Baltimore City - Water Bill

[Keenan Rusk]

Hi fellow BP members,

I'm looking at a 2-unit property in Baltimore City for a potential house hack.

In researching market rents in the area, I've come across few posts about utilities in the city. One of my concerns is the water bill. The numbers work if the tenant pays water, otherwise the property won't be an option for me. What I've gathered so far from other posts on BP is the following:

-Property owners are ultimately responsible for ensuring the water bills are paid

-A tenant who is in default of the water bill for >90 days can result in a lien being placed on the property and unless stated explicitly in the lease, they cannot be evicted for nonpayment

-These consequences don't apply to sewer, gas, and electric bills

For landlords and property managers, I have a few questions:

1.How are you ensuring tenant compliance with water bills in multifamily homes, aside from proper screening? Can water and the other utilities be separately metered?

2. If you pass this responsibility to the tenant, do you "inflate" the rent cost and pay water bill yourself or stipulate water as a deliverable with rent each month and nonpayment as a condition for eviction? Given that Baltimore City water bills are increasing each year, it seems fairly easy to list above market rates for rent.

Thanks,

Keenan

[J.T. Littlejohn]

 @Keenan Rusk Baltimore City Water allows (and actually encourages) that you add the tenants name using the "in care of" titling feature to the water bill account. This has helped me tremendously by giving the tenant some skin in the game even though it is for the most part only in theory. You will still have liability for the bill getting paid but it does have an "ownership" effect on the tenant. You can have the bill mailed directly to the property while you monitor the bill online.