I thought I would share with rental housing industry in Portland my experience as it relates to the City of Portland ordinance for tenant garbage service.
In November of 2009 I had a tenant move in to a single family home. On the lease agreement I indicated that she would be paying the garbage bill.
In March of this year the garbage company terminated her service because she wasn’t paying the garbage bill. The garbage company sent me an invoice for the pass due amount.
In talking to the garbage company they shared that as a courtesy they send the bill for the garbage service to the tenant and then if they don’t pay they send it to the landlord who is ultimately responsible. The tenant meanwhile called the City of Portland Office of Sustainable Development that is responsible for administering codes and regulations for garbage service.
Sure enough the landlord has to pay the garbage bill. Additionally they have a minimum 20 gallon garbage container that is required unless there is not “sufficient capacity to prevent the overflow of garbage and rubbish from occurring”. So you may start with a 20 gallon container but if it isn’t “sufficient” it could be any size beyond that.
In speaking to other landlords I found that they have the garbage bill sent to them but then they forward it on to the tenant to pay. In checking with the attorney, Jeff Bennett he suggested that there is nothing in the city ordinance that would preclude the landlord from passing on the cost of garbage service to the tenant.
I shared this information with the tenant and offered two options. First they could have the bill sent directly to them or I would pay the bill and then forward to her for payment.
Some of you may have a different process handling this, as in including the garbage service in the rental fee. However with the escalating cost of all of the utilities the user has to be responsible for the amount of service they require. If the tenant is paying the bill they become more conscious of cost containment as opposed to someone else paying their bill.
Jim Kight, Longtime Landlord and
Past President and Board Member of RHAGP