[Requesting Advice] Duplex only has one water meter for 2 tenants

[John Smith]

Hi All,

I recently found out a duplex I own only has a single water meter feeding both units. One of the tenants is currently paying for both sides and has been for the past two years. I only found this out when the water was cut off by the city for non-payment and the other tenant complained about not having water. The complaining tenant thought that water was covered by the landlord (which was not the case). I inherited this situation from the previous owner, who did NOT disclose this information to me or to the tenants which I also inherited. The tenant paying the water is having trouble getting the other tenant to pay for their portion of the water bill. Currently, the paying tenant is requesting that I install a second water meter. I called the Dallas water utility, and they are saying it will cost over $5,000 to install a separate water line and meter. Are there other installers besides the city that can do it for cheaper or are there any other alternatives? I'm barely breaking even, and this would be a huge cost for me. I heard about submetering, but I can't find anything regarding the cost to install or the monthly service fees. 

Any help would be greatly appreciated!  Thank you in advance!

[Jedd Braunwarth]

@John Smith, do you know if the plumbing is already separated for each side of the duplex? Is it a side by side or top bottom duplex style? The largest cost is obviously the plumbing alterations and if you can avoid them. If you can, the easiest may be to switch the water utility to your name, submeter both sides of the property and each tenant pay their usage to you based on the two meters. I think even submetering one side will cause tenant complaints, arguments, non-payments, etc. This happens even more with RUBS. Full disclosure, I own a submetering company but have seen it all happen because of this!