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Must Pay Utilities As Lease Agreement

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  • 05-31-2008, 03:38 PM
    RyoSaeba
    Must Pay Utilities As Lease Agreement
    My question involves landlord-tenant law in the State of California:

    I am the tenant and have signed an annual lease contract. The contract sets and locks the monthly payments amount for rent. My leasing contract also states that all utilities are considered additional rent. It appears that my Water bills are being sent to be via the same Apt managers offices but under a different company name. The amount of water bill is slightly different each month which varies within $40.00. The water bill does not state a meter consumption reading to how much each apartment dwelling is using. This allows the water bill amount to vary from month to month.

    Isn't this in violation of rent increase, breaking the contract, if "all utilities are considered additional rent"? If a water bill is missed, a warning is sent to the tenant which states: This is a violation of lease agreement which states that "All utilities are considered additional rent. You could be in in jeopardy for your ability to retain your apartment and damage your credit history if not addressed."
  • 05-31-2008, 04:00 PM
    panther10758
    Re: Must Pay Utilities As Lease Agreement
    You can find help with California rental regulations here
  • 05-31-2008, 05:16 PM
    wally
    Re: Must Pay Utilities As Lease Agreement
    This isn't a rent increase. You agreed to be responsible for the utilities. The landlord wrote the lease to treat the utilities as rent so you could be evicted for non-payment of the utilities or rent. As a landlord, would you want to keep a tenant that paid his rent but not his utilities?
  • 05-31-2008, 09:31 PM
    RyoSaeba
    Re: Must Pay Utilities As Lease Agreement
    The water utility has always been paid. It used to be a fixed amount until recently.

    However since the water utility is being managed by the same authorities as the leasing company (but under a different name) it opens the door for them to charge as they wish as it is not metered.

    If the utilities companies was a third party, unaffiliated with the leasing company, I wouldn't mind at all paying the metered rate.

    To answer the previous responders' question, if I was the landlord wouldn't I want the tenant to pay their utility's bills? Yes however, if the tenant didn't want cable TV, or wanted to have water turned off for a month, that should be the tenant's choice. For example, if the tenant wanted to go on an extended vacation, and didn't need water or electricity in the dwellings.

    Isn't that acceptable?
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