Chapter 13.24
DIRECT BILLING FOR MASTER METERED OR UNMETERED UTILITIES
Sections:
13.24.030 Billing requirements.
13.24.060 Dispute resolution and remedies.
13.24.010 Purpose.
A. The general purpose of this chapter is to prevent landlords, either themselves or through a third party billing agent, from billing tenants for master metered or unmetered utility services without proper notice and disclosure of billing practices to tenants, and to protect tenants from landlords marking up utility bills.
B. Nothing in this chapter shall be construed to prevent a landlord from including tenants’ fair share of master metered or unmetered utility services within the rent set forth in a rental agreement, and the practice of including such cost within a tenant’s rent shall not be considered a billing practice or methodology affected by the provisions of this chapter.
C. Nothing in this chapter shall be construed to affect the practices used by the city to bill and collect residential multi-unit building owners or landlords for master metered or unmetered utility service. (Ord. 1324 § 1, 2009).
13.24.020 Definitions.
As used in this chapter:
A. “Disclosure” means providing tenants with complete and accurate written information in a clear, concise, and understandable manner in all notices required under this chapter and on each bill presented from the billing entity to tenants.
B. “Landlord” means a “landlord” as defined in and within the scope of RCW 59.18.030 and 59.18.040 of the Residential Landlord Tenant Act of 1973 (“RLTA”) in effect at the time the rental agreement is executed, and shall also mean the owner of a mobile home park or boat moorage.
C. “Master metered utility service” means a utility service supplied to more than one unit in a multi-unit building and measured through a single inclusive metering system, such as water service.
D. “Methodology” refers to any method, technique, or criterion used to apportion to tenants charges billed to the landlord by the utility for master metered utility service or unmetered utility service.
E. “Multi-unit building” refers to a residential building or group of buildings with three or more tenant units with a master metered utility service or unmetered utility service that is provided to the building or group of buildings as a whole.
F. “Rental agreement” means a “rental agreement” as defined in and within the scope of RCW 59.18.030 and 59.18.040 of the RLTA in effect at the time the rental agreement is executed, and is deemed to include any month-to-month tenancy arrangement, whether written or oral.
G. “Service charge” refers to any charge or fee imposed by the billing entity to cover the costs of providing or administering the billing practices, regardless of the label applied to such charge or fee.
H. “Submeter/submetering” refers to a submeter, a secondary meter to a master meter. Submetering is a system for selling utility service to tenants in multifamily residential buildings, in which the submeter is installed in each unit to measure individual tenants’ utility consumption. Tenants are then separately billed by the landlord (or the landlord’s designated submetering company) for their utility use.
I. “Tenant” means a “tenant” as defined in and within the scope of RCW 59.18.030 and 59.18.040 of the RLTA in effect at the time the rental agreement is executed, and shall also mean a tenant of a mobile home park or boat moorage.
J. “Billing practices” refers to the practices of a landlord or third party billing agent, as defined herein, that bills residential multi-unit building tenants for the purpose of apportioning master metered or unmetered utility services provided to the building(s) as a whole, either by directly submetering tenants’ usage or by otherwise apportioning such utility services among tenants, and also refers to any practices related thereto.
K. “Third party billing agent” refers to any entity retained or authorized by a landlord to bill tenants for master metered or unmetered utility service on behalf of and as the agent of a landlord.
L. “Unmetered utilities” means utility services supplied to more than one unit in a multi-unit building which are not measured through a metering system, such as sewer and solid waste service. (Ord. 1324 § 1, 2009).
13.24.030 Billing requirements.
A. A landlord may, itself or through a third party billing agent, bill tenants for master metered or unmetered utility services; provided, that the following requirements are met:
1. Notice. Billing practices may be adopted only upon advance written notice to a tenant as part of a new or renewed rental agreement. Existing tenants must receive such written notice at least 90 days before expiration of their rental agreements, or, in the case of month-to-month tenancies, at least 90 days before any such billing practices may become effective.
2. Methodology. The notice required under subsection (A)(1) of this section must include a copy of this chapter and a detailed written disclosure of the methodology used by the billing agent to allocate the charges to each tenant, including the methodology used to allocate utility services for common areas of the building, along with all other terms and conditions of the billing arrangement. If submetering is used, the notice required under subsection (A)(1) of this section shall also include descriptions of the location of the submeter and of the access requirements, if any, required by the landlord for access to tenant units for submeter installation, reading, repair, maintenance, or inspections, including removal of the submeter for testing, consistent with the provisions of RCW 59.18.150 of the RLTA. An additional written notice must also be given at least 30 days prior to the due date of the next rental payment in order to implement a change in billing agents, apportionment methodology, fees, or other terms and conditions of the billing arrangement.
3. Availability of Information. In addition to the written notification required by subsections (A)(1) and (A)(2) of this section, any landlord employing billing practices shall make available to any tenant who makes a request copies of the five most current utility bills for master metered or unmetered utility services. The landlord shall provide the requested bills within five business days of receiving a request.
