Passing Operating Expenses To Tenants?

[Kyle Gautreau]

Hi All,  

My question is in regards to operating costs (heat, snow removal, and landscaping) for multi-family buildings in New England, and if/how owners are passing these costs off to tenants.  

Back story: My area is not serviced with natural gas and gets a lot of snow. The properties also generally have large lawns. Unlike single family rentals where the tenant will be responsible for all costs, small multi-family building owners are typically stuck. Building these costs into the numbers along with the standard considerations (MITI, management, vacancy, CapEx etc) can tip the scales and make finding deals difficult.

How do you offset and/or pass off these costs to your tenants of a multi-family in which you do not reside?  

Multiple heating systems?

Build snow removal into rent?

Thanks!

Kyle