Power Outage from Hurrican Ike

[justingross]

I have a 20 unit mobile home park in the Houston, Texas area. It is still without power from the recent hurricane. But there was no damage at all to any of the units. We were very lucky.

Since the power is out, are we under any obligation to reduce the amount of rent for everyone the next month? I don't feel like we should reduce the rent since the power outage was not our fault. The power is between the tenant and the power company. Some people chose to stay in their mobile homes during the power outage, others felt it was too hot and not conveinient. But our bills for the property don't stop coming just because there is no power. We still have to meet our obligations.

Our homes that we rent to our tenants are all newer and in excellent shape. Some tenants are still in a one year lease, others are month to month.

One tenant has stated that they are not going to pay the full amount of rent for October. Because of this and other issues, I decided to terminate their month to month lease.

Any thoughts?

 

[Gail_in_Georgia]

Unless the rent includes utilities such as electricity, no; there is no reason for you to reduce the rent.

Gail

 

[justingross]

Thank you, Gail. No, the tenants are responsible for their own electricity.

 

[Gail_in_Georgia]

These are difficult times you guys are going through. However, if these tenants had mortgages (i.e., they were buying their homes) the mortgage company would still expect payment.

Gail

 

[justingross]

Yes, that's true. We are on the hook for all the bills. We even had to pay our electric bills, which were estimated because of the hurricane, while we were without power. It requires payment anyway.
Thank you for your words.