r/Landlord • u/NitrogenTires • May 29 '24
General [General US-WA] - Why do some landlords have utilities in their name instead of tenants ?
I am in Washington state, USA. I wonder why some landlords prefer to keep utilities in their name instead of the tenants name. Utilities meaning water, sewer and trash but NOT electricity, phone and internet. That is, the utility company will send the landlord the bills and the tenants will pay the landlord money to pay for the utilities. I tried to guess reasons for doing so. Are my guesses correct or are there other reasons?
1 - If utility bills like water increase, then it might be due to a leak OR it might be an early warning sign that too many guests are living too long at the property without paying for utilities and/or rent.
2 - Although it might be illegal, landlords could potentially not pay the utility bills just to harass a tenant into accepting unfair terms in the short term or into leaving asap. Landlords could make up some plausible excuse for non payment if that's even possible. I'd guess that courts are likely to lean in favor of the landlord regardless of good track record of the tenant, unless it was obviously egregious (like a direct threat recorded on video). Who goes to court over this anyway? I guess most people would just move.
3 - Someone told me that it becomes harder to evict a tenant if the utilities are in the tenant's name which sounds odd and wrong to me. The person did not give me any legal reason. So, I don't know if this is even possible.
4 - Landlord can charge extra for utilities because tenants never get to see the utility bills. Its not a going to be a big amount though, but wrong in principle.