Water Bills Getting Ridiculous.. What do I do?

Question

I bought a 4plex in December that has 1 water line so water is included into the rent and each building also has it's own coin operated laundry machines.

There are approximately 10 tenants in the 4plex and we've had a few turnovers the last couple months but water usage since June has nearly tripled. Unless one of my new tenants immediately started a laundry business I have no idea what's causing the increased water usage. I checked for water leaks and I had the city check for a meter leak and I couldn't find any culprit.

In January and February when we had full occupancy the 4plex used 17,000 Gallons each month however for June the building used nearly 35,000 Gallons. For July the building is on pace to hit similar numbers.

The building is 100 years old so I'm concerned about issues that maybe I didn't think about yet. What should I do?

Nathan Gesner · Answer

Talk to the utility provider to get some historical use. Look at the same month for the past few years to see if the water use spikes in the summer (unlikely). Even if every unit took two extra showers a day, every day of the month, it would still only jump your use up about 5,000 gallons.

Figure out what average use is for every month, but specifically for this time of year, and you'll probably discover that yours is significantly higher than it has been. I have fourplexes with shared laundry that are using less than 10,000 gallons per month.

Once you confirm that, inspect every single unit yourself to determine if toilets are running or constantly flushing. Don't just ask the tenants because they may not understand or pay attention. I'd bet dollars to bagels that you've got a couple toilets that need attention and your tenants haven't reported it.

How do you combat this? First, find a way to educate your tenants on the cost of allowing a toilet to run. Second, consider putting  a "cap" on any included utilities. If average water use is $50 a month per unit, put a clause in your lease that says "water is included up to $75 per month. Any cost above $75 per unit will be passed on to the tenant(s) with their following rent bill."

Craig Janet · Answer

It's most likely a toilet or several toilets running. It's barely noticeable but can really add up. Change the flaps they are less than $5 a piece and fail over time. That would be the simplest and cheapest fix to try before moving to some of the more expensive options.

Bill B. · Answer

If it’s like Las Vegas the water company should be able to tell you the last time the water meter stopped moving. (I don’t know why they don’t text/email/call when the answer is 20-40 or even 60 days of non-stop water usage. But they don’t.). If they can tell you and the answer isn’t weeks, then you’ve got a high water user. If they can’t tell you the best you can hope for is talking to all the tenants and asking them all to avoid using water for 15 minutes at a certain time on a certain day and see if the water meter keeps moving, if so, you have a leak, if not you have a high water user.

Andrew Carlson · Answer

@Rob Bianco

When I bought my apartment the first water bill was $1,200. The previous owner told me it runs $500-600. I freaked out. Checked every toilet, every kitchen and bath faucet. Nothing. The culprit in the end?……the water softener was constantly cycling causing insane water and salt use. Got that adjusted and it fixed the problem.

David M Trapani · Answer

Hi Rob,

Do your rental agreements contain a RUBS ( Ratio Utility Billing System) provision? If so, I would pass those expenses onto the tenants upon notification for next month. If not, on lease renewals, add RUBS to the rental agreement so you pass those along to your tenants. This will be an immediate boost to your NOI and property value.

Theresa Harris · Answer

Opps. I thought you were serious :)  Check for leaking toilets.

Stephen Girard · Answer

@Rob Bianco an easy way to check the toilet is to add food coloring to the tank when it's full and hasn't been flushed in the last few minutes. Check for seeping color into the toilet bowl. Instant results.

Johann Jells · Answer

I  found an easy trick to monitor laundry usage. I had bought a bunch of datalogging thermometers while trying to diagnose steam heat issues. I simply taped one on the dryer vent pipe, and now I can download the data showing every dryer session via bluetooth into my phone where the app graphs it, or I can export it to a spreadsheet and graph it.

Each spike is a dryer session, the 1 on the far left and the  2 on the right are actually 2 each. You can spread the timescale just by spreading your fingers on the screen.  https://www.amazon.com/gp/prod...

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My city just messed with the whole water thing, sewer charges that were included in property taxes are now being added to the water bill proportional to usage. It's going to be disastrous. I'm planning to add a 300 gal tank to capture roof water for the garden.

Matthew Paul · Answer

Its summer time , its hot . More showers , change clothes often , more laundry . People drink more water .

Theresa Harris · Answer

If they are operating a business out of your building, they should be in violation of the lease.  Tell them there are issues with insurance and that the water bills has tripled as a result and they need to use a Laundromat to do their laundry for their business.  Plus they have commercial units which can handle more and multiple machines which will make it much faster for them to do all their loads at once.

Water Bills Getting Ridiculous.. What do I do?

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