Owner Paid Utilities

[Drew Feutz]

I'm looking to house hack and I've found a triplex that I'm interested in but there's one problem: landlord-paid utilities. This includes electric, gas, sewer, trash, and water.

I've done some research on this the past couple of days and I've found some ideas, but I'm not sure if it's worth pursuing them or I should just give up on the idea and wait for a different property.

• Separate meters: From the research that I've done (a lot on BP forums), this seems to be way too expensive to consider.
• Submetering: This seems to be a viable option, but I have no idea how much the initial setup would cost or the how much the ongoing monitoring would cost. Does anyone have an idea of rule of thumb costs for this?
• RUBS (Ratio Utility Billing System): This seems to be an extremely contested topic on the forums. Some people think you're an unprofessional slumlord if you use this system. Some think it's completely fine to do. Obviously, this would be the cheapest system and I wouldn't mind the management side of it since the whole goal of house hacking is to save money.

I'd love feedback from anyone who has experience with this type of situation and any of the solutions above. Of course, any other comments and suggestions are welcome as well.

Thanks, BP!

[David J.]

Why not find the average of the utilities and work the cost of it into the rent? This allows you to advertise as utilities included, one easy payment. 

You can then have a clause in the lease that covers for high electricity usage and tenant will be responsible for X% in this situation.