How do you handle your water bills in Maryland for SFH?

[Nicole A.]

I recently finished up renovation on my first single-family property. Now it's going on the rental market and I realize that I have a different choice with how to handle the water bill than with my multi-units that don't have split water meters. For those, I include water in the rent.

For this single unit, I could have the tenant pay. But how do you local MD people handle it? It's in Baltimore County if that matters.

1. Tenant puts water bill in their own name and handles it completely.
2. I pay the bill upfront and include it on the next month's rent.
3. Include up to X amount dollars of water in rent and tenant responsible for rest (not crazy about this one).

I also have a PM. I see option number 2 being more work for me to keep up on. Is option 1 best? I'd love to hear your thoughts!