Anyone that rented an apartment in someones home...

JENNCHRIS Posted: Mar 03, 2005 02:38 PM

Anyone that rented an apartment in someones home...

We have a basement apartment that we are going to be renting and I'm trying to finish the lease agreement...
If the utilities are included, should I put some kind of stipulation as to the amount it is capped at? Just so they don't have every light on all day and all night and the LIPA bill goes crazy??

LuckyMe Posted: Mar 03, 2005 02:43 PM

Re: Anyone that rented an apartment in someones home...

I have never had anyone put that in but if I was a homeowner I could understand your reasoning and would think it was a good idea.

FTRBRIDE Posted: Mar 03, 2005 04:42 PM

Re: Anyone that rented an apartment in someones home...

As a renter, I'd have to say no. FH and I first lived together in a basement apartment (for a very short 6 month period b/c we hated living underground, but that's another story). We only paid rent. If you're concerned about your bills going up that much, why not just make rent $50 more per month than you were planning? It's not really fair to cap it out unless you can prove how much elec. was used by the basement as compared to the rest of the house. Otherwise, who is to say you didn't use more elec. in a given month? JMO

meghanmetz Posted: Mar 03, 2005 05:00 PM

Re: Anyone that rented an apartment in someones home...

Honestly, I wouldn't agree to that. I just moved out of a basement apartment and if there was no way to prove that I used up all that electricity, I wouldn't pay it. I would feel like I was paying because her 10 year old left the lights on, not me.

Our landlord was giving us a hard time because her oil bill was so high. I knew I turned it off everyday when I went to work, and only turned it on when I was at home at night and on the weekends, so I certainly wasn't paying her extra money on top of my agreed upon rent.

I agree you should just up the rent by $X. We also had mostly fluorescent lights, which decreased her bill (or so she thought, I hated them and never used them).

dandj Posted: Mar 03, 2005 05:01 PM

Re: Anyone that rented an apartment in someones home...

We lived in a basement apt. also and all the utilities were included except electric... so we paid our own electric and spent as much as we wanted. If you can do that, I would suggest it, because I don't think I would have agreed to renting if there was a limit on electricity... some months you just use more than others.

btrflygrl Posted: Mar 03, 2005 06:04 PM

Re: Anyone that rented an apartment in someones home...

I lived in private apts. that had utilities included...I was never told about a 'cap'. It's common decency to turn lights out when you're not home....if you notice that your bills are sky high, you can say something to them or make it part of the interview.....you'd expect some consideration in turning lights out, etc.

slwh2005 Posted: Mar 03, 2005 10:28 PM

Re: Anyone that rented an apartment in someones home...

Posted by FTRBRIDE

As a renter, I'd have to say no. FH and I first lived together in a basement apartment (for a very short 6 month period b/c we hated living underground, but that's another story). We only paid rent. If you're concerned about your bills going up that much, why not just make rent $50 more per month than you were planning? It's not really fair to cap it out unless you can prove how much elec. was used by the basement as compared to the rest of the house. Otherwise, who is to say you didn't use more elec. in a given month? JMO

I totally agree. My landlord raises it $50/month in the summer for A/C and I KNOW I don't use my little tiny A/C unit $50 worth, but I have to suck it up. I need the A/C in the top of a cape.

Kel Posted: Mar 03, 2005 11:11 PM

Re: Anyone that rented an apartment in someones home...

We had an idiot landlord when we lived in the downstairs apartment of a house (month-to-month, no contract). A couple of months after we moved in the owner sold .. and the new owner (idiot landlord) swore our rent would not be increased.

Shortly after the idiot moved in, he told us he was raising our rent, because we were just using far too much electricity & water.

Well, the idiot failed to realize, that it wasn't us who caused a jump in the electric & water .. it was his herd of a family that moved in .. he failed to realize that the previous owner was just herself & daughter .. meanwhile idiot moved in about 50 million people with him!!! (After lying to us that it was just him, his expecting wife and mother-in-law).

For the record:
I wouldn't have minded the rent increase so much .. if he hadn't of made of that pathetic excuse for the increase!

One more story showing what an idiot this guy was .. after his family moved in .. the house became invested wtih roaches .. THEY TRIED TO BLAME US!!!!

______________________________

Sorry for the tangent .. JENNCHRIS .. just charge what you think you need to be comfortable. A light being left on all day, all night is not going to cause the LIPA bill to go crazy. Water being left on all day, all night .. now that might be a different story!

cocoa Posted: Mar 04, 2005 05:48 AM

Re: Anyone that rented an apartment in someones home...

Posted by slwh2005

Posted by FTRBRIDE

As a renter, I'd have to say no. FH and I first lived together in a basement apartment (for a very short 6 month period b/c we hated living underground, but that's another story). We only paid rent. If you're concerned about your bills going up that much, why not just make rent $50 more per month than you were planning? It's not really fair to cap it out unless you can prove how much elec. was used by the basement as compared to the rest of the house. Otherwise, who is to say you didn't use more elec. in a given month? JMO

I totally agree. My landlord raises it $50/month in the summer for A/C and I KNOW I don't use my little tiny A/C unit $50 worth, but I have to suck it up. I need the A/C in the top of a cape.

we pay with utilities included, but i'm sure it is more$ than what she originally wanted to charge for rent. but in the summer, she raises is $ b/c of the a/c. but the cap doesn't sound like a good idea. just up your original price and kindly ask them or put it in your lease, to conserve. in our lease is the fact that we need to put our garbage in garbage cans and not to flush feminine products.

MrsJ Posted: Mar 04, 2005 09:49 AM

Re: Anyone that rented an apartment in someones home...

We rent our apartment with untilities included. Our tenants offered to pay the additional electric for their a/c in the summer months, but they hardly ever use it because it doesnt get hot in the apartment. Anyway, we figured out a price we wanted for the apt. and then increased it by $50 to cover electric, water, heat.