All Forum Posts by: Carlos Enriquez

Yes, the property was built in 1991 so utilities are separately metered.

Lease says tenants pay utilities, so my PM will keep track with a duplicate bill.

Gas and electric aren't lienable in WA so if they don't pay, they don't get service and I don't have to be concerned about it.

Thanks all.

With that authorization, I would go ahead.  Do you have it in writing?

Find out what disaster occurred there and look up EDC before you go in.  It may be nothing, and as the new owner, you weren't liable for what "occurred", but I would be curious.

I live in California and I purchased a duplex in WA State and closed on 7/24/2015.  I had a PM already contracted to take over the same day, which he did go over and talk to the two tenants.

Last week, on 9/16, 2015, I received a letter from the utilities that stated that in WA State, the owner is responsible for water/sewer/trash and that my tenants are delinquent, and it is a lienable offense!  I was very surprised, since I had not heard about this and my PM never mentioned it.  The utilities said that the PM never registered in July as my PM and that if he had, he would have received a duplicate bill and could have been on top of it, but that's a different story.  PM's need to register themselves as an owner's PM to be able to deal with utilities directly.

Since the trash is a fixed amount, I think that I will add it to the monthly rent once the leases expire.  It's only $20 a month, and a PM will get the duplicate bill, not a tenant.  Twenty dollars more on top of the rent amount won't seem exorbitant.

But water/sewer is where I'm trying to decide if to have tenants pay directly with a "tenant" bill, or if I should charge an average on top of the rent?  With the base fee, step1, step2, step3, along with sewer base and steps, the charges are always different and confusing, so it will be hard to get an average.  Most likely I'll have the PM monitor the duplicate bills to see that they are kept up with, and try to collect when not paid, because I don't want to get stuck paying them when the tenants ignore it.

Is it grounds for eviction when the lease stipulates that tenants are responsible for paying utilities?

What do you Washington State landlords do about this?

In my contract with my PM, I have the option to choose my own handyman or use his after he informs me of a problem.  I stipulated that I get notified and I will get a bid before any repairs are done.

Find your own source as a back up and maintain contact with them.

As far as the work already done, request a discount.  I once did and the PM actually offered a refund if I wasn't satisfied, but I declined it.  That's when I changed the rules to what they are now.

Is it possible to give him official notice that he is creating a nuisance?  I read here somewhere that it's in the same category as loud music (even if before curfew), but not sure.

I would go with two too.

The fact that applicant one has a negative tenant/landlord history already places them as a lower priority.

Craigslist, your nearest rental agencies, word of mouth, newspaper, flyers, and hand out cards to people you meet.

No, do not stop!

Keep going until it's over.  If you stop the eviction process early, and he was fooling you by moving things, you'll have to start all over again.

It's not over until it's over.

Are you absolutely sure he is who the references and previous landlord think you are asking about?  You might send them a photo of the applicant to confirm visually.

With all the ID theft going on these days, one has to wonder.  In my work, I've had people show up with fake SS#'s and IDs.

If he's legit, he may be under a time constraint.  I've been there too!