Water bill situation? Water bill is outrageous!! What to do?

Question

Hi guys, so I have a new situation at my duplex property.

As stated in the lease, the tenants are responsible for their own gas, electric, and internet and the landlord (which is me) pays the water, sewer and garbage.

The problem is that just recently, the water bills have been coming outrageous for both units in the past few months, where the water bills every month for the unit are coming to approximately $150.00 a month for EACH unit which is a total of $300 a month for both units which is ridiculous.

I am thinking of having the tenants pay for their own water after their lease is up. What is a good way to get around this situation?

Nathan Gesner · Answer

High water bills are usually due to a faulty toilet that is constantly running/flushing. Just one bad toilet can easily burn through thousands of gallons of water and run the bill up hundreds of dollars. I recommend you inspect the units to discover what is causing the problem and get it fixed asap.

A couple ways to approach this:

1. Put in your lease that water/sewer/garbage is included with rent, but only up to $50 or whatever an ordinary month looks like. Anything above that amount will be split in half and passed on to the renters. If you get a bill for $200, you cover the first $100 ($50 per tenant) and then split the remaining $100 between the two tenants ($50 each). This gives them some incentive to watch for things like running toilets and keep the costs down.

2. Split the bill each month and pass it on to the tenant. This works, but it requires more effort on your part and I'd recommend against it.

3. Add some sub meters, but yoo have to read the meter, calculate use, and then pass the charge on. There's also the initial cost of installation.

The simplest solution is to include the utility in the rent but put a cap on how much is included. Make the tenant take responsibility after that. If the bill comes in high and you discover Tenant A has a running toilet, Tenant A should be responsible for the excess cost. If you can't determine who is responsible, split the bill and call it a day.

Ed Brancheau · Answer

You are right to have tenants pay for utilities because it makes them take more responsibility like not leaving lights on or running a washing machine during peak times. Same thing with water and trash.

A lot of utility companies will set up separate meters for free (or a nominal fee that is totally worth it.)

And "sell" it to your tenants by telling them that you're going to reduce the rent by $100 per month. They probably don't have any clue how much water and power costs so they'll be happy when they're actually going to be paying more.

You see, if the utility prices remain high, you're going to save $200 per month ($300-100) and if they drop back down to normal, you'll be saving $50 ($150-100). Either way, you save money and never have to deal with the utility companies (extra bonus!)