A Question About Apartment Rentals

[jackieforthedems]

Hi! Thought someone on here may be able to answer my question. I have lived in an apartment complex since 2001, and have never had to pay for water, sewer and trash before. Suddenly, this last Saturday while signing my new 1 year lease, I was told that it is now my responsibility to pay a monthly trash-water/sewer bill that will fluctuate from month to month in amount. There are no individual water meters, etc... in the apartments here, and how can this be? I felt really pressured to sign the new lease because I wasn't planning to move, but they never said a thing to me prior to the lease signing about this new plan to bill everyone for trash and water, etc... Is this something new going on in the Twin Cities, is it legal, and who would I call to get an answer on this - the Attorney General or who? It just doesn't seem right or fair, and that's why I had chosen to live in an apartment - to get out of bills like this. I feel like I should own my apartment for having to pay these bills. It's like having to pay an association fee in a condo or town house. Thanks for all replies.

[deadmessengers]

1. don't know if it's legal or not.

...but it's a shitty business practice, and probably a BIG mistake. He may have surprised you with this one, but now word will get around among the tenants, and people will be ready to tell him to shove his water bill up his ass when their leases are up. Vacancy related costs such as lost rent and apartment reconditioning eat up a landlord's profits more than anything else, so that'll hurt him more than not having to pay a water bill would. He'd have been better off just raising the rent and passing the charge on to you that way - tenants expect rent increases at the end of their leases.

[catchthefever]

2. Just guessing...

I think you'll be charged an average for the entire complex. So, if your neighbor likes taking 30 minute showers twice daily, and you take 5 minute showers once daily, you will help carry your neighbors burden.

[delete_bush]

3. Nothing illegal about this, it's happening

everywhere. In the past, these expenses were not that great, so apartments were not individually metered. As costs continue to increase, apartment owners, particularly in the larger, corporate owned complexes, decide to have the tenants pay for these services.

Often they contract with companies who specialize in utility billing services to handle this. The usual way of handling this is to allocate on a square footage basis.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

4. My former apartment complex in Portland started doing this

after years of including utilities in the rent.

We didn't have individual meters either, so they just had an outside company levey a standard percentage of the total charges for the building on each tenant, based on the number of bedrooms in their apartment. In other words, a two-bedroom apartment was charged twice as much as a one-bedroom apartment. The problem was that some of the two-bedroom apartments were occupied by one person while some of the one-bedroom apartments were occupied by two people. Also, the utility bills fluctuated so much from month to month--totally irrespective of what the individual tenant did--that the tenants finally rebelled.

The managers allowed us to switch back to "utilities included in the rent" as our leases came up for renewal, but the damn outside company kept billing us for months afterwards, even though our manager kept calling them to tell them who was still on the program and who wasn't.

[jackieforthedems]

5. Thanks, Everyone Who Replied

Yes, this new plan will sure be interesting - especially, when you start to think about the pool, the jacuzzi, and the water sprinklers, not to mention what the housekeeping and maintenance crews use as well. I know when my lease expires in September 2005, they can shove their place! I'll definitely be a home owner and know that all expenses incurred will really be mine. Thanks to all who responded! I appreciate your replies.

[Thegonagle]

6. Looks like it's legal as long as they follow the guidelines.

Read up:

http://www.revisor.leg.state.mn.us/stats/504B/215.html

I previously thought that this was illegal, but I guess I was wrong.

EDIT: It looks like they might not be allowed to hit you up until your current lease is up. I'm not sure, because I'm busy doing other things at the moment, and was merely skimming the statute.

Good luck.

[jackieforthedems]

7. Yeah, Guess It Is Legal

and it apparently has something to do with the Bush environmental bill/law to help conserve water, etc... They think if you are forced to pay for it, that you'll use less of it. Actually, I had heard something else regarding water on PBS about 2 months ago, a documentary called, "Thirst" - it has something to do with the World Bank and how alot of business is profiting by selling water. Guess that bottled water we all buy may have been some sort of a test?!?