my lease shares utilities between my suite and the other suite by number of occupants
Hi Everyone, I have a serious issue with utilities in my house. I live in the suite 2 of a house that has two suites. The sharing formula has been 45 for me and 55 for Suite 1. We are 4 in my suite and the upper suite had 5 tenants.
Now it’s over 3 months the other suite has been vacant and the Landlord is not planing to rent it cos he listed the house for sale.
Now he expects me to cover 100% of water and gas, and 95% for electricity. He said he will pay 5% for the ongoing real estate showing that keeps going on. He said he turned of heating since it’s summer but I have absolute no control of what happens there and the suite remains connected to everything.
I did not agree and offered to pay 80% however I know there are only two ways approved for bills to be shared but I have spoken to two lawyers non of them have affirmatively told me that it was wrong or right.
Under my lease The exact words used in my lease says :
“ The Tenant shall be responsible for the payment of all utilities associated with the premises, including but not limited to Enbridge Gas, Alectra utilities, water , water heater rental and parcel of Land fees.
The Tenant shall pay 45% of the utilities bills, calculated based on the number of occupants residing in the property (55/45 split). In such cases, the utilities cost -sharing arrangement shall be adjusted to reflect the number of individuals living in the house at the time.”
He claims that since there is zero occupant in suite 1 i have to take all the responsibilities. Please is there any one that has had such experience?
Thanks