Re: Mistakes of a Landlord - Landlord Forum thread 326351

Re: Mistakes of a Landlord by Anonymous on October 26, 2014 @15:32

I'm curious as to how you ensure that the utilities are in the tenant's name before you give the keys to tenant.

Not the 'calling the utility company part,' but the days of the week involved in this new tenancy.

Do you - get lease signed on Wednesday/Thursday, verify utilities Wed/Thurs/Fri, and collect the money (deposit & rent), and give keys one of these days or Fri/Sat/Sun?

The days in between would be for leaving time for utilities to get switched over?

This issue has now gotten me confused. I like my current practice of 'NOT checking that utilities are in new tenant's name.' But now I need to change.

You can't get a lease signed, collect rent and deposit, and give keys all at the same time that you are calling utility companies. So I don't think landlords are calling utility companies as is being said here.

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Re: Mistakes of a Landlord by jannie (IL) on October 26, 2014 @17:25	[ Reply ]

No matter who I rent to I always call the utility company to check to make sure that the tenant has changed the utilities into their name. When we agree that they are the best applicant I tell them that they will need to have the gas/electric, etc switched into their name at the move in date (sometimes the meter is read a day before/after whatever). But I know at the time we sit down to sign the lease that the potential tenant has already contacted the utility. If they haven't there's a problem and no lease is signed.

Re: Mistakes of a Landlord by Monica (Ohio) on October 26, 2014 @23:10	[ Reply ]

That is exactly how I handle that too. I call the utility company to verify they have them transferred into their names before I meet with them to sign a lease.

Re: Mistakes of a Landlord by Shaun on October 27, 2014 @08:16	[ Reply ]

So many times my lease signings are after 4-5pm or on a weekend, so I have the tenant bring a copy of the utility deposit receipt to lease signing.