Become landlord but keep bills in my name

Esho

You need to ensure the tenants you rent to are payers - law abiding types who believe in work and paying their way.
You don't actually have to pay rent to a landlord like you in Ireland- it's the law- unless you want to.

The only way to get bad tenants out quickly is to send the lads round. Which is illegal.

handlemaster

Firblog wrote: »

I don't know if I have explained this right

I'm talking about me paying the bills while tenants are in situ. I get a bill and pass it onto the tenants. If they stop paying the rent or the bills then I phone up the ESB / Gas company and say I'm not paying that last bill or any more bills so cut off supply. When they cut the supplies the tenants move out, I pay the bills again and everything is good.

I'd rather be caught for one/two months rent & bills than 12+ months rent.

How bad this idea is cannot be overstated. DONT leave bills in your own name when renting out a property.

Draco

Firblog wrote: »

I wouldn't be switching them off, that'd be the gas and electric companies doing it.

This is akin to claiming you didn't kill someone you shot, it was the trauma from the bullet that did it so you're not responsible.

You're wasting your time trying to find a loophole here. Your efforts would be better spent trying to vet tenants and if that's too onerous for you or you're too worried about the risk of being a landlord then you're better off selling up.

Aye Bosun

The RTB are going to have a field day with this! They do not take kindly to either landlord or tenant skirting the regulations and will issue massive fines when the case comes to their court.

The regs are clearly outlined with both tenant and landlord responsibilities, grounds for eviction etc. Cutting of a energy will be seen a big no no and massive fines. It should also be noted that if a disable person was living in the house and registered this with energy company, they are not allowed turn off supply.

The tenant can also just ring the energy company with a meter reading, close off your account and open one in their name, all they need for this a lease to prove residence and there is nothing you can do about that.

I’ve done this myself once when bills were charged to the landlord, and we paid him. Bills were massive and I knew he was adding to them so I just closed his account and opened my own with the same company. Funnily my bills went down by 1/3 after that. Landlord complained for a while but there was nothing he could do about it. The bills remained in my name till I moved 3 years later.

crossmolinalad

Firblog wrote: »

They can choose whatever supplier they want, just my name will be on the account..

Not working at all
had a landlord in the past who thought to be smart to keep it in his own name but didn't work
I moved in an the first thing i did is putting the whole lot myself in my name
I watt to choose the cheapest one and i want to use what i want , its not the business of a landlord to know about that

Firblog

Peregrinus wrote: »

If your strategy depends on not being held responsible for the forseeable and intended consequences of your actions, your strategy is going to fail. If your actions result in the tenants' utilities being cut off, then you are responsible for the tenants' utilities being cut off. Whether that is the result of you not paying the bills, or you telling the utility company that you won't be paying the bills, the outcome is the same; you have caused the tenants' utilities to be cut off.

Let me get this right, if the tenant don't pay their Electric bill and get cut off thats ok, but if they don't pay me and the electric gets cut off thats not ok? So if I have no money in the business account to pay the bills because the tenant wasn't paying the rent, its my fault? not theirs? very strange.

Caranica

Firblog wrote: »

Let me get this right, if the tenant don't pay their Electric bill and get cut off thats ok, but if they don't pay me and the electric gets cut off thats not ok? So if I have no money in the business account to pay the bills because the tenant wasn't paying the rent, its my fault? not theirs? very strange.

Strange but it's how it is. I've already told you that tenants are heavily protected.

runawaybishop

Firblog wrote: »

Let me get this right, if the tenant don't pay their Electric bill and get cut off thats ok, but if they don't pay me and the electric gets cut off thats not ok? So if I have no money in the business account to pay the bills because the tenant wasn't paying the rent, its my fault? not theirs? very strange.

Welcome to the world of being a landlord.

Get a family member to move in and then use the rent a room scheme. Or ask for a big deposit.

Graham

runawaybishop wrote: »

Welcome to the world of being a landlord.

I don't know many landlords daft enough to keep the utilities in their name.

I don't know any that thinks it's a magical opt-out from the residential tenancies act.

km991148

Firblog wrote: »

Let me get this right, if the tenant don't pay their Electric bill and get cut off thats ok, but if they don't pay me and the electric gets cut off thats not ok? So if I have no money in the business account to pay the bills because the tenant wasn't paying the rent, its my fault? not theirs? very strange.

