Need advice about community laundry room in a 4-plex

[Scott Harlow]

I have a community laundry room in a 4-plex consisting of one washer and one dryer. The previous owner set the laundry room up to run off of one of the units' utilities. She would then agree to pay for that tenant's water bill since the tenant was on the hook for the gas and electric used by the laundry room. I hate this situation and want to figure out a better solution.

I have an available electric and gas meter that are currently unused. I could easily install a panel on the laundry room and have separate meters for the gas and electric (in my name) but I would still need a water meter...or I could shell out a few thousand extra and have a separate washer/dryer combo for each unit (more maintenance issues?) and now I'm not responsible for any of the utilities.

What would you do in my situation? The way I see it, I have four options:

1. Get rid of the laundry room (current tenants would likely be very unhappy)

2. Leave it as-is (water bill for laundry + 1br unit is typically $50-$65 per month)

3. Separate utilities and place in my name

4. Install a washer/dryer in the other 3 units