Water Meters vs RUBS | LA County

[Franklin Marquette]

Hello all,

What have you seen re: water meters. Located in Los Angeles County (Los Feliz, 90027 zip). Property is zoned R2-1XL so pretty sure I can only have two main water meters. Right now the two units I have share one. As I transition the property to a duplex + 2 ADUs, I am considering spending $10K+ to get another master meter put in. Then think I could have 2 sub meters put in (believe the limit is 1 per main water meter). All units would be metered so data would be there to bill the tenants (so no ability to question the bill) but landlord would still pay the bill given we can not have 4 main master water meters (can only do 2 x1 master meter + x1 sub meter combinations). 

I could also just do RUBS on each of the 4 units based on # of occupants or square footage or another method (which is best???). This would not cost anything BUT tenants may be able to argue over bill more and I know RUBS has sometimes been outlawed in certain jurisdictions so would be less future proof. Also know that upon sale sometimes the presence of more water meters increases value.

Curious to understand the forum's opinion on the best water meter configuration given costs OR if it’s just not worth it and I should leave the one master meter and stick with RUBS on all 4 units. Either way, could always have the plumbers plumb the system to make it easy to put each unit on its own meter in future (so long as it’s not crazy expensive).

Unit Configurations Below for Reference:

x2 2 bed 2 bath, 800 sq ft

x1 2 bed 1 bath, 1,000 sq ft

x1 3 bed 3 bath, 2,000 sq ft