Garage rental

[awsum02]

We have a house with a heated, insulated garage that we rent out separately.

Here is the dilema. The tennants in the basement & on on the mainfloor are complaining that the utility bill is so high because of the guy using the garage. He fixes vehicles on the side and works approx. 10 hrs per week in there.


We give the house tennants a kickback of 50.00 per month towards utilities, but this apparently is not enough for them. We have no way of monitoring the usuage of the garage because everything is on one meter.

I would REALLY like some help on this matter. If anyone has any ideas or suggestions how to remedy this, I would really appreciate it.(they are driving me crazy!)

Claudia

 

[DaveRhydderch]

QUOTE (awsum02 @ May 23 2008, 11:10 AM) We have a house with a heated, insulated garage that we rent out separately.

Here is the dilema. The tennants in the basement & on on the mainfloor are complaining that the utility bill is so high because of the guy using the garage. He fixes vehicles on the side and works approx. 10 hrs per week in there.


We give the house tennants a kickback of 50.00 per month towards utilities, but this apparently is not enough for them. We have no way of monitoring the usuage of the garage because everything is on one meter.

I would REALLY like some help on this matter. If anyone has any ideas or suggestions how to remedy this, I would really appreciate it.(they are driving me crazy!)

Claudia

Is there a seperate furnance for the garage, or does it only get heated when the furnace from the house clicks on?

 

[awsum02]

QUOTE (DaveRhydderch @ May 23 2008, 01:16 PM) Is there a seperate furnance for the garage, or does it only get heated when the furnace from the house clicks on?
No there is a separate furnace for the garage.

 

[IanSzabo]

Cover the vent in the garage, Bye a propane Heater with a tank. Make sure that the area is vented/ a window or door open a bit.

 

[SamEfford]

What about installing separate meters on the 3 seperate units? Or you could take over the utility payments with the appropiate increase in rent.

 

[FayWong]

QUOTE (SamEfford @ May 25 2008, 10:22 PM) What about installing separate meters on the 3 seperate units? Or you could take over the utility payments with the appropiate increase in rent.
This would be the best solution if it could be done.
If not, when faced with a similar problem I had an electrician come in and measure how much electricity each of the garage tenants tools used. Then we had to look at the hours she was there and add them up. It came to less than $5.00 a month for the electricity and of course her share of the administration charges. Lights and power tools don`t use much, the fridges, stoves, dryers, tvs, are the big use items. Once we had the figures I haven`t heard any more complaints. If the garage tenant is using an electric space heater that is a different problem. I had that happen too. The tenent left it on even when he wasn`t there so his stuff wouldnt freeze. The electrical bill (electricity only-no water) for Feb and March (the bills came together or we would have known sooner) was $796. This was $400. more than expected. That garage tenant has been evicted as not only is the expense ridiculous that was a very serious fire hazard. DO NOT ALLOW ELECTRICAL HEATERS IN THE GARAGE. The propane solution recommended by PLP Contracting is a good idea. But I would have the tenant get his own. If he is paying for the propane it is unlikely he will leave it running unattended. Run this by your insurance company though. It shouldn`t be a problem but it doesn`t hurt to check.

 

[DaveRhydderch]

You should be able to turn off the gas to the garage furnace at the meter (there should be a seperate pipe), so they won`t be able to use the furnace. The problem will be when they try and use the garage in January, they`re going to want heat. Make it very clear they can`t use a space heater and recommend the propane heater.

 

[PLam]

In garage rental agreement, I include a clause which requires the garage tenant to contribute heating/electricity if the tenant of the house complain, the garage tenant need to reimburse the 10% of the utilities bill. Seem to work so far.