With many older apartment buildings, utilities are built into the rent as common furnaces are deployed. You see this much more in the northern cities where central air is not offered.
But with the sky high increases in fuel oil and natural gas, these landlords are taking a beating. This issue hit my radar screen when Warren Marcus LLC, a Wisconsin landlord, had to file Chapter 11.
If energy costs are the only increase, most landlords can probably ride it out till the next lease comes around. However, if there are any other unexpected business costs that arise, watch out below.
And traditional upgrades for rental units that have utilities included probably will be postponed. The money for improvements are going directly to the power and oil companies.
With a Chapter 11 filing, a company still can run its business, but the move allows it to restructure its business operations while preventing creditors from seizing its assets.
According to court documents, Warren Marcus ran into cash-flow problems last year, in part because of rental issues and also because of higher energy costs. via mlive.com.
No related posts.
