Separate electric and water meter or back bill tenants?

[Bernadeau C.]

All,

i am looking at a 9-unit at the moment, that has one meter for electric and water. I did my analysis without including the utilities because i was under the impression the property was separately metered.

Would you advise me to get individual meters installed? if so roughly how much would that cost be?

or would it be better to back billed the tenants for the utilities every month? 

[Richard Neuharth]

Some cities/states only allow you to bill back a certain percentage of utilities. It’s best to add separate meters if you can. It can be expensive but well worth it. When you get your Due diligence team out there or call before and ask them. It varies depending on where you are. Once you get an idea of what it cost do the math to figure out if it’s a good investment. Most of the time it will be worth though.