Why do I sometimes see places for rent that include utilities?

I've seen some properties for rent where bills are like, gas/ electricity bills are paid by the landlord. Is it for tax reasons?

 

It is because the LL is too tight to put water efficient taps or have separately metered premises ie may not be a legal unit putting the occupant at risk eg. lack of fire separation.

 

I know an old unit block in Canley Vale where the (gas) hot water is paid by strata. Tenants of the block pay zip for their hot water.

There are two fat old boilers in a room on ground level that heat the water for the whole block.

I walked into the room once and I could barely put my arms around the boilers, they were so big. And the smell, you wouldn't want to light up a cigarette in there, very gassy.

 

An apartment I manage in the city we include electricity just because its easier. You see, the ***** who built the building put the electrical meters on the 2nd floor and you can only get to that floor if you have a swipe card - therefore electricity company can never get in to flick the meter. So we kept it in the owners name and charge higher rents.

 

I'm sure that the two old lady owners were very nice people even if they didn't wash and had a poor diet.

 

Oh I see thanks always wondered about that!

 

Hard to say, it's quite popular overseas to include utilities.

 

Including outgoings encourages tenants to leave the air conditioning running 24/7 with heaters or water leaks unattended etc as they're not paying for these.

@fullylucky will concur.

 

It can also be an incentive to attract tenants in poor rental markets. It's risky though as you're essentially giving the tenants unlimited access to power and water at a fixed cost!

 

So how does the electricity company charge for usage?

 

Like wounded bulls and going to keep increasing in NSW.

 

One thing I concidered including to attract tenants was NBN connection and wifi router.
A lot of people have trouble sorting out tech stuff, be all setup ready & running with a fixed monthly cost of ~$70pm.

 

They're read electronically / digitally not in person.

SA has this moronic rule where the power provider has to physically in-person flick the switch. Which I guess is fine until you have an old house where the switch board is actually inside, or apartments that need card access.

And you cant really wait there for them either, because 7am to midnight is as good as a timeframe they'll give you.