But that's not the only reason you shouldn't do this - whatever way you cut it you are opening yourself up to all sorts of legal issues with the tenancy, debt issues with other people running up debts in your name and potential revenue issues by reselling/giving benefits away. That's ignoring the fact that you are not thinking about the practicalities of getting supply disconnected (they might threaten you with it when you don't pay but it actually takes months for the supply to actually be cut).

All to what end? In case you don't do enough due diligence up front and end up with a bad tenant?

Why are you so persistent with taking this dangerous course of action? It makes me wonder what else you will try - I am not having a go here - its just sounds dangerous for you to be running your business like this as it shows you are not really thinking about the risks.

runawaybishop

Graham wrote: »

I don't know many landlords daft enough to keep the utilities in their name.

I don't know any that thinks it's a magical opt-out from the residential tenancies act.

Your response seems to have nothing to do with what I posted?

Graham

runawaybishop wrote: »

Your response seems to have nothing to do with what I posted?

the world of a landlord doesn't generally include claiming responsibility for a tenants utility bills.

runawaybishop

Graham wrote: »

the world of a landlord doesn't generally include claiming responsibility for a tenants utility bills.

So if I have no money in the business account to pay the bills because the tenant wasn't paying the rent, its my fault? not theirs? very strange.

^^ I was responding to that. He's the landlord, hes responsible. Maybe you took me up wrong.

Graham

runawaybishop wrote: »

^^ I was responding to that. He's the landlord, hes responsible. Maybe you took me up wrong.

He's only responsible if he's daft enough to have the utility bills in his name in the first place.

If the tenant doesn't pay their own ESB bill and gets disconnected, that's fine.

runawaybishop

Graham wrote: »

He's only responsible if he's daft enough to have the utility bills in his name in the first place.

If the tenant doesn't pay their own ESB bill and gets disconnected, that's fine.

As I said previously.

runawaybishop wrote: »

It's against the law and the tenant will take you to the cleaners. No way two ways about it.

Graces7

Aye Bosun wrote: »

The RTB are going to have a field day with this! They do not take kindly to either landlord or tenant skirting the regulations and will issue massive fines when the case comes to their court.

The regs are clearly outlined with both tenant and landlord responsibilities, grounds for eviction etc. Cutting of a energy will be seen a big no no and massive fines. It should also be noted that if a disable person was living in the house and registered this with energy company, they are not allowed turn off supply.

The tenant can also just ring the energy company with a meter reading, close off your account and open one in their name, all they need for this a lease to prove residence and there is nothing you can do about that.

I’ve done this myself once when bills were charged to the landlord, and we paid him. Bills were massive and I knew he was adding to them so I just closed his account and opened my own with the same company. Funnily my bills went down by 1/3 after that. Landlord complained for a while but there was nothing he could do about it. The bills remained in my name till I moved 3 years later.

Been there, done that!

Firblog

I was very tempted to keep posting more tweaks on the idea just for the craic, but think I'll give it up as a bad plan given that I'm detecting a slight majority of posters are advising against it

Thank you all for your sage advice, much appreciated

yamaha4life

Sorry to jump on this thread, I noticed that it was stated that tenants get to choose supplier and im interested in that as im a tenant and got no choice and its not in my name.

The landlord basically forced a pay as you go meter on me and to add insult to injury there was an outstanding amount tagged onto it.

Also never got a top up card so its very awkward to go into the shop and try rattling off a big long number everytime it needs topping up.

Firblog

Firblog wrote: »

I don't know if I have explained this right

I'm talking about me paying the bills while tenants are in situ. I get a bill and pass it onto the tenants. If they stop paying the rent or the bills then I phone up the ESB / Gas company and say I'm not paying that last bill or any more bills so cut off supply. When they cut the supplies the tenants move out, I pay the bills again and everything is good.

I'd rather be caught for one/two months rent & bills than 12+ months rent.

You explained fine and people have also explained why it's a terrible, terrible idea

Firblog

Firblog wrote: »

Let me get this right, if the tenant don't pay their Electric bill and get cut off thats ok, but if they don't pay me and the electric gets cut off thats not ok? So if I have no money in the business account to pay the bills because the tenant wasn't paying the rent, its my fault? not theirs? very strange.

Is the account connected to a limited company? A company in good standing?

Graham

Firblog wrote: »

I was very tempted to keep posting more tweaks on the idea just for the craic, but think I'll give it up as a bad plan given that I'm detecting a slight majority of posters are advising against it

Mod Note

On that wise note, thread closed.