Landlords are 100% responsible for timely payment of utilities
Managing Utilities:
Landlords and Property Managers are 100% responsible for managing and paying utilities. Here's what to know, what to expect, and how Alcove recommends landlords manage their utilities.
Autopay: Setup autopay to ensure consistent timely payments and ongoing service year-round
Paperless Billing: Save the environment and easily export data for better analysis and tracking
Regular Reviews: Make sure to review utility usage on a monthly basis. Doing so can help you quickly identify and resolve issues like water leaks, inefficient appliances, and gas leaks early. If you do see abnormally high usages of a particular service, first reach out to the service provider and request a formal review and check. Then, reach out to your tenants and ask if they are aware of any past or ongoing issues that may be causing this, such as increased use of fans and AC in the summer, toilet bowl constantly running, or a consistently damp part of the yard. Contact the Landlord Partner Support Team should you believe or be aware of purposeful abuse and overuse of a particular utility.
Service Outages: Whether due to planned maintenance, weather, or freak accident utility outages happen from time to time. Most, if not all, utility companies these days have a dedicated outages webpage and will send out emails and texts to notify of planned or recent outages and issues. Another useful site Is The Service Down? which provides real-time status updates on outages and problems for a large number of service providers.
Utilities Overages:
Check out our article on Utility Overages FAQ
Late Payments and Shut-Offs Mid-Lease:
As previously stated, landlords are responsible for consistent and timely payments. Landlords will be deemed failure to maintain the property if one or more utilities are shut-off due to failure to pay. Landlords are responsible for all utility recovery costs, as well as any housing and lodging costs for tenants during this time. Should this occur, Alcove may jump in to assist. Landlords are accountable for all time and material costs Alcove accrues to resolve utility loss for tenants plus a 25% service fee.