Your lease calls out hot water exclusively? I've never heard of a lease saying the landlord covers hot water. Are you sure it doesn't say that it covers water?

Yes, in my lease it has a check next to hot water and next to running water that the landlord pays. But as stated I pay for oil heat which makes the water hot. Also was told landlords in RI are required to provide hot water

Where I live, utilities are split between units based on occupancy and square footage. Your landlord may have an equation where he pays X% of the bill. We also have oil, gas and electric. The gas heats the water. We don’t pay for water, but we do pay for the gas. The way utilities were explained to me is the landlord doesn’t have to pay for heat or hot water, they just have to make it available.

The splitting utilities is called RUBs, ratio utility billing system and it’s only legal bc it’s not explicitly illegal. It’s stupid, and I personally hate it.

Yeah they def are NOT required to pay for anything. Some offer it in the lease as an incentive or amenity but there is no requirement saying they have to pay any utility. If he offered it in the lease as "hot water included in rent" then he is obligated to pay for the hot water. But to start thinking there is some unspoken blanket rule that every landlord must do this is just not correct.

>I have a close friend who is a property manager in the state and she told me the landlord tenant law states that the landlord has to pay for the hot water. I’m just trying to confirm if that is true or not

Your friend is wrong. As a tenant in RI, you should start by reading the RI Landlord Tenant Handbook. This answers almost any question that arises for most tenants. Hot water must be provided for a residence to be habitable, but does not need to be paid by the landlord. I’d need to see the page in question to give a better answer on if the landlord has taken on an obligation to pay for it. Also, are you sure the water heater is oil fired and not electric?

>secondly, he told me that in the lease it states that I have to be signed up for automatic oil refill so I obviously went and re read the lease Top to bottom and it’s not stated anywhere in the lease… So then do I need to be signed up for it? I haven’t said anything to him or made a big deal I’m just simply trying to confirm

If it’s not in the lease you’re not legally obligated to. You are, however, obligated to pay for damages that might occur if you run out of oil and pipes freeze and then burst. Unless you absolutely cannot afford it, sign up for auto delivery. Especially if it’s your first time maintaining a home through the winter. Easy to look at what you burned over a week like last week and think you’re good to go for a bit and then run out during a cold snap.

I wanna have no-cost HotWater

ExtraLong Showers

HotCar washes /rinses

Winter Bird Baths

Trying to figure out the hot water situation. You said the oil heats the water. I’ve never seen a oil fired hot water tank

Is the hot water a SuperStor that the boiler water heats the water? If so, you are paying for to heat the water.

Could the hot water tank be gas fed? Is so, do you have a gas or electric stove? Is the landlord paying the gas bill?

Could the hot water tank be electric? If so, then is the landlord paying the electric bill

In a multifamily unit the landlord is generally required to provide the water itself.

Among other things this is because water service is usually to the house and considered part of the house, not each individual unit.

The way you might have hot water included is if there is a single hot water tank for the entire house or for multiple units. You see this a lot in the houses that a further subdivided into small apartments. Generally speaking this goes along with heat being included though.

If your landlord said he would include hot water in the lease (even as a typo it's a legal document and you could probably get something) you could of course do whatever you can to get him to pay for the oil or some portion of it (I assume you have tankless hot water as part of the furnace) but with this comes looking for a new apartment because it will completely burn your relationship.

The law around hot water is similar to heat the landlord has to provide the means - this means you have working hot water heater. But he is not required to provide the fuel.

For the oil he can't mandate automatic delivery but he can put in there that you are liable for damage (frozen pipes, furnace damage, etc.) If you let the oil run dry. He can suggest that automatic delivery is a good way to avoid this.

My read is that OP has tankless hot water as part of the furnace and thinks they can use this typo/mistake to also get free heat since running the furnace is required for hot water.

My building bills this way too, but to be fair it's far cheaper than getting billed directly. All those extra fees on your utility bills? They don't exist on commercial service...and the rates are lower too. Even with the few guaranteed to be wasteful people in the building increasing the overall bill it's still a good deal.

The only things landlords are required to pay is for sewage if connected to the sewer line and for domestic cold water. If you wanna heat it up that’s on you to pay.

I’d hate this, I’d be judging my neighbors that run their AC at 60, and turn the heat up in the winter 😂

Oil fired water heaters are definitely a thing. A terrible, inefficient, horribly expensive thing, but a thing nonetheless.

Haven’t seen one in awhile but they are out there in RI.

Nope. Landlord is only required to pay if there is no sub-metering.

Sounds like the landlord either made an error on the lease and meant to say “water” was included or your hot water is supplied by an electric water heater separate from the oil boiler. Are you paying for electricity?

Yeah those are really rare. More common is indirect hot water heating off of an oil boiler or a separate electric tank.

Does it say running water or hot water?

Also, you could have electric hot water heater.

Huh? Typically your furnace heats the hot water tank.

Boiler heats the hot water if a SuperStor (or other indirect water heater) is connected, or it’s a combo unit (Navien, Rheem, Rinai). Other that that you can have a gas or electric water heater as a stand alone like the majority of homes

Furnace is hot air.

Yes, I pay for electricity as well

I know the Stove is electric and I pay the electric bill every month as well. There is a big giant oil tank in the basement and a Beckett oil burner and it heats the place and provides the hot water. I am On the first floor and there is a second floor above me she told me she doesn’t have oil up there she has electric heat. So I’m pretty sure I’m paying for the hot water

Lol what I’m literally asking a question because it’s my first place no need to try to twist things thanks

If everything else is fine - I’d advise against making a big deal out of this. It’s your first apartment and your learning it’s expensive living on your own.

There is no law requiring them to pay for hot water, unless it’s the entire house on one boiler. So your “friend” is incorrect.

Sometimes it’s not worth rocking the boat over something like this.

They could have had an electric hot water tank that fed both units at one point, and then went to on demand hot through the boiler. The paperwork might just be old. Some older homes that have been turned into rentals have some crazy things going on. My panel feeds the on-property garage sub panel for example. I worked out a deal with my landlord over this, but technically it's a no-no.

It could also just be a regular old boring error, and only exists for units with electric hot water heaters that are included for some reason, like heat / electricity included units.

Basically, you got on-demand hot through oil, it is what it is.

There is a great landlord tenant hand book for RI (will get you link) but no landlord does not have to provide hot water he has to provide access to hot water. So for simplicity he has to provide an operational/functioning hot water tank you are responsible for the power that heats the water. Depending on system hot water may or may not be attached to hearing system. I have oil heat however my hot water tank uses electricity to heat not oil

That is what I was thinking hot water is separate

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I’m thinking boiler system That heats hot water very common but a pita in summer as have yo run it for hot water

Be glad you not paying for electric heat that is the worse