Pros and Cons of Bills Included Rent | Landlord Advice

As a landlord, having tenants who pay their rent and bills on time is a must, but having to do this as well as staying on top of your regular landlord duties, like maintaining the property, can be draining. That’s why, in this blog post, we’ll offer you some landlord advice on the pros and cons of bills included rent for your HMO property.

Navigate this article

• What is bills included rent?
• The pros of bills included rent
• The cons of bills included rent
• When is it beneficial to offer bills included rent?
• Bills management service

What is bills included rent? 💡

‘Bills included rent’ means that the property a tenant is renting will have all the necessary utility bills included in the price that they are paying

To be more specific, the cost would cover:

• Rent
• Gas
• Electricity
• Water
• Council Tax

Other utilities such as WiFi and TV license are subject to the landlord’s personal preference, so may or may not be included.

The pros of bills included rent 👍

One big pro of bills included rent is that your property will attract far more interest than properties not offering bills included. Properties that offer bills included are a lot more beneficial to tenants, as it means they don’t need to worry about managing monthly bills. It also makes their monthly costs easier to budget, as their rent and bills will all be paid on the same day

Offering a bundle of rent and bills can make your property stand out in a crowded market. This can boost its appeal, increase demand, help avoid vacancy periods, and ensure a steady rental income for you as a landlord

Bills included in the rent can make for smoother transitions when someone moves out of an HMO property. As all the utility bills will already be in the landlords name the tenants don’t need to worry about changing the account information over to a different tenant

If you are an experienced landlord, you may have already faced the terror of sorting out unpaid bills after a tenant has moved out of your rental property. It’s not fun is it? However, when you are the one in charge of paying the bills for the property, you’ll always have peace of mind that everything is in order and being paid for.

The cons of bills included rent 👎

Offering bills included rent tenancies does create more work for you as the landlord. It will be your responsibility to stay on top of paying for the properties monthly bills, and submitting meter readings, which may become complicated if you have a large portfolio of properties that you manage

There are financial implications when offering bills inclusive rent. If you tenant stops paying rent, not only will you be left without part of your rental income, you’ll also be out of pocket when it comes to paying the bills. To combat this, you should include a clause in the tenancy agreement that places financial liability for any unpaid bills on the tenant.

Listing your property as a bills included has its advantages and disadvantages. However, if you carefully write the tenancy agreement, it is possible to mitigate many of the risks involved when it comes to bills included tenancies.

When is it beneficial to offer bills included rent? 🏡

Rent that includes bills is popular amongst students and people living in HMOs. Gen Z like to spend a little time on tedious tasks as possible, so if they can pay more for someone else to handle the bills for them, they are likely to do so

When students move into a property they will also want to find ways to make their lives easier, and having to organise and deal with multiple different utility accounts can cause unnecessary anxiety on top of their studies. If your property is located in an area that is highly populated with students, having a property that offers bill included will make you stand out.

Bills management service 🏠

If you are still unsure whether or not offering bills included in the rent is the way to go for you as a landlord, why not look into a bills management service instead? Resooma’s bills management service is designed to remove the stress of bill paying from the landlord and the tenants. We bundle all utilities into one monthly payment and split it evenly between housemates. This removes stress from your life as you don’t have to pay for the properties bills, but is also removes stress from the tenants lives as the job of paying bills doesn’t sit with the organised one in the group, they are all responsible for paying their own share. If you are interested in listing your bills included properties with us, please contact us 👉 here 👈