All Forum Posts by: Catie Fihn

Hi!  We have a duplex that is now fully rented.  Upper tenant moved in this weekend, and his lease officially starts tomorrow (11/1).  Lower tenant moves in 11/15.

Both tenants have been made aware that they are responsible for all of their own utilities.  The way our gas is set up, we owners will receive the bill and back-bill the tenants for their shares, which both tenants were very agreeable to.  

As lower tenant has more gas utilities and more people living in her unit than the upper tenant does, the lower tenant is aware she will pay 60% of the gas bill, and has signed an addendum verifying this.

I have not yet had the upper tenant sign an addendum verifying he will pay 40% of the gas bill.  Can I have the upper tenant sign this addendum after his lease has started?  That's really all I'm asking.  Again, he knows he's responsible for all of his utilities, but I'd like to put it in writing that he will owe 40% of the gas, just so he is clear on how his portion of the bill will be calculated.  Can you have a tenant sign such an addendum after the lease has started?

Good idea about the water.  I haven't asked the gas company what typical bills have been, but I certainly can.  The place was vacant for quite some time before we bought it, so I'm not sure how far back they can go.  Thanks!

Hello!  We just bought a duplex, which has separate meters for electricity.  That's easy enough for the tenants to put their bills in their own names.  But the gas and water need to stay in our name as landlords (per the water and gas companies), and we will bill those amounts back to the tenants.

We have 1 single man who has 1 child who will live with him 1/2 time in the upper level, and we have 1 single woman who has 3 children who will live with her 1/2 time in the lower level.

I don't know if this makes it easier or more complicated, but our upper level may not have any gas services at all (husband is going to the property tomorrow to see if upper water heater is gas or electric, and whether washer/dryer in each unit are gas or electric). Upper level stove is electric and upper level heat is electric. So if anything at all, our upper level tenant would only have gas water heating, and gas washer/dryer.

Lower level has electric stove, gas heat, and we are also checking the water heater and washer/dryer for gas vs electric. How on earth would I split up the gas bill?!?

Water needs to stay under our name, so I can split that 50/50.  But in doing this, do I factor in the upper unit will have 2 tenants (1 adult, 1 child) and the lower unit will have 4 tenants (1 adult, 3 children)?  I don't want to drive myself nuts on this (I think I already have, lol) but I do want to be fair to my tenants and charge them their appropriate amounts.

Here's another question about this!  We now know that our duplex has separate meters for electricity, but the gas and water need to stay in our name as landlords (per the water and gas companies), and we bill those amounts back to the tenants.

We have 1 single man who has 1 child who will live with him 1/2 time in the upper level, and we have 1 single woman who has 3 children will will live with her 1/2 time in the lower level.  

I don't know if this makes it easier or more complicated, but our upper level may not have any gas services at all (husband is going to the property tomorrow to see if water heater is gas or electric).  Upper level stove is electric and upper level heat is electric.  So if anything at all, our upper level tenant would only have gas water heating, and no other gas.  

Lower level has electric stove, gas heat, and we are also checking the water heater for gas vs electric.  How on earth would I split up the gas bill?!?  

Water needs to stay under our name, so I can do historical averages and come up with a flat fee for each tenant, unless anyone has a better idea.  But in doing this, do I factor in the upper unit will have 2 tenants (1 adult, 1 child) and the lower unit will have 4 tenants (1 adult, 3 children)?

Thank you again, Marcus!

We have a lease template through our apartments.com account. I hear a lot of fellow landlords getting their leases through Wisconsin Legal Blanks. Is a lease through apartments.com just as good?

Good points. I didn’t think about all of the arguments that could come from splitting. I think you’re right that building it into the rent is going to be way easier! 

Thanks, Marcus - I appreciate it!  We have already solidified the monthly rent amount with each tenant. Is it easy enough, then, for me to go back to the tenants and say that the rent will be X amount higher when we factor in the utilities, and explain how the utilities will be charged? They are already aware that they will be responsible for utilities.

Also, we are already set up in apartments.com and seem to have a pretty comprehensive lease in that system (we even had a lawyer review it). Is an apartments.com lease just as good? Or would there be more advantages to using Wisconsin Legal Blank?

Hi!  Newbie landlord in Wisconsin here.  My husband and I are currently getting tenants in for our first duplex.  The duplex currently only has 1 meter for utilities.  

How do I go about charging the tenants for their electricity and gas?  We pretty much have our tenants in place.  The upper unit will be occupied by 3 young adults, and the lower unit will be occupied by 1 adult and her 4 children.  Of note, I believe the lower unit will mostly be 1 adult and 2 of her children, and the other 2 children will only be there part-time.

Do I just keep the electricity/gas in our name and have the tenants reimburse us each month?  If so, do I just email a copy of the utilities to all tenants each month and have them split the bill 50/50 (upper tenants pay 50% of the bill and lower tenants pay 50% of the bill)?

We will likely have an additional meter installed at the property in the near future so that each unit will have its own meter, but until then, I need something concrete in their leases to identify how the utilities will be paid.  And once we have the additional meter installed, I assume I would need to send an addendum to each tenant to sign, indicating the change in utility billing?