Lease Dispute Poses Housing Instability Concerns for Aging Residents

For local residents in 55+ apartment buildings, new and unanticipated utility bills might mean their lease is no longer affordable. Because many residents of these communities are seniors who are income-limited, additional expenses mean they could be priced out of their homes.

In Saint Louis Park, a recent Star Tribune article highlights the trend there, and elsewhere, of unbundling rent and utilities in order to separately bill for things like gas and electricity. The landlord will then use a formula called apportionment to bill tenants for their use of water, sewage, and trash utilities.

Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid staff attorney Gary Van Winkle explained “What has happened in the last 15 years or so has been an increase in non-provider billing, where the billing isn’t done by the utility provider, it’s done by either a landlord or a third-party entity hired by the landlord. And this can create all kinds of problems.”

The landlord in St. Louis Park cites utility costs for gas, electric, and water that have each increased by 8–20%, while rent increases remain below 3%. Van Winkle has been training law students on how to handle utility law cases because “people generally don’t have a lot of knowledge about [it.]” He also noted that more local landlords now charge for utilities through a formula or a third party.

“The potential problems are enormous once you remove the billing from the utility provider,” Van Winkle said. Regulations approved by Minnesota’s Public Utilities Commission can be “swept away” when landlords or third-party agents bill for utilities, he said. When tenants can’t pay, Van Winkle says that debt “could be part of the basis for a non-payment eviction.” Read more in These aging Minnesotans could be priced out of their ‘forever homes.’