Who pays utilities in multifamily homes?

[Chase A.]

Hey, I'm very new to real estate investing. I was wondering who pays utilities in multifamily homes. If it is separately metered do the tenants pay? And if it isn't separately meted does the landlord pay?

[Shaun Patterson]

If the property is not sub metered then you have to get the utilities in your name. What some landlords do in that situation is that they bill back the charges to the tenants at a flat rate. The bad part to that is most of the time tenants don't care about utilities usage so they will use more then needed. So if you don't have the amount your charging back to the tenants high enough then you will end up losing money every month. They also have things you can buy to help with charge backs that you can connect to the units. Another thing that was done in the past before the rental market was so hot is that they will offer partial utilities included in the rent to give you an incentive to move in. This isn't done anymore due to the type of market we are in (at least not really here in Florida). As normal if it is sub metered the tenants will pay.