Multi-unit with one water meter

[Olivia Lui]

Hey everyone, I have a multi-unit in Brooklyn and I (owner/ landlord) pay the water bills. The building is on one water meter so I cannot charge tenants for usage. Does anyone have experience in how to deal with a solution to start charging tenants for their usage, solutions like submetering like Flowritemetering.com. I don't know enough about local codes whether DEP would even allow this....what are other landlords/ owners doing, I'd imagine most of us have the same issue. Thanks in advance!

[Eric Hajdu]

@Olivia Lui

Hey Olivia, I wouldn’t bother getting the water meters divided, as I’ve never heard of an unit owner paying for water in NYC, it’s always a building expense. In condos and co-ops it gets paid out of monthly maintenance fees and on rentals it is always paid by the building owner/landlord.

If your bill is outrageous, there could be a mechanical culprit, such as leak, running toilets, etc.