Real Estate Investor · Los Angeles, CA · Member since 2016 · 31 posts · 7 votes
Hi all,
I'm evaluating a duplex deal right now in Kansas City, Missouri. It's my first ever multi-family deal, so learning a lot right now.
- The broker says that tenants pay gas & electricity, and the owner pays water, sewage, trash. Is this normal?
- The water meter is a single meter. The broker is claiming that this can be billed back to the tenants. Is this true? I can't figure out the exact answer for whether its legal to bill back water if its a single meter.
- If its a single meter, can I change this to individually metered? Or is the cost for doing this typically a lot? This is an older building (1954).
Property Manager · Gilbert, AZ · Member since 2009 · 1k+ posts · 451 votes
5y
Yes you can charge the tenants for water, how you calculate a fair share to each is negotiable and it must be done at the beginning of a new lease. You can't start charging existing tenants until you choose renew their lease. You can also get more detailed and have sub-meters put in but that can get expensive and I don't think it's worth it on a duplex.
Real Estate Broker · Huntsville, AL · Member since 2019 · 1k+ posts · 872 votes
5y
Here we charge a flat fee to the tenant. So like $50 each month for water, but the tenant may use more than that. Whatever the average bill is, I'd charge that to the tenant!