A group of Los Angeles tenants is demanding answers from their corporate landlord about the excessive and unpredictable utility bills added to their rent each month.
Residents of the Mozaic at Union Station Apartments and Virgil Square Apartments said they’re having to pay hundreds of dollars more in rent because of the ratio utility billing system (aka RUBS) that's used by their corporate landlord, Equity Residential.
“The leasing office had told us that utilities would be around $50 a month,” one resident said. “On our first bill, they were $53. On our second, they were $220.”
A Virgil Square tenant said his utility bills have fluctuated between $100 to $200 a month.
“We don't know what we're paying for,” he said. “We don't know if we're paying for the water in the pool, we're paying for the water used to do the landscaping, or if we're paying for the water used to clean the building.”
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Residents have called RUBS a “cash grab” and a “loophole.”
“It allows corporate landlords to pile up hundreds of dollars each month on top of your rent and to circumvent rent control and tenant protection laws, all without accountability or transparency,” a resident said.
KNX News has reached out to Equity Residential for further comment.
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