RUBS—Ratio Utility Billing Systems—is a corporate landlord scam designed to force tenants to pay for building-wide utility bills we can't control.
BAN RUBS
RUBS hides rent hikes in your utility bill.
Featured Press & Media
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L.A. tenants demand their landlord stop charging hundreds of dollars in utility fees
Mozaic at Union Square tenant Paige Gresty speaks at a press conference convened by her neighbors and tenants from Virgil Square Apartments, both of which are owned and managed by Equity Residential. Mozaic and Virgil Square tenants want Equity Residential to reveal exactly how they calculate utility fees that can add more than $200 to their rent.
Photo by Phoenix Tso.
Credit: Phoenix Tso / LA Public Press -
‘We don’t know what we’re paying for’: L.A. tenants seek accountability over excessive utility bills
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.
Photo credit KNX News 97.1 FM
What is RUBS and why are tenants fighting it?
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RUBS stands for “Ratio Utility Billing Systems.” In buildings where landlords use RUBS, tenants do not pay for the utilities (water, sewer, trash, etc.) they actually use in their own apartments. Instead, landlords charge tenants a portion of the alleged total utility costs of the entire building according to a formula.
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You have no control over how high your utilities fees are! If you’re out of town for three weeks and use much less water, your costs don’t go down.
Charges can vary a lot from month to month, making budgeting & planning very difficult, possibly increasing more than allowed by rent control.
You can’t access utility assistance programs that you might otherwise qualify for. (LADWP has a program to reduce utilities costs for low-income tenants - but only if you have your own contract with them.)
If your landlord is slow to fill vacant units, your costs go up–the total building utilities usage is divided among fewer tenants.
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RUBS transfers utilities costs from landlords to tenants.
RUBS allows corporate landlords to mislead tenants about the true cost of their rent. Leasing agents provide low utilities estimates and tenants sign a vaguely-worded and confusing lease. Tenants don’t understand that they will owe hundreds of dollars per month until they’re already locked in.
RUBS shields corporate landlords from the damage caused by negligent maintenance practices which cause utilities overuse and leaks. Why would they invest in more efficient systems if tenants are paying for everything?
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Landlords face no incentives to reduce electricity, water, and gas usage by updating or improving their building systems because tenants pay the bills.
If a building has persistently leaky plumbing or poorly maintained gas and electrical systems, the costs of this waste is split among the tenants. They won’t get fixed unless tenants hound EQR.