Multifamily Water/Sewer . Should we block off access to Basement??

[Bailey Coleman]

As you guys know in the Cleveland market for multi-family you cannot charge water/sewer to the tenants.

I was thinking about locking the basement door and not allowing the tenants to have access to the basement for my duplex. This will eliminate  the use of the washer and dryer (keeping the water bill lower) and prevent junk being piled up in the basement. Is this a good move? A friend locks the basement door for his multi family rentals and does not have issues getting the place rented out at all. He said a lot of renters are used to going to the laundromat. I wanted other investors' thoughts on this? Do you allow your tenants to access the basement in multi family properties? The basement is also common space for all the renters so it would be confusing who and when which tenant would have access to do laundry and store things down there 

[Richard F.]

Aloha,

Access to laundry facilities, absolutely. Trudging down to the neighborhood laundromat is a huge time-suck. Random, unassigned and apparently unpaid for storage, absolutely not. Create some storage closets/bins and charge rent. Everything NOT in an authorized space is trash. If the "basement door" is outside access only, be sure you have a good closer on it, and that it securely latches, to prevent freezing in cold weather.