Utilities Q

Submitted by kermitlovestitos t3_10nt1aw in boston

My heat bill for a 600 square foot apartment has been $200 and $280 the last 2 months. I keep it on 65 degrees F. At first, with the $200 bill it was coming out super hot and my apartment manager came over to fix it. My last bill was even more after the temp went back down. My apartment manager told me because they can’t turn off the heat, the unpaid bills of other tenants get spread across the building and this might be making it higher. I know the landlord DOES have to keep the heat on, but is it legal for them to pass this cost onto the other tenants? Do I have any recourse here?

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Comments

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hdiggyh t1_j6augyj wrote

That sounds super sketchy to me. Either you pay for your own heat and every unit has its own meter, or it’s included. Haven’t heard of this method before

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felineprincess93 t1_j6aw4zu wrote

Yeah, I'm pretty sure if you don't have your own meter, it's not legal for you to pay for heating (has to be included in rent).

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Quirky_Butterfly_946 t1_j6aul2j wrote

I don't see how this is legal. Are you paying the heat from your own meter? If this is some kind of odd setup where the heat is coming from one meter and everyone is getting billed for their portion ( monthly bill of $1000 divided by # of apts) then you should not be paying for others who do not pay their bills.

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SelfDestructSep2020 t1_j6ba5or wrote

I own a 2,000 sqft condo and neither my electric nor my gas bill are that high, and we keep the house at 68 all day because I work from home. You are getting screwed and "the unpaid bills of other tenants get spread across the building" sounds incredibly illegal.

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BlaXBla t1_j6bgexp wrote

It depends on how the bill is calculated. If each unit is metered separately, you are not responsible for other unpaid bills. But if the meter is combined, then unfortunately it might be the case. Just to give you one example I encountered several years ago, I rent one room in a 3 bedroom house, one of the room mates has financial difficulties and was late for rent, utilities for over a year. We ended up paying the utilities for him, otherwise the utilities will be stopped for the entire house.

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