Billing Tenants for water

[William Castiglione]

Hi Guys,

First time landlord here - I just bought my first duplex - but I have a fair amount of rental and CRE Knowledge.

I know some landlords use monthly billing to bill back tenants for water usage - some by number of occupants, some by tracking number of hot water gallons used - but I can’t seem to find any of these companies via google. 

Can you guys point me in the right direction? 

Thanks,

Will

[Neal Collins]

William Castiglione You don’t have to have a system that does it automatically if it is a duplex, you simply need to decide on a formula on how you are going to bill back and then put that in your lease.

In Portland at least it is common to have separate electric and gas for each unit, but one water main. Water is very expensive here so we choose to bill it back on the number of occupants living in the unit, rather than splitting it say 50/50 for a duplex.

Most property management software systems allow for this, but if you want to do it by hand just make sure you keep the water bill and your formula in case a tenant ever questions the math or you need to support it in court.