Utilities: Who pays?

[Shane Bishop]

Hello everyone, 

My wife and I are looking to purchase our first rental property in the upstate of South Carolina and are hoping to utilize this opportunity to do a house hack!  However, since this is our first time doing anything like this we had a few questions!  

If doing a house hack, what is the best way to go about paying for utilities?  Is it better to account for the utilities in the rent and just charge one flat rate to help cover the cost or should the tenant also be responsible for helping make those monthly payments for the utilities?  Also, what have you all found is the best method for automating rent payments to avoid having to manually collect rent every month?

Thank you all for you continued help! My wife and I are so excited to begin our investment journey!

Thanks,

Shane