How do you handle final utility bills when a tenant moves out?

Which final bills are there?

Move-out brings two different kinds of final bill, and mixing them up causes most of the trouble.

• Tenant-account utilities: electric, gas or internet in the tenant's own name. The tenant closes or transfers the account. Your job is to confirm it happened and that service continues for the next occupant or the turn crew.
• Landlord-account utilities you pass through: water, sewer or trash that you pay and bill back. Here you calculate and send the final share yourself.

What is the move-out utility checklist?

1. Confirm the move-out date and the tenant's forwarding address in writing.
2. Ask the tenant for the date each personal utility account will close, and ask for the last bill or confirmation.
3. Read each meter and submeter on the last day and photograph the reading with the date.
4. Call or use the utility's online form to move each account into the owner's name from the move-out date, so the unit has power and water for the turn.
5. Prorate any shared bill for the partial period.
6. Send the tenant a final bill with the readings, dates, rate, method and your total.
7. Compare the final share with the deposit handling your state requires, and keep the utility records with the deposit file.

How do you prorate a shared bill at move-out?

Where a bill covers a period that straddles the move-out date, split by days. If the billing period is 30 days and the tenant left on day 12, the tenant owes 12 of 30 days of that unit's share; the owner carries the rest while the unit sits empty. North Carolina's statute uses the same logic for lessees who were not in the unit for the full cycle: the amount is prorated for the days each lessee actually leased.

Example a made-up unit's share of a 30-day water bill is $90. The tenant moves out after day 12. The final share is $90 times 12 divided by 30, which is $36. The owner records the other $54 as a vacancy cost for the property.

What do state rules add?

• Massachusetts: when a tenancy ends before the end of a billing period the water company has not yet billed, the landlord must give the tenant the unit's submeter reading on the last day together with a final bill for use since the last reading. At the start of a tenancy the landlord must mail the reading on the first day (G.L. c.186, section 22).
• Oregon: a landlord may not hold a tenant liable for a public service charge billed to a previous tenant (ORS 90.315). Close out the old tenant's charges on their account, not the next tenant's.
• Oregon also says a tenant who cannot get a utility they are responsible for because of an unpaid amount from a previous tenant or the owner may pay the amount and deduct it from rent, or end the tenancy. So settle the old balance before the next move-in.
• Arizona and Virginia: the bill must follow the same disclosed method as every other month, so do not invent a special move-out formula.

Whether you may take an unpaid utility charge out of the security deposit is a separate state deposit-law question. Check your state's deposit statute and your lease before you do.

What mistakes cost owners money here?

• Letting the tenant's account lapse and the utility shut off, then paying reconnection fees for the turn.
• Leaving the unit's account in the old tenant's name, so the next tenant inherits the old balance.
• Sending the final bill weeks after move-out, once the tenant is hard to find.
• Billing a full-month share for a partial month.

DoorKeeping never holds your money and sends a payment only when you approve it. Any refund you send a tenant is your own approval from your own bank.

Where DoorKeeping fits

DoorKeeping keeps the move-out condition report with photos, the deposit statement and the utility records in one file for the unit. The AI reads each utility bill and codes it to the property's books, including vacancy costs. DoorKeeping does not read meters or calculate the final utility share. This is general information, not legal or tax advice. Check the current statute and ask a local attorney or your tax preparer.

Sources

1. G.L. c.186, section 22, Definitions; submeter installation; testing; water use charges (Massachusetts Legislature), read Oct 31, 2026
2. N.C. Gen. Stat. 62-110(g) and (h), water, sewer and electric charges by lessors (North Carolina General Assembly), read Oct 31, 2026
3. ORS 90.315, Utility or service payments; additional charges (Oregon Legislature, Chapter 90), read Oct 31, 2026
4. A.R.S. 33-1314.01, Utility charges; submetering; ratio utility billing; allocation (Arizona Legislature), read Oct 31, 2026
5. Va. Code 55.1-1212, Energy submetering, sewer and water submetering equipment, and ratio utility billing systems (Virginia Law), read Oct 31, 2026

Questions

Who pays the utilities after the tenant moves out?

The owner, from the move-out date, until the next tenant starts service. Move each account into your name so the turn crew has power and water.

Can I deduct an unpaid utility bill from the security deposit?

That depends on your state's deposit law and your lease. Check the statute before you deduct and itemize it if you do.

Does a landlord have to give a final meter reading?

In Massachusetts, yes, for submetered water on the last day with a final bill. Elsewhere it is good practice, and it protects you in a dispute.