Utilities Cut Off!!

Hello everyone! I have a quick question about the utilities. Maybe I have great tenants, but I have never had to deal with anyone getting the power cut off to their apartment... ever lol. I have a tenant who moved out on May 31st, and the power to his unit was disconnected back on May 27th. We were completely unaware of this issue until our Main. Sup entered to do a final move out inspection. The power company here has stated to me that I have "no right" to know when their power is being cut off and it is a breach of the tenants’ privacy. I am posting this blind, I haven’t looked over any documentation online, so I am a little in the dark about the legalities. Yet, i do know that I work hand in hand with our water company and their delinquencies, and I also have a very strict taxes and utility clause in my lease agreement. It is a breach to have the power out of their name, or cut off at anytime during their tenancy with us... so how do we not have the right on private property to find out if the power has been shut off to a unit. Maybe I am wrong, but it seems a health hazard and a major issue to be dealt with, and I believe we have the right of notification. Have any of you dealt with this? I am about to research and call Home Office … first time for everything!

It is a problem when a resident has a utility cut off; and for privacy reasons, the utility cannot tell you when it is going to happen. If you have a contact at your utility provider, they may have a back door to include you in the loop. When a utility is turned off for non payment, it makes the unit uninhabitable and, since the resident caused it; they can be held responsible to you. Since the resident is no longer there, I would let it rest for that particular instance; but you may need to have the resident sign a document that allows the utility provider to talk with you for future situations.

Did the utility provider turn power back on in your name so you can do the turn?

This is one of the things that RUBS service can minimize, they bill ALL residents for utilities they are responsible for (usually electric, water, sewer, trash, and gas); they send you a monthly report that tells you who is in arrears, and who is in danger of being turned off. Alternatively, you can pay the utilities and have the residents pay you with their rent, according to how they are billed. They also send you a report for total community usage, which can be useful in measuring conservation methods; but this is for the purpose of you paying a percentage off the top for common areas, the remainder being divided up amonng the residents according to household size.

This is a tough deal. You do not say where you are from and if this can cause damage to the property. If you have a property where it gets cold during the winter, we normally have a revert to owner clause in the developments, and on the single family homes. This way you do not have a pipe freeze and break because they have turned off the power to the heater. The downside is that you have utilities to pay for, however, you have no damage and can cause this back to the renter. Before doing the move out inspection, you just have to verify the turn off date on the utilities. This is not the perfect answer, but it does mitigate any damage. Pam

It doesn't matter WHERE you are... when you have no electicity, you have no heat OR a/c; you cannot power a refrigerator and food will spoil..... This is what makes the unit uninhabitable and your lease should have a clause that addresses the resident's responsibilities in maintaining habitability.

We also have a revert to owner agreement with the local utilities. When we receive our monthly bills we compare it to our current availability and verify move in/out dates to insure we bill the resident if nessesary. Every now and then we will go in to turn a unit and find the power off. In those instances the utility was shut off for non-payment and does not revert back into our name.

That is one of the areas where RUBS can step in.... If you have it set up so that the resident pays them directly, they will notify you in the event that someone is not current on their account; so that you can collect it. I have attached a letter that I used at a property that had that problem (some accounts were delinquent 3 figures or more, but most were less than $20). This problem was well under control when I left. I have never been at a property that used RUBS that had an issue with resident utilities being cut; PLUS in a lot of cases, using RUBS saves everyone involved money. PLUS, many RUBS companies allow your staff to transfer utilities in and out of resident's names online at the time keys are transferred....

In many cases, I have been able to set up a program with an electricity company called a "Continuous Service Agreement". With this agreement, if a tenant moves out or defaults the meter is transferred to the owner's name and the owner is notified. There is an online report that can be accessed daily to identify those who are late and a "trigger" can be set up to notify the owner BEFORE the electricity is cut off.

This program also eliminates the turn off/turn on fees associated with a move out/move in.