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!

[David Fernandez]

Exactly what @Matthew Paul said is what I put on my lease.

However, when I do the move in walk through, I remind them that they are responsible for the water bill and I explain them how they can pay it directly to the city (go online, search by address, pay online, etc.); the process is also explained in the policies and procedures booklet I leave them. Surprisingly, all of my tenants pay their water bill directly and on time, except for one tenant that I have to pay it for him and then send him the bill. He pays it together with the next month rent.