water billing

[Mike R.]

curious how many of you have starting billing tenants (either direction, installing separte water meters or sub-metering) for water.  given the worsening drought in the west it seems that the water bill is becoming a larger proportion of the monthly expenses and i thought billing the tenants for their use might encourage conservation and limit the need to increase rents.  your thoughts? 

[Account Closed]

For my SFH's I had the tenants pay for their own water bill. HOWEVER, I kept the water bill in my name and the bill was sent to my office. I then billed the tenant(s) for the amount I was being charged for the water and I sent them a copy of the bill to show them I wasn't cheating them. When they paid the water bill, they sent in the water bill with their payment to me. They had to pay me, not the water dept, as I already paid the water bill as soon as I received the bill. (I also had it stated in the lease agreement that they are responsible for the water bill, and that all payments were to be sent to me at my office)

I also stipulated in the Lease Agreement that any money received in my office would be applied first to any outstanding bills, e.g., covering the water bill if it was still outstanding, and then rent would be late if they just happened to send in rent and not the water bill with the rent.   So that covered the "If they don't pay the water bill scenario"

For my multi-families I paid the water bill.  However I had stated in the lease agreement that if the water bill went over the average amount of water that this building normally used, I would raise their rents.  The reason for doing this is when water is free (or included in the rent) they invite their families to do the wash, or they have a tendency to wash their vehicles whenever they want.  So this nips it in the bud.  Plus no fighting among other tenants over who uses more water, etc. etc.

The reason I had the Water Bills put in my name in my single family homes was due to the fact that if they didn't pay the water bill then the water dept. would place a lien on my property. So I nipped that in the bud as well.

Nancy Neville