconfirm how many total are living there. They will often tell you aunty and uncle are staying with us temporarily because...
Just collect the information, do not start negotiating or giving deadlines etc. If they ask, advise you need to evaluate the current market before making any decisions. If your Rental Agreement has a clearly defined "guest" policy, for example 2 weeks maximum, "remind" them of that fact if they have confirmed someone is staying there already.
Review the written terms of your Rental Agreement, and, assuming you found several indicators or based on Tenant statement, send a Notice of Violation of the terms of that agreement, and follow through per local law.
With regard to your plan for changing how you bill them, are the two spaces identical in size? Number of people certainly can be an issue, are all occupants signing (and minors named, but not signing) on each Agreement? Are the appliances comparable in size and age for each unit? No shared laundry? My point is, all of these do affect actual usage. "Average" utility costs are not accurate or fair. Be sure you know local law on this point, some do not allow Tenant billing calculations for shared utils.
- 6moDrew SygitBusiness MemberProperty Manager · Royal Oak, MI · Member since 2012 · 13k+ posts · 9k+ votes
Quote from @Jason Milko:
I am currently in the process of renewing leases for both of my tenants in an up/down duplex. The current leases have the tenant paying me monthly for utilities, and I have been charging them based on RUBS. I am switching this to a fixed monthly fee so that charging and paying utilities can be more streamlined. I see no issues with switching to this strategy, as the monthly charges are based on the average of the past year.
However, when my tenants were notified of this change, one of them suggested to me that they are currently paying too much in utilities because their neighbor has more people living in the unit than I was aware of.
My question is: How can I verify this claim in a professional manner and without exposing my tenant as a rat?
In the future, I think this can be prevented by not being as transparent with the utility charges, and simply charge one monthly rate without dividing it between base rent and utilities.
Thanks for the help!
You should be doing Annual Evaluations where you walk thru the units BEFORE renewing a lease.
Why would you renew a tenant that's trashing your unit?
Logical Property Management4.9469 Reviews - Real Estate Agent · Memphis · Member since 2026 · 606 posts · 353 votes6mo
I’d be careful about treating this as a tenant-to-tenant issue — it’s really a lease enforcement and verification issue on your end.
If occupancy impacts how utilities are allocated, then it needs to be handled as part of your standard process, not based on one tenant’s claim.
The cleanest way to approach it is:
• Review what your current lease says about occupancy limits and notification requirements
• Do a routine inspection or walkthrough (framed as standard, not reactive)
• Verify occupancy based on what you observe and documentThat keeps it objective and avoids putting one tenant in the middle of it.
On the structure side, moving to a flat utility fee will simplify things operationally, but it also removes some of the variability protection. If occupancy changes and your rate is fixed, you’re the one absorbing that difference.
Some owners handle this by:
• Setting a base utility fee tied to assumed occupancy
• Including a clause that allows adjustment if occupancy changesTransparency isn’t really the issue here — it’s having a structure that accounts for changes without needing to rely on tenant feedback.
Going forward, tightening occupancy terms and having a clear verification process usually prevents this from coming up again.
- 6moMatt DingusBusiness MemberReal Estate Agent · Pittsburgh, PA · Member since 2020 · 83 posts · 76 votes
Hey Jason - Yeah I think you could keep this fairly simple especially if you're renewing the leases currently. Have them add everyone to the lease that is occupying the unit and then I would conduct some maintenance walk throughs to get a sense of what's going on there to see if it all adds up.
RealtyCo - Matt Dingus Pittsburgh REI535 Reviews- New to Real Estate · Pittsburgh, PA · Member since 2025 · 16 posts · 14 votes6mo
@Matt Dingus thank you. The renewal hasn't been signed yet, I've only offered the opportunity at this point. I did send them a copy of the proposed new lease with a breakdown of costs (base rent and each utility). Is there any issue with changing that section before signing? As long as I make them aware of the change, I think this is reasonable.
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