Caps on Utility Bills for MTR Guests?

[Leon Lee]

Hi, Fellow BPers: 

Need some advice here. Last month, the electricity bill for my 1200 sq ft townhouse (mid-term rental) built in 2002 hit almost $400! When I was replacing the Wi-Fi the other day and discovered a running water pipe behind a wall. Upstairs, the toilet was continuously running – who knows for how long. It's frustrating when tenants don't even bother reporting such issues, especially when they're not paying for utilities. I was pretty taken aback and it got me thinking about possible solutions. What's your take on setting a utility cap in the rental agreement for mid-term rentals? I'm not planning to charge for anything over the cap, but maybe it could be a gentle nudge for tenants to be more mindful about their utility usage. Just some background info: I have about 5 or 6 MTRs now and only a small portion of guests are like that. So, it might not be fair to just raise the rents for everyone. 

Thanks for your input!

Lee

[Clayton Silva]

Definitely not a bad idea at all.  I would check the local landlord/tenant laws to ensure the feasibility of that, but I totally get your frustration.  Had a similar experience with an Airbnb in AZ where our solar went out and we didn't notice until we got a $600 electric bill for AC usage!