Heating one house this winter is enough to worry about for most Maine residents, but landlords who have to keep their tenants warm, too, are finding themselves in an even bigger bind.

Some landlords have switched from oil to cheaper natural gas, but if their tenants are avoiding the rent in order to fill the gas tanks in their cars, the landlords are taking the hit. For those who rely on tenants to heat apartments, landlords will also have to keep a closer eye on their buildings, making sure the tenants are filling the tank and not using alternate, and often unsafe, methods of heating – both of which can cause bigger problems for the buildings.

Carleton Winslow, vice president of the Maine Apartment Owners and Managers Association, said there are two kinds of landlords – the ones who include heat in the rent and the ones who don’t – and both will face difficulties this winter.

Winslow, who includes the cost of heat in the rent for the 22 units he owns in Portland and South Portland, said for landlords like him, increasing rent payments is inevitable – but that still might not be enough.

According to John Gallagher, executive director of Westbrook Housing, which manages 10 rental properties in the city, the Department of Housing and Urban Development recently recommended that rents in the area should only increase by $3 to $4 a month this year, which he said “won’t even come close” to covering additional heating costs.

Gallagher said housing authority officials in the state have gotten together and requested that HUD reconsider its figures, taking into consideration energy bills in northern New England, but they haven’t heard back yet.

Kristine Foye, a spokeswoman for HUD, said that request is currently under review, and a final decision would be made before the recommended rents go into effect on Oct. 1.

Winslow said he’ll be charging his tenants an extra $50 per month and writing them a letter asking them to keep the heat at a lower temperature this year.

“If I find the heat up and windows open, I’m not going to be happy,” he said about relying on his tenants to be conservative.

“The days of laying around in your underwear with the heat on 78 degrees are over. It’s just not going to happen.”

Though putting a lock box over the thermostat or having the tenants pay their own heat would be last resorts for Winslow, he’ll threaten to do so, in order to keep them in check.

But landlords whose tenants already heat their own apartments have their own issues to deal with – like making sure the tenants are staying on top of their bills.

“Landlords are going to have to be watching their buildings very carefully,” Winslow said about making sure that tanks are filled so pipes don’t freeze – causing even bigger and more expensive problems – and that tenants aren’t using alternate methods of heating their apartments, which are often unsafe.

South Portland Fire Chief Kevin Guimond said he’s received dozens of calls already about how to use alternate methods of heating.

“A lot of people are trying to activate old wood stoves and fireplaces,” he said.

And, though it’s good that they’re asking the fire department for assistance and advice, many people will be using new methods of heating and not asking for help.

“We can just tell,” Guimond said about the number of calls they’ll get this winter due to improper usage of alternate heating sources.

Meanwhile, landlords are looking at alternatives, too.

Dick Roy of Biddeford was ahead of the game, switching his four-apartment building, for which he supplies the heat, to natural gas two years ago. His reason for the change was that he already had to replace an old boiler and he thought natural gas would be cleaner and require less maintenance. Now, he’s reaping even more rewards.

As a landlord, Roy said, he was going through 2,300 gallons of oil every year, and even if the price stays around $4 per gallon, he said, it’s a big chunk of change.

“That’s 10 grand. I don’t care how you cut it,” he said.

Though initially he thought it would take longer to pay back the installation of a $12,000 natural gas system, with the increase in oil costs he’ll save $5,000 this year using natural gas, and expects to get the return for the switch within a year or two, and after that, start his real savings.

According to a sales clerk at Maine-based Downeast Energy & Building Supply, it would cost about $3,350 to heat a three-bedroom cape-style home with oil and about $1,800 with natural gas.

Mike Dukette, who owns eight buildings in Westbrook, didn’t have Roy’s foresight when he had to replace a boiler two years ago, but he believes it’s still going to be worth it for him to switch to natural gas this year. And not only does Dukette think he’ll save money, he said, the switch will also make it easier for him to find tenants.

“No one wants to rent a house with oil,” he said.

For tenants who are already in apartments heated by oil, it’s going to be a tough call when it comes time to chose paying the rent on time and filling up their gas tanks to go to work – a situation Westbrook Fire Capt. Chuck Jarrett saw even last year.

“People are struggling to make ends meet,” he said. “A tenant on a fixed income can’t afford the extra cost.”

One way Jarrett saw people avoiding oil bills without getting cold was by using electric space heaters. Because Central Maine Power Co. won’t shut off service during the winter, he said, “you can rack up a pretty good bill” without paying.

And with the increased use of electric space heaters comes greater safety concerns for Jarrett. He said people often run them off extension cords that can’t handle that amount of energy.

“Some space heaters aren’t designed to run on full blast day and night,” he said.

Jarrett said he’s also seen people staple cords to the carpet and accidentally penetrate the wire itself.

Some tenants, Jarrett said, will simply not pay rent at all. He said he visited one house last winter four times because the oil ran out. The landlord said his tenants simply weren’t paying rent or filling up the tank, and because he didn’t want the pipes to freeze, the landlord was taking it on himself.

Due to the length of the eviction process, Jarrett said, it’s hard to get someone out of an apartment, because once a landlord accepts any money from the tenant, the months-long process has to start over again.

According to Jarrett, some tenants who simply don’t care will move into an apartment, not pay for months upon months until they finally get evicted, and then move on to another place and do the same thing.

For now, Jarrett said, he can’t predict what will happen this winter, but worrying about multi-unit buildings staying heated will be a top priority, because if they’re not, he said, “then I’ve got four families that are cold.”

Jarrett said he hopes that people read their instruction manuals if they’re using alternate methods of heating, and if there’s something that needs to be fixed, he said, fix it now before the temperature drops.

“It’s the perfect time,” he said.