Responsibility for Utility Meters in Brooklyn Apartment

[Phil Shelton]

I plan to gut renovate an entire multi-family property. Is it possible to get a separate water meter and boiler for each legal apartment in Brooklyn, New York, so the tenant will be responsible for water, cooking gas, and electric? Or is the landlord always responsible for the water bill and heat?

[Frank Chin]

@Phil Shelton

I owned triplexes in Queens, looked into it, and found it totally senseless for a number of reasons.

I had a boiler and hot water tank for each building. Having 3 furnaces and 3 hot water tanks would take up most of the room on the ground floor where I had a small one bedroom collecting much less rent if none at all.

I would have to replace 3 boilers and 3 hot water tanks when it's time. Thirty years ago, it cost me $600 in labor and parts to replace a 50-gallon hot water tank, currently $1,500 and often they only last 6 to 8 years. 

I currently have service contracts on the boiler and hot water tanks, and I need 3 service contracts for 3 of them, for each building. I pay $571/year for one, and times that by three for a triplex. Originally, I didn't use service contracts, but with the cost of labor in NYC, it's far safer to use a service contract than to take a chance that nothing happens. With 3 boilers and tanks, chances of something happening is much greater. Plumbers charge $150 just to come out. 

Now for water. For a 3-story triplex, you need to redo the plumbing as you have to run water pipes, for hot and cold water to each unit. With 3 times of many pipes on the walls, chances of leaks and ruptures multiples by 3. For multis in NYC, especially multi units, the hot and cold-water pipes would run through neighboring units. 

I had discussions with a co-worker all bent out of shape that his landlord who had a duplex, takes the gas bills, and divides it by half, and have him pay his share. He said, all she has to do is add a meter and let me pay my part because she uses more gas than me. She has 2 kids, I have none and I should only pay less than half. The total gas bill at the time, 30 years ago, was $31/month for the landlord and him, so his half is about $15/month. However, almost $18/month is the service charge from the gas company and only $13/month for the use of gas. If the landlord adds a meter, he will have to pay a separate monthly service charge, $18.00 plus his use of gas, maybe $5.00 for a total of $23/month. With his logic, the landlord would spend money to re-pipe the building, add another meter, and he would pay $23/month to get a separate bill, instead of paying half of the landlord's bill which runs about $15/month. Does it make sense? There is a separate charge for each meter for providing service to a particular unit, and only one if there is one meter.

Having owned MF in NYC for nearly 40 years, discussed this issue with tenants. it's not a great idea. In the case of the co-worker mentioned above, had the landlord added $25/month to his rent, covered the gas, he would have been fine with it.