Question regarding split of gas bill

[Datman07]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Virginia

Hopefully i'm in the right thread. This is in regards to the billing of a gas line in the house that we are renting so posted here. Anyways, we are sharing a gas line (only one meter) with a commercial bakery which operates directly under our house. We were told that payment of the bill would be split between us and the owner of the bakery. We were not told or disclosed of any absolute % splits, so we assumed a 50% split. Since we moved in (Feb), we started getting texts from our landlord that our share of the gas bill for Feb and Mar were around $150 and $160 respectively.

We were a little suspicious since we are very conservative when it comes to gas, due to the rising costs and only have a furnace, water heater, and fireplace which utilize gas. The only appliance that has been used regularly is the water heater, with the heat being turned on sporadically. We do not use the fireplace at all. We asked the landlord for copies of the Feb and Mar bill (we've only recieved the Mar bill to date) and found out that the total for that month was just over $200, meaning that we were being asked to pay around 75% of the monthly charges!!

I called the gas company to get the total of the Feb charges and found it to be the same scenario. I explained the situation of how we were sharing a single line and asked how the usage between the two units could be determined, since the bakery owner seemed to know how to do it. I was told that if we are using only one meter between the two units there is no way to determine how much gas a particular unit used. I also found out that the only name on the account is the owner of the bakery who gets the bill sent directly to her and somehow determines what her portion of the bill is, and then tells our landlord how much we owe.

I find it a little absurd that a commercial bakery is only accounting for $50-$60 a month of a $200+ bill every month considering they are there just about every other day working.

Not sure what the best way is to handle the situation and if anyone out there has any advice would be glad to hear it.

Thanks for taking the time to read this!

 

[FarmerJ]

First are you on a written lease ? and does the Lease say that the gas util are split - apportioned between the two spaces ? does the lease say a percentage? your free to give the gas co your own spaces sq footage and then tell them your on a second floor and would like to have a rough calculation of what a home your units size that is second floor might cost to heat , inc the hot water too on a budget plan. If they give you a number then I would say send to your LL a certified letter telling them you will refuse to pay for gas with out a actual copy of the bill every month from now on. DO also some research to see what your states laws are for meter sharing, (does your city have a ord baring it? ) Your states atty general web page links for consumers may also have information such as requirement for LL to provide copys of bills when asked for them when its a shared meter. ( btw two adults , one hot water tank , NO heat being used gas bill even with gas cooking should not be more than 25.00 a month ) If your a month to month tenant plan on moving to end the problem.

 

[Datman07]

First are you on a written lease ? and does the Lease say that the gas util are split - apportioned between the two spaces ? does the lease say a percentage?

Believe me, at this point we would LOVE to move as this has not been the only problem we've had in such a short time of being there, unfortunately we signed a lyear lease and are locked in until the end of January. But to answer your questions, the lease states that we are responsible for the utility charges that we incur in the unit. There are no disclosure statements regarding a % split with the other unit. It was only mentioned to us verbally by the landlord that we shared the line with the bakery and share to cost (with no mention of an absolute %).

Thank you very much for the starting point!

 

[FarmerJ]

Since your lease says your responsible for util cost then push harder and insist you have a copy of the bill every month in writting and if the LL wont do it then if it was me Id make them take me to court and ask the court to require them to produce the bills. BTW call your city to learn if the unit you rent is recorded as a housing unit w a commercial unit in its licensing / zoning dept.

 

[CSO286]

Is there some way to split the gas off, so that you have your own meter and own bill?

 

[Datman07]

Is there some way to split the gas off, so that you have your own meter and own bill?

I did ask the gas company about that and it would be costly as we would have to contract the gas company to come and install a second line and meter to the house. This would require permits, etc. As a renter with a 1 yr lease, that's not my cost to incur.

 

[Datman07]

Since we are sharing the expenses, should we send a request to the bakery owner (who currently has sole access to the account) to have our names added to the account as well?

Seems like we should be on there since we are incuring charges on the account and paying to the account. Plus, in my mind, would also help build a case if we were denied access to the account.....thoughts?

 

[xylene]

"Told" - told is not a written agreement

Here's what I'd do.

I refuse to pay the gas bill.

Your gas service and credit is not on the line. Your landlord is in a real bind - not the other way around. Force his hand - refuse to pay.

Make the baker scream at this stupid arrangement too - since they are ripping you off. They have no incentive to change this. Incentivize them.

Tell the landlord "I don't recieve a gas bill." Slam door.

This situation of having a common utility meter between units when the tenants are expected to pay is in itself ridiculous.

