Utilities - How do you protect yourself as a landlord

[Andrea Minnillo]

If you don't pay for water as a landlord, what do you do if the renters cause high water bills (ex:  don't shut off water in winter, or don't report running toilet promptly)?   Do you write specific instructions in lease to protect?    Assuming as a landlord you pay for the repairs, do you help pay for portion of really high water bill?   Water as a utility is something that can skyrocket due to issues compared to other utilities (we had 2 issues this past year with water repairs causing high bills).

What is the cutoff on helping out renter versus getting taken advantage of?