I'm paying too much for water! Can I split water meters?

[James Erickson]

In 2015 I spent $16,742 on water for some of my rentals. There is only 1 water meter feeding multiple units so I cannot tell which unit is using how much. I can usually tell who may be using more water than the others based upon past usage and diligent record keeping. I have thought of paying to split the water into separate meters feeding each unit and then having the tenant pay the water. I know this would be touchy to have a tenant start paying the water since they rented the place water paid. Can you provide me with suggestions on what I can do to put the burden of water payment on the tenants rather than the owner? Thanks.

[Jason Bowles]

Personally, I would only do it upon the expiration of the base lease and treat it as a you would a rent increase. As your 12 month leases expire, renew with the new terms. Provide an estimate or average of expected water bills to your tenants and maybe even consider offsetting that amount with a partial reduction in base rent.