Converting my single family rental to a duplex.

[Kellie Alkayam]

I have a single family rental property in the Denver area that appears to have been used as a multifamily at some point in its life. There is an addition behind the garage that is currently used as a master bedroom, but has its own entrance in the back of the house, a bathroom, kitchenette area, and mudroom that has space for a washer and dryer. It's essentially a studio apartment that has a door connecting it to the main house.

For the last 3 years, I have been renting the house to students, generally 4 at a time, and it works great for roommates, but my current tenants are leaving in May, and I have been debating converting that addition to its own unit. I am trying to determine what I need to do to make it work. My biggest questions are how to divide up the utilities and mail since there is only one meter, and it's all one address. I have always been warned away from including the utilities in the rent, but I am not sure they can really be split up between units. 

Have any of you done this? What sort of challenges did you face?

[Kellie Alkayam]

@James Carlson, I had actually considered AirBNBing the back bedroom, but I was unsure of the laws. Thanks for mentioning that! I need to research what I could list it for to determine whether or not it would be worth it. I suppose I could always try it for a period of time and switch it to longer term rental if it doesn't work out. If I did short term, though, I wouldn't need to worry about dividing up the mail. It is very close to the Highlands and not too far from Sloan's, so that could be a great option. 

Thanks @Kevin Grinstead. I think this is something worth exploring. Even if I don't end up going through with it right away, it will be good to know in case I decide to do it down the line. 

I appreciate everybody's feedback!