DID YOU KNOW YOU CAN PASS 
THROUGH UTILITY COSTS TO TENANTS?
When a landlord pays for gas, electricity and/or steam provided to a tenant's unit and/or common areas of a property, the landlord may recover increases in the utility costs from the tenants in the form of a utility pass through. A utility pass through is a dollar for dollar pass through of any increase in the landlord's costs for utilities based on a comparison of utility costs from one calendar year (the "base year") to the most recent calendar year (the "comparison year").
Effective January 1, 2009, pass throughs are much easier to perform because they do not require review by the Rent Board.
Steps for preparing a pass through petition with the rent board include:
1) Determine the tenant's base year. In general, a tenant's base year is the year before the tenancy began. However, base years are reset every five years, so a tenant's base year will change over time.
2) Beginning January 1, 2009 a landlord is only required to file a "Utility Pass Through Calculation Worksheet" with the Rent Board, as opposed to a Petition.* Worksheets and instructions are available from the Rent Board.*
3) The landlord must provide a copy of the worksheet to the tenant with the notice of rent increase after filing the worksheet with the Rent Board. The utility pass through then becomes due on a date specified in the notice of increase, which must be the same time as the annual allowable increase. After 12 months, the utility pass through must be discontinued, and a new worksheet must be filed with the rent board.
The pass through does not become part of the tenant's base rent and must not be included in the rent when calculating annual rent increases.
*In certain circumstances, a Petition is required. When a petition is required, the Rent Board will mail a copy of the petition to the tenant and the tenant will be given the opportunity to file written objections to the petition. The petition will then be reviewed by an Administrative Law Judge and decided without a hearing unless the Judge determines a hearing is required.
