Читать книгу Landlording in Canada - Michael Drouillard - Страница 28
Some tenants might file a claim against you in court or arbitration demanding that they be allowed to avoid paying the portion of the utility bill that they agreed to pay in the lease.
ОглавлениеThe residential tenancy laws of most provinces contain provisions that protect tenants from having to pay for utilities that they don’t use. If your tenant believes that you overuse utilities, he or she could file a claim against you on the basis that the utility split arrangement forces him or her to subsidize your utility usage. There is often good cause for this kind of protection. If you subsequently installed a Jacuzzi tub or several window air conditioners for your own use and the bill increases by $100 per month, since the tenant pays 50 percent of all utilities, the tenant is being unfairly forced to pay for a service he or she doesn’t use.
Even if the claim against you is unsuccessful, what about the time and energy spent defending yourself? What about the negative feelings? You do not want to be on bad terms with people who live under your own roof!
How could you avoid all these problems? Calculate an estimate of utility usage by the secondary suite for the year and roll the average monthly cost into the rent. In other words, if you plan to rent the suite for $700 and estimate that your tenant will pay $75 per month for utilities on average, offer the suite at $775 with heat and electricity included. This way your prospective tenants will know up front where they stand with utilities.
This method is not without disadvantages. Because the tenant will not see the utility bill each month, there is a risk he or she will use utilities excessively or carelessly.
Try reducing this risk by taking pre-emptive measures, such as serving a notice reminding the tenant that the rent includes a reasonable use of utilities, but that substantial overuse could result in a rent increase. See sample letter on the downloadable forms kit that came with this book. Also, your lease agreement should have a clause prohibiting the tenant from installing any other major appliances or “energy eaters” such as second fridges without the express permission of the landlord.
