Capping Washer/Dryer Hookups In Apartment Complex

[Joshua Harmon]

Hello BP Family,

I will be closing on my first 8 unit Apartment in a couple weeks, and my excitement us through the roof. I only have one issue. The tenants have washer/dryer hookups in their units and the water bill is currently the owner's responsibility. On average, the water bill runs approximately $70 per unit, $560 total monthly, or $6720 annually! Unfortunately, RUBS is not used by any apartment investors in our area so I'm just going to assume, for now, that's not an option. The rents are approximately $15 under the market so we have some room to raise the rents.

My partner and I have an idea to cap the washer/dryer hookups until we can find a way to either bill back the water, raise rents to market value, and/or charge tenants to have laundry accessibility in their unit. 

Have any of you had to cap washer/dryer access in your apartments? What feedback did you get from tenants? Does anyone have any suggestions on what we could do in this situation?