4. Limitations on Charges. The total of all charges for any utility service included in the bills sent to all units cumulatively shall not exceed the amount of the bill sent by the utility itself for the building as a whole, less any late charges, interest or other penalties owed by the landlord, with the exception of the following, which may be included in each bill covering an independent unit within the multi-unit building:
a. A service charge of no more than $2.00 per utility per month, not to exceed a cumulative service charge of $5.00 per month for all the utilities included in any bill.
b. Late payment charges of no more than $5.00 per month plus interest at a rate not to exceed one percent per month, which late payment charge shall not accrue until at least 30 days after the tenant receives the bill.
c. Insufficient funds check charges for dishonored checks, not to exceed $31.00 per dishonored check.
5. Licensing of Third Party Billing Agents. Any third party billing agent must be properly registered and licensed to do business in the state of Washington and city of Bonney Lake and must be in compliance with all applicable state and city laws and regulations, and all applicable state and city license identification numbers, if any, must be disclosed upon request.
6. Content of Bills. Each billing statement sent to a tenant by a landlord or third party billing agent must disclose all required information in a clear and conspicuous manner and at minimum must:
a. Identify and show the basis for each separate charge, including service charges and late charges, if any, as a line item, and show the total amount of the bill;
b. If the building units are submetered, include the current and previous meter readings, the current read date, and the amount consumed;
c. Specify the due date, the date upon which the bill becomes overdue, the amount of any late charges or penalties that may apply, and the date upon which such late charges or penalties may be imposed;
d. Identify any past due dollar amounts;
e. Include a statement to the effect that “this bill is from [landlord name] and not from the City of Bonney Lake.”
7. Submetering. Submetering is permitted as a way of allocating master metered utility services to tenants provided the following conditions are met:
a. The submeters must be read prior to each billing.
b. A landlord may not enter a unit without, and a tenant may not unreasonably withhold, consent to enter the unit in order to perform submeter installation, reading, repair, maintenance, and inspection, including removal of the submeter for testing; provided, however, that a landlord may enter a unit without a tenant’s consent in the case of a submeter leak or emergency related to that unit’s submeter.
c. If a tenant contests the accuracy of the submeter, the tenant shall have the option of demanding an independent test of the meter through the public works department of the city. If the meter reads within a five percent range of accuracy, the tenant requesting the test shall pay the cost of the meter test. If the meter reads outside a five percent range of accuracy, the landlord shall pay for the cost of the meter test and within 30 days refund any overpayments for the past three months based on a recalculation of the past year’s billings by correcting for the inaccuracy of the submeter. Submetering thereafter shall only be permitted with a repaired submeter.
B. Nothing in this section shall be construed to prevent a landlord from addressing billing of master metered or unmetered utility services in a written addendum to a lease. A lease addendum may be used to give the notice required under subsection (A)(1) of this section, so long as the lease addendum is provided to the tenant with the notice required under that subsection, and so long as all other requirements of this chapter are satisfied. (Ord. 1324 § 1, 2009).
13.24.050 Penalty.
Violation of any provision of this chapter constitutes a class 1 civil infraction under Chapter 7.80 RCW. (Ord. 1324 § 1, 2009).
13.24.060 Dispute resolution and remedies.
A. If a tenant believes that it has been subject to billing practices that violate any provision set forth in this chapter, the tenant may, at its option, file a complaint against the landlord with the city.
1. The city administrator or designee is hereby vested with the authority to hear and resolve tenant complaints against landlords regarding billing practices. The filing fee for such a case shall be set at $5.00. Upon the finding of a violation of this chapter, and refusal by the landlord to forgive any charge found by the city administrator or designee to be in violation of this chapter or to otherwise remedy any such violation, the city administrator or designee may, for each violation found, issue or cause to be issued a civil infraction notice to the landlord in accordance with BLMC 13.24.050 and Chapter 7.80 RCW.
2. No late fees or interest charges shall accrue on any disputed portions of a bill while the amount is being resolved by the city administrator or designee, and no collection activity or unlawful detainer action alleging default in the payment of rent related to the disputed portions of a bill may be instituted against a tenant that has filed a complaint with the city administrator or designee in accordance with this chapter while the amount is being resolved by the city administrator or designee. If the city administrator or designee finds that the landlord has not violated this chapter, the landlord shall not be prohibited by this chapter from pursuing late fees and/or interest charges.
3. A landlord shall not pass on, charge, or otherwise allocate to tenants, in any manner whatsoever, any damages, fine or penalty (including attorneys’ fees) that the landlord is ordered to pay under this chapter or any other law.
B. The existence of an unresolved or pending billing dispute does not relieve a tenant of his or her obligation to pay in a timely fashion all undisputed charges, including those undisputed charges that accrue after the dispute resolution procedures of this chapter have been invoked. (Ord. 1324 § 1, 2009).