A video walkthrough and provided clarity will help you complete a utility addendum to be included in your lease agreements.
Legal Disclaimer: Please note that all documents and language provided here are for educational purposes only. Livable is providing neither (i) legal advice regarding legal or regulatory requirements for tenant notice or consent nor (ii) any warranty or representation of any kind with respect to these documents and the language contained therein, including that the documents are suitable for any particular purposes. We strongly recommend that you have your legal team review any document on this page prior to utilizing it in connection with your business or Livable's platform.
Video overview of the Utilities as Rent Addendum:
Important Fields to Complete:
Direct Utilities:
- The fee amount entered here should be applied to a resident account manually as a custom charge if a resident fails to set up the Direct Utilities outlined in Exhibit A into their own account at the start of their agreement. This is designed as a fair estimate of the damages the Landlord will suffer as a result of the Resident's failure.
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Example Scenario: A resident moves into their new apartment on March 1. According to their lease, they need to set up electric service in their name right away, as outlined in "Exhibit A." However, they forget to do this, and the electric bill remains in the property manager’s name.
Since the unit’s electric usage is now billed to the property’s main account, the property manager must pay this bill and spend additional time to figure out the resident's specific charges, apply them to the resident's account, and notify the resident of the amount owed. To cover the extra work and penalty, a "Direct Utilities" fee is added to the resident's account as a fair estimate of the time and cost the property incurs to manage this billing issue.
This fee is designed to remind residents to promptly transfer utilities into their own names, ensuring the property is not left covering resident-specific utility costs.
Allocated Utilities: Not to Exceed Rate
- We suggest disclosing a Not-to-Exceed rate, as this figure will become a part of base rent and will be subject to the same annual increases as rent. This also better protects you from claims that RUBS is an illegal rent increase.
- You can use Livable’s Recovery Calculator to determine a reasonable cap, that allows for rate increases and inflation.
Note: This only applies to certain markets where utilities are part of rent; check with your local ordinances and regulations.
Default in Payment of Allocated Utility Bills
- The fee amount entered here should be greater than or equal to the indicated Late Fee amount that was set during the property setup and can be adjusted under Edit Property Details in Livable Pro.
Exhibit A
- We default our common area deduction to a 5% minimum. It can be greater than 5% depending on common area amenity specifics, please explain that to the resident.
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100% occupancy to allocate water, sewer, trash and gas used for the water heater.
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By unit to allocate for common area electricity
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100% square footage for master-metered electricity (outside of CA)
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100% square footage for master-metered gas for in-unit heating (outside of CA)
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The Property Owner/Manager will be the Customer of Record for any utilities that are paid by the owner.
Exhibit B
- Download and complete Exhibit B if you will be using water sub meters at your property.
Note: All of the above depends on market ordinances and local regulations.
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