A lease agreement with utilities included is simple to advertise and easy to draft badly. Four things have to be defined, and when they are not, the argument arrives in the first cold month. None of them is complicated; all four are routinely left to be inferred from the word included, which carries none of the necessary detail.
Which utilities, named
Water, sewer, refuse, gas, electricity, heating, internet, cable. Name each one as included or excluded rather than writing utilities included and hoping. The omission that causes most trouble is internet, because tenants assume it and landlords often do not mean it, and it is discovered on the first day rather than eventually.
Whether there is a cap, and what it means
Inclusive rent with no cap transfers all consumption risk to the landlord, which is fine until somebody runs electric heaters all winter. If there is a cap, state the amount, the period, how consumption is measured and what the tenant pays above it. If there is no cap, say that too, so nobody argues later about a limit nobody wrote down.
Whose name the account is in
Usually the landlord's, in an inclusive arrangement, which means the landlord carries the debt and the relationship with the supplier. Say so explicitly, and say that the tenant may not change supplier or account holder. Where a tenant does put an account in their own name, the inclusive rent needs adjusting and that should be a written variation.
What happens when prices move
Energy prices move sharply and an inclusive rent set in a mild year can be uneconomic in a hard one. The lease cannot usually vary rent mid-term without a mechanism, so either accept the risk for the term, keep terms shorter, or include a stated cap. Deciding this in advance is much better than discovering it and asking for more money mid-tenancy.
Questions people ask about lease agreement with utilities included
Is inclusive rent a good idea?
It simplifies letting and transfers consumption risk to you. With a stated cap it is usually workable; with no cap and a long term it is a bet on prices and behaviour.
Can I charge the tenant for excess usage?
Only if the lease sets the cap, the measurement and the rate in advance. Retrospective charges for excess use are hard to enforce and worse for the relationship.
Does inclusive rent affect submetering rules?
Where you are not billing separately, submetering rules largely do not bite. If you start rebilling, they do, and they vary by state.