To say, that commercial bakery and a residential unit will share one gas meter.

It isn't written into the lease because that would be an unconscionable lease.

Hence why the "told" BS

It is not you place your place to suck it up because your landlord has to justifiably spend money operating his property (AKA putting in proper and separate gas meters)

DO NOT ADD YOUR NAME TO A GAS ACCOUNT SO LONG AS THERE IS NOT SEPERATE METERING!!! I have no idea why you would want that.

Don't be a hero - don't be 'fair'. You don't have to do what you are told. You only need to honor your written lease contract.

 

[Datman07]

Thanks for the advice...Ok one last question, seems like the consensus is that somebody is definitely trying to get over. I did one final review of the lease and saw the following:

“Landlord reserves the right to use sub-metering or energy allocation equipment, or to allocate utility costs on the basis of ratio utility billing (“RUBs”) as provided in the VRLTA, for the utilities provided by the Landlord. If Landlord chooses to allocate utility costs on the basis of RUBs, Landlord will bill Tenant for an appropriate prorate share of such utility costs, which bill shall be due and payable as additional rent at the first of the next month.”

Now there are a couple of things that stick out to me, for one, our Landlord is NOT providing us with gas service. The gas company did NOT have him as a name on the account. Second, I believe he is relying on the bakery owner to come up with a Ratio Utility Billing (RUBs) formula to determine the split. We were not involved in this in any way and still to this day do not know how they are doing the calculation. This is all I have taken from an email that was forwarded to us by our landlord from the bakery owner:

“178 therms divided into $209.83 = $1.175 per therm
my portion $57.38
yours is $152.45”

This is word for word, so unless a line got omitted or something, this does not constitute a formula for dividing the bill.

I still feel like we should be paying some amount rather than nothing to show that we had every intention of paying our portion in good faith. I also feel like if we went to court, the judge would still hold us liable for 50% of the costs. So I was thinking to send a certified written statement that we will only pay a max of 50% until all billings and reasonable RUB can be provided, as this would have to be shown in court anyways should it go that far.

Am I in the correct way of thinking??

 

[xylene]

Am I in the correct way of thinking??

In my opinion, No.

If you are in the wrong... then you are still in the wrong. Short paying is basically as bad as not paying. Push to shove you would be ordered to pay the difference - just like the whole balance.

If you are in the right - then your are stuck with this lame uncertain bill - you essentially agree this OK 50/50 Is that really the bargain you want? That BAKERY better not be using gas ovens... (and they mostly certainly are) or hot water... or heat. 6 1/2 days a week. How much gas do you think you'll be using all summer when those ovens are going from sun up till close.

 

[Datman07]

Great point! Definitely taken into consideration. I think I may also get in contact with the county housing authority for good measure, especially since the point was brought up that we are being asked to pay for a gas bill that is setup under a commercial account.

Thank you all for the excellent advice!

 

[DeenaCA]

Information on the Virginia Residential Landlord and Tenant Act (VRLTA): http://www.dhcd.virginia.gov/HomelessnesstoHomeownership/PDFs/Landlord_Tenant_Handbook.pdf.

Important note: not all tenancies fall under the VRLTA. First, find out whether yours does. If so, Section 55-226.2 requires that any shared utility arrangement must be "clearly stated in the rental agreement or lease". It also requires the owner to maintain adequate records of the billing system and to allow the tenant to inspect and copy the records.

 

[Datman07]

Information on the Virginia Residential Landlord and Tenant Act (VRLTA): http://www.dhcd.virginia.gov/HomelessnesstoHomeownership/PDFs/Landlord_Tenant_Handbook.pdf.

Important note: not all tenancies fall under the VRLTA. First, find out whether yours does. If so, Section 55-226.2 requires that any shared utility arrangement must be "clearly stated in the rental agreement or lease". It also requires the owner to maintain adequate records of the billing system and to allow the tenant to inspect and copy the records.

The lease does defer to the VRLTA regarding utilities that are provided by the landlord and, according to the lease, he reserves the right to allocate costs based on a resonable formula (RUBs as definited in Section 55-226.2). There are two problems with this:

1. He does not provide gas service to us as I called the gas company myself to try and get some basic info on the account and found out that our landlord's name is NOT even on the account.

2. He has (to date) NOT disclosed any information to us regarding how he is calculating the amount we supposedly owe, as well as not being able to provide us with copies of the monthly bill (have only recieved 1 of 4 bills to date). We suspect this is due to the fact he is not on the account and does not recieve the bills directly.