Apartment complex client has 15 vacant units out of 200. The master meter bill covers all units including the vacant ones. The landlord has been allocating utility costs across all 200 units including the vacant ones, which means the occupied tenants are subsidizing the empty units' utility costs. Should the landlord absorb the vacant unit costs or is it OK to spread them across occupied tenants?
Vacant unit charges — who pays?
This depends entirely on the lease language. Some leases explicitly state that vacant unit costs are the landlord's responsibility. Others allow the landlord to spread all costs across occupied units. And some are silent on the issue, which creates a gray area. Pull the lease and look for language about vacancy allocation. If the lease says costs are allocated "among occupied units," the landlord may be correct. If it says "among all units," then vacant units should be included in the denominator which reduces each tenant's share.
Phil's right — it's a lease interpretation question. But from a practical standpoint, a vacant unit still draws some electricity — refrigerator, minimal HVAC to prevent pipe freezing, hallway circuits. The utility cost of a vacant unit is much less than an occupied one but it's not zero. Whatever the lease says, the allocation should reflect reality. If the landlord is treating vacant units as having zero usage and spreading their cost to occupied tenants, that's an overcharge to the tenants even if the total amount is relatively small.
Lease says "proportional share of utility costs for all units in the building." That implies all 200 units in the denominator, which means each tenant should be paying 1/200th, not 1/185th. The difference is small per unit but across 185 occupied units it adds up. Filing the correction.