Utilities are in my name. A tenant moved out before the end of their lease. Do they owe utilities? : ezLandlordForms

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Utilities are in my name. A tenant moved out before the end of their lease. Do they owe utilities?

Dylan H

started a topic over 1 year ago

I leased out a room in my primary residence (in Oregon). Since I'm living in the house, the utilities are in my name, not his.

He moved out nearly 2 months before the end of his lease (which ends July 31).

He paid rent/utilities for June, but when I notified him today of utility bill amounts for July (the final utility bills), which wouldn't be due until the end of July, he complained, saying "paying utilities that I did not use does not seem okay."

Most of the advice/laws I've been able to find online are regarding when utilities are in the tenant's name, and say that while they still have to pay rent, they can shut off their utilities if they move out early. I haven't been able to find my specific situation anywhere.

I've read over the language in his lease, and I believe as written, he's still required to pay utilities, since his utility agreement is with me, and the utilities are in my name. But I can't really find anything outside of the lease wording that corroborates this.

Here are a few clauses from the lease:

In the Residential Lease Agreement section under Rent: "All additional charges, costs and fees set forth throughout this Lease Agreement, are considered to be additional rent"
In the Residential Lease Agreement section under Utilities & Services: "the Landlord will bill Tenant for the following utilities and services in addition to the rent: Water, Internet, Security, Trash and Recycling, and Electricity and Gas."
In the Roommate Lease Addendum section under Utilities: "Roommates agree to collectively pay for the following Utilities and Services: Cable TV, Internet, Electricity, Water, Gas, Garbage, Recycling, and Security. These utilities will be paid equally among the Roommates."
In the Roommate Lease Addendum section under Departing Roommates: "Roommates who move out while this Agreement is in effect will continue to have financial responsibility under the Lease Agreement unless the Landlord releases them from this responsibility in writing or unless they are replaced by a replacement Roommate approved by Landlord in writing."
In the Shared Utilities Disclosure, under Method for Calculating Utility Charges, it says "The following method is being used to calculate utility charges among Tenants/owner: even split amongst all people living at residence (including owner)"

While the wording in #5 does say living at residence, he's still under the lease and still has his keys, etc., and other than verbally letting me know his intent to move out, hasn't asked to be released from anything in the lease. All the other wording seems to indicate to me he still has to pay utilities.

This is further complicated by the fact we're friends; I don't want to implode the friendship over this (let alone take him to court over a few hundred dollars), but I feel like there's a reasonable argument based on the lease that he should still be paying the utilities for the last month of his lease even if he's not here. Frankly, it feels kind shitty of him to try and wiggle out of it at this point, and if he had an objection to paying the remaining month's utilities, he should have said something before he moved his belongings out early. Friends aren't supposed to try and stiff each other, and I've been counting on this income.

Